No description available.

No description available.

Youth-serving organizations, such as 4-H, place a large emphasis on positive youth development and experiential learning in order to assist youth in acquiring specific life skills. The literature suggests that residential summer camps are one of the best ways to provide positive youth development, experiential learning, and targeted life skills. This study was a mixed methods design which utilized four residential summer programs throughout the state of Mississippi in order to compare the differences between the residential 4-H summer programs that took place on a university campus to those that took place within the naturalistic environment. The results of this study indicate that on-campus residential summer programs achieved the essential elements of positive youth development more so than those that took place within the naturalistic environment. The on-campus program participants also acquired targeted life skills more so than those that participated in programs that took place within the naturalistic environment.

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.

This research was a reanalysis of an extant data set on a Youth Employment Demonstration Projects Act (YEDPA) summer program. The ten week, seven site program combined classroom training with a worksite experience and was targeted to drop-outs, potential drop—outs and adjudicated youth. Eligible youth were randomly assigned to participant and control groups and were measured at pre— and postprogram and three and eight month follow-up. The data set included information on 1901 participant and 978 control youth.