För att ge lärare på fritidshemmet ökad kunskap kring hur arbetet med digitala verktyg kan se ut, har iPads använts i denna studie för att öka motivationen till matematik bland elever på fritidshemmet. Studien grundar sig i en aktionsforskningsansats och en aktion har genomförts på ett fritidshem. Aktionen har inneburit en workshop med sju matematiska appar, samt en testperiod under fem veckor där eleverna fått möjlighet att arbeta med apparna. Fyra fritidslärare har intervjuats, två gånger var. Sammanlagt åtta intervjuer har genomförts, fyra nulägesintervjuer före aktionen och fyra utvärderingsintervjuer efter aktionen. De fyra fritidslärarna som intervjuats medverkar i aktionsforskningen och intervjuerna är genomförda på det fritidshem där aktionsforskningen utförs. Samtliga lärare arbetar på det fritidshem där studien genomförts. Aktionsforskningen resulterade i ökade frivilliga matematiska aktiviteter på fritidshemmet bland eleverna samt ett en ökad kunskap och trygghet bland fritidslärarna om hur användandet av digitala verktyg kan se ut. / To give teachers in after-school programs increased knowledge about activities involving digital tools, this study is using iPads to increase students’ motivation to work with mathematics in the after-school program. The study is based on action research and an action has been made in an after-school program. In this action, a workshop, involving seven mathematical apps, has been made, and during a test period of five weeks, the students had the opportunity to work with the apps. Four after-school teachers have been interviewed, two times each. A total of eight interviews have been made, four interviews to analyse the present situation before the action and four interviews to analyse the outcome of the action. The four teachers, being interviewed, is included in the action research and the interviews are being carried out in the after-school program where the action research takes place. All the teachers are working in the after-school program where this research has been made. The action research resulted in increased volunteered mathematical activities among the students. The research also resulted in increased knowledge and confidence among the teachers about the using of digital tools in education.

What does it mean to be a Teaching Artist and how does the creation and facilitation of an applied theatre program with youth shape a Teaching Artist’s identity? This thesis follows the journey of one Teaching Artist and the applied theatre project she created and facilitated at The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders in Austin, Texas, surrounding the issues of self esteem and body acceptance. This applied theatre project combined drama-based strategies and creative writing strategies with public performance opportunities to encourage young girls to find their voices in order to promote positive self esteem. The semester long, after-school project was initially entered into by the Teaching Artist as a form of interactive dramaturgy and research, with the intention of developing a one woman play for young audiences about the same issues. But once submerged in the project, the Teaching Artist began to question the ethics of her process; she began to struggle with her identity, her intentionality and the reciprocity found within her work. All educators hope to transform their students; to observe growth and positive change among their pupils, to witness a successful performance event or to behold young people reveling in art making. But this thesis also considers the possibility that some of the greatest transformation in an arts education/applied theatre setting may be found within the educator themselves / text

The main purpose of this study was to determine whether a Physical Science intervention programme that has been running for three years at St John’s College for selected Grade 10-12 students from under-resourced schools in inner city Johannesburg, has had any impact on the final academic results of these selected students in the National Senior Certificate examination. There is little international or local research that deals with third world academic extension and enrichment programmes, particularly with respect to South Africa. A mixed methods case study on the programme was carried out. Numerical data was collected over a period of three years to be used to determine the effectiveness of the programme. Interviews with the participants and teachers on the programme were conducted and surveys were carried out with participants on the programme as well as students who were not on the programme from the three partner schools. The three instruments used in the research provided different forms of data which produced findings that were combined to look for common trends and understandings. The data collected from the surveys, interviews and term scores were coded, captured organised, analysed and interpreted. Among the more significant findings were: (a) Not all of the participants on the programme showed academic improvement; (b) The overall academic improvement of the two groups researched was marginally better than their peers who were not part of the programme; (c) In the view of the participants, the intervention had a greater influence on their academic achievements than the actual findings from analysis of the numerical data indicated; (d) There are a number of factors that determine the success of the programme; (e) The self-motivation is an important determinant for success of individuals on the programme. These findings could assist current programme organisers and institutions that seek to introduce similar types of intervention programmes in the future. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

This case study centres round an afterschool intervention programme aimed at enhancing mental computation skills of Grade 8 learners at a secondary school in the Erongo educational region of Namibia. Nine research participants took part in the study, and the mental computational strategies exhibited by these participants constitutes the unit of analysis. The study is anchored within an interpretive paradigm and is theoretically underpinned by constructivist epistemology. Kilpatrick, Swafford and Findell’s (2001) model of mathematical proficiency provides the conceptual framework supporting the study. The research was carried out in four sequential phases – an initial pre-test, the intervention itself, a follow-up post-test, and a focus group discussion. The study highlights the underdevelopment of mental computation skills and the associated lack of appropriate mental computational strategies in secondary school learners. It is recommended that appropriate time within the school curriculum be allocated for the development of learners’ mental computation skills.

Serious inequities in our K-12 public education system, particularly in regard to the quality of education in predominately Black inner-city schools, are well-documented in the literature (Freeman, 1998; Ross, 1998). Moreover, there is general agreement that the most effective means of ameliorating that situation is through well-thought-out after-school programs and partnership initiatives (Beck, 1993; Gardner et al., 2001). The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the programmatic interventions of a youth enrichment program for inner-city Black youth currently in place at the Overtown Youth Center (OYC) in Miami, Florida, in order to: (a) discern those factors that support its claim that it is making a difference in students’ lives, (b) explore how any such factors are implemented, and (c) determine whether its interventions have served to equalize the playing field for these youth. Two primary methods of data collection were used for this study. The first was participant observation conducted over the course of two years through a partnership initiative established and led by this author. The second was through in-depth interviews of the Center’s founder, staff, and students. Secondary methods used were the recording of informal conversations and the analysis of written documents. Analysis of the data yielded four features of the Center that are indispensible to the students’ growth. The center provides the youth with (a) physical and psychological safety, (b) supportive relationships, (c) exposure to cultural and educational opportunities, and (d) assistance in building self-esteem. The most significant finding of the study was that OYC has been successful at making a difference in students’ lives and at increasing their aspirations to attend college. By addressing the full spectrum of their needs, the Center has given them many of the necessary tools with which to compete and thereby helped equalize their opportunities to succeed in school and in life. The study also noted a number of challenges for the Center to examine. The main issues that need to be addressed more seriously are staff turnover, staff indifference, nepotism, inconsistent student attendance, and insufficient focus on racial issues and African-American-centered education. Meeting those challenges would engender even greater positive outcomes.

One of the most evident signs that a child is on the path to dropping out of [BT1] school is disengagement from school (Kortering & Christenson, 2009). Given the amount of time that young people spend with their peers and the influence that peers have (Monahan, Steinberg, & Caufman, 2009), there is a need to better understand the role that peers play in the decision to drop out of school (Farmer, Estell, Leug, Trott, Biship, & Caims, 2003). Using Ericson’s stages of psychosocial development (1956), social identity theory, and self-categorization theory as a framework, an afterschool program in the form of a social club was designed and implemented. The goal was to foster friendships between academically engaged students and disengaged students, using a short-term, cost effective intervention. It was hypothesized that the new friends would act as role models giving the disengaged students a more accurate perception of positive academic behaviors and the related benefits, thus leading to a positive change in academic engagement. This study used a mixed-methods design: a quantitative phase consisting of pretest-posttest surveys administered to teachers and students in order to assess possible changes in student academic engagement and a second pretest-posttest survey administered to students in order to determine if any new friendships between academically engaged and at-risk students had formed. A second, qualitative phase used focus groups to gain insight into the students’ perceptions of their academic experience. The findings of this study contribute to the current literature on dropout by providing insight into the possibility of utilizing peers as a catalyst to academic engagement in students who are at risk for school failure and high school drop out, in particular those with disabilities. In addition, the findings reiterate the importance of positive student-teacher relations and the importance of ongoing attempts to create those relations. The results of this study remind us that there is no single approach to solving the problem of high school dropout. However, by providing diverse opportunities for at-risk students to develop positive perceptions of the academic experience it is possible to ultimately increase academic engagement and reduce dropout. [BT1]Abstract body text must not exceed 350 words.

This study contributed to the body of research that supports a holistic model of afterschool learning through the design of an afterschool intervention that benefits elementary school students of low socioeconomic status. This qualitative study evaluated a science focused afterschool curriculum that was designed using principles from Risk and Resiliency Theory, academic motivation theories, science core ideas from the Next Generation Science Standards, and used environmental education philosophy. The research question of this study is: how does an outdoor and STEM based afterschool program impact at-risk students' self-efficacy, belonging and engagement and ability to apply conceptual knowledge of environmental science topics? The study collected information about the participants' affective experiences during the intervention using structured and ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews. Observations and interviews were coded and analyzed to find patterns in participants' responses. Three participant profiles were developed using the structured observations and ethnographic observations to provide an in depth understanding of the participant experience. The study also assessed the participants' abilities to apply conceptual understanding of the program's science topics by integrating an application of conceptual knowledge task into the curriculum. This task in the form of a participant project was assessed using an adapted version of the Portland Metro STEM Partnership's Application of Conceptual Knowledge Rubric. Results in the study showed that participants demonstrated self-efficacy, a sense of belonging and engagement during the program. Over half of the participants in the study demonstrated a proficient understanding of program concepts. Overall, this holistic afterschool program demonstrated that specific instructional practices and a multi-modal science curriculum helped to support the social and emotional needs of at-risk children.

In recent years, tightening budgets have forced school districts to find new ways to save money. One way that has become increasingly popular is to shorten the traditional five-day school week to only four-days a week. This change is budget friendly and may act through efficiency wage theory as a recruitment tool for better teachers. Despite the increasing prevalence of districts running on four-day weeks, many of the effects of the shorter week on students are still unclear. Utilizing district-level panel data from the Colorado Department of Education, Study One took a difference-in-differences approach to determine the effect of the implementation of the four-day week on various delinquency measures, including suspensions, expulsions, and juvenile arrest rates. No significant results were found with robust standard errors, but trends suggested that juvenile crime may be increasing while school related incidents may be decreasing in areas with four-day school weeks. To offset these trends, this paper also proposes a second study aimed at investigating the effects of different types of fifth-day programs on adolescent well-being, academic achievement, and problem behaviors. Schools using the four-day week that agree to participate will be randomly assigned to receive either a career-prep program, an academic program, a recreational program, a social skills/mentoring program, or no program at all. Students (N=XXX) will fill out a survey at the beginning and at the end of the program or school year, reporting their subjective well-being and recent engagement in problem behaviors. It is expected that students who participate in the social skills/mentoring program will show the highest levels of well-being and little engagement in problem behaviors. This study will help to advance the research on after school programming, particularly in rural environments.

This Masters project consists of two elements: 1) an integrated after-school program to improve student English language reading and academic outcomes for third graders' vocabulary development by incorporating music, artistic creativity and linguistics; 2) a pilot sample curriculum that demonstrates the approach for building student comprehension through musical theater and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) content experiences. Called "Water Buddy", this is an after-school program uses singing, dancing, writing, and play to build reading and vocabulary skills. The goal is to improve learner academic outcomes by mastering the elemental building blocks of words, letters, symbols by making memorable the sound units, idioms, print conventions, and concepts that they were previously lacking.

Educators involved in the teaching, learning, and assessment of social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies face challenges on how to integrate these competencies into instruction. Limited research has been conducted about how to integrate such SEL competencies into instructional practices, particularly in the context of a summer enrichment program. The purpose of this single case study was to explore how teachers and counselors at a summer enrichment program for preK-4 students integrated SEL competencies into instructional activities. The conceptual framework was based on core competencies and standards for quality program design that the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) developed. Participants included 2 teachers and 2 camp counselors at a summer enrichment program located in a western state. Data were collected from individual interviews with participants, observations of activities that integrated these SEL competencies into instruction, and documents related to the summer program. Data analysis included coding and categorizing of interviews and observations and content analysis of documents to identify themes and discrepant data. Key findings were that the 5 core competencies were intentionally and systematically integrated into the instructional activities of the summer enrichment program as evidenced by program planning, curricular development, implementation of a variety of instructional strategies, and informal teacher and parent assessments. This study contributes to positive social change because students who have mastered these competencies may demonstrate fewer behavioral issues and form more positive interpersonal relationships, which may lead to improved academic achievement.