After-school programs have the potential to keep children safe and out of trouble and can help to improve the academic performance of the increasing numbers of participating children. This report presents positive research on after-school programs and examples illustrating the potential of high-quality after-school activities to keep children…

This paper reports data collected during the first year of the Understandings of Consequence Project. This project explores how mismatched models of causality, instances when students' assumptions about how causes and effects behave significantly depart from scientific ones, may generate and/or exacerbate difficulties in achieving scientific…

This paper presents preliminary findings of a study evaluating effects of social service reform, school restructuring, and special education reform for children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disabilities. Specifically, the study is attempting to identify successful school-based models, explicate the interventions used, and…

This book profiles extended-care programs in Catholic schools. It features articles submitted by graduates of the National Catholic Educational Association's Elementary/Middle School Principals Academies. Each of the 12 articles details an established extended-care program. Typically, these programs are part educational, part recreational, and…

This book focuses on the enormous potential of service learning to enhance the learning process for college students by melding cognitive learning and affective service. Conclusions are based primarily on data from two national research projects, one which compared models of service learning using survey data and intensive student interviews, and…

This paper describes one model of school reconstruction, which includes a professional development school, being implemented at Celebration School in Celebration, Florida. The description highlights the educational practices and daily learning experiences of students at Celebration. The narrative provides a picture of the philosophical foundation…

This article discusses a project that investigated a student-based problem-solving model for reducing crime in the nation's schools. A quasi-experimental research design was employed that captured data in three waves from more than 450 students attending 11th grade social studies classes in two schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg Public Schools…

This final report describes the activities and accomplishments of the Consultation and Administration Specialists in Early Intervention Project (CASEI). This federally funded project was developed to provide cross-disciplinary preservice training for early intervention (EI) specialists in Illinois. Students were recruited from a broad range of…

Open and distance learning is seen as a viable alternative to provide education for all, particularly in the context of developing countries. Open learning is basically a philosophy, while distance learning is a method of flexible education for the unreached, i.e., socially, economically, physically, and geographically disadvantaged groups of the…

Research findings on the early precursors of substance use and related adjustment difficulties have led to interest in developmental models to explain problem behavior. This paper examines five major themes that characterize the relationship among social context, individual disposition, and syndromes of problem behaviors that include substance use…

This paper presents a model of community scholarship. Community scholarship is defined as the products that result from the active, systematic engagement of academics with communities for such purposes as addressing a community need, studying community problems and issues, and engaging in the development of projects that build health. The paper…

This paper reports on the evolution of a software environment called ClassACT (Class Annotation and Collaboration Tool) from a simple multimedia annotation program to a multi-domain archival database management system. ClassACT was developed at Northwestern University (Illinois) for instructional use, and, although its original goal was to solve a…

Parent Effectiveness Training (PET) began almost 40 years ago as the first national parent-training program to teach parents how to communicate more effectively with their children and to offer step-by-step advice to resolving family conflicts. This book, a revised and updated edition, presents the PET model for parent training, including the…

This paper proposes a context-driven model of instructional design incorporating constructivist-oriented methods and strategies for structuring meaningful, purposeful learning environments into the framework of a traditional systematic approach. An evaluation study is also presented that investigated the effects of implementing the context-driven…

This paper presents the results of the implementation of an instructional approach that supports teachers' learning of instructional design (ID) and honors their beliefs and concerns within the ID process; participants included two instructors and 23 practicing K-12 teachers enrolled in an instructional design course as part of a masters program.…