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Although the federally funded TRIO Program entitled Upward Bound has been in existence for over thirty years and numerous federally and privately funded studies have been conducted about the hundreds of programs available throughout the nation, there has been relatively few investigations involving qualitative research approaches. Additionally, despite the fact that first generation college students, the primary target population for Upward Bound Programs, are most likely low-income and Latino, few studies have sought data directly from these target groups about their experience in Upward Bound. In this regard, the data gathered and reported in this qualitative education evaluation research study is unique. Twelve former first-generation, low-income, Puerto Rican Upward Bound students who had completed at least one year of college were interviewed for this study. The interviews utilized a protocol from a twenty-five year old study that also interviewed Upward Bound students (Bemak, 1975). The purpose of this inquiry was to investigate how first generation, low-income, Puerto Rican college students evaluate the impact of their participation in a high school Upward Bound program on their academic preparation for college, self-perceptions, family and social relationships, future educational goals, and ultimately their post-secondary success. The findings of this study shed light on the impact Upward Bound has upon first-generation, low-income, Puerto Rican students who have succeeded in post-secondary education. Data from the study indicate that the services and support provided by Upward Bound effectively intervenes in the unique struggles of first generation, low-income, Puerto Rican students who are at great risk for educational access and attainment. Reflections of former Upward Bound students inform the field of education regarding the impact of college preparatory programs on students who face the most difficult barriers in college completion. This research identifies practices that contribute to post-secondary success and uses the words and ideas of first-generation, low-income, Puerto Rican students as a guide to the implementation of future support services.

Secondary physics education in the United States has been shown to be sub-standard, and not even offered in many high schools. National assessment results have suggested that changes in secondary physics education are greatly needed and are slow in coming. One attempt to enhance physics instruction is the UPDATE program. UPDATE is a physics teacher enhancement program offered by the University of Massachusetts. The program is primarily designed to enhance physics teacher knowledge in topical and important areas of contemporary physics that are not always well represented in secondary classrooms. This study assesses the impact of participation in the UPDATE program on the high school physics instruction of the 1995-96 program participants. Focus group interviews, individual interviews, and a questionnaire are methods used to collect data. This document includes transcriptions from both focus group and individual interviews, as well as quantitative results from a questionnaire. Commonalities are drawn from the three sources of data to illustrate the impact of the UPDATE program on participants' high school physics instruction. Aspects of the program which have contributed to enhancement of instruction are also identified and recommendations are made for subsequent teacher enhancement programs. The findings generally indicate that participants became more confident, enthusiastic, gained more physics knowledge, and changed their teaching practices to include more UPDATE related topics. In addition, laboratory experiences as well as laboratory equipment offered to participants during the program contributed significantly to their perceived instructional enhancement.

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In a General Metal Shop, Art Metalwork is one of the activities used to round out a general study of the metals field. That it is a valid subject to be taught in this field of activity is shown by the fact that Art Metalwork is included as a center of activity in a number of state studies in the Industrial Arts curriculum. The Pennsylvania state study of Industrial Arts lists Art Metalwork as a center of activity in the Metals area. The Connecticut state study in Industrial Arts lists Art Metal under General Metalwork. The New York state course for Industrial Arts also includes Art Metalwork as a center of activity in General Metalwork.

The dramatic demographic shift occurring in this country makes it essential that our nation examines its policies, practices, and values as they relate to culturally diverse learners. That this student population remains underserved needs immediate attention. One arena that can become a part of the solution to the underachievement of diverse learners is teacher education and preparation programming. The purpose of this research study was to give attention to this issue and to understand what an urban teacher education program (UTEP) with an educational equity and social justice mission does to prepare its secondary teacher candidates (STCs) to work successfully with diverse learners. An additional purpose was to determine what role culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) played in STC's perceptions of their readiness to work with our nation's ever-growing culturally diverse school-age learners. Using a multi-phase mixed methods case study research design, data was collected from secondary teacher educators using interviews and artifacts as well as from secondary teacher candidates' pre-and-post Likert scale and open-ended responses to the Learning to Teach for Social Justice/Beliefs scale survey. This survey was adapted from the work of Ludlow, Enterline, and Cochran-Smith (2008). I coded and analyzed the data to shed light on the following research questions: 1. What does an urban teacher education program do to operationalize it educational equity and social justice missions? 2. How do secondary teacher candidates' perceptions of their readiness to work with culturally diverse learners change from the beginning of their teacher education program to the end? 3. To what extent if any, is culturally responsive pedagogy associated with secondary candidates' perceptions of readiness? The findings indicate that several factors influence teacher candidates' perceptions; reflection, critical consciousness of the educational landscape and a willingness to embrace diversity as it presents itself in the classroom were common among participants.