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This study solicited perspectives of underserved youth and educators who serve them regarding college and career readiness. We defined underserved youth as adolescents who experience inequitable access to educational resources. Purposeful sampling was used to select 84 focus group participants including educators and students (9–12th grade). Utilizing grounded theory analysis, focus group data revealed findings in three key categories. First, student and educator participants defined readiness as specific career knowledge and skills to develop concrete postschool plans. Second, both educators and students perceived limited availability of career preparation experiences as a barrier, while educators also provided examples of challenging life circumstances which deter youth from fully realizing their college and career potential. Third, educators and students reported that providing a broad array of career related learning activities, coupled with the presence of trusted adults who serve as mentors and guides, can create capacity for young people to expand career options.

Although authoritative school climate—strict, yet fair enforcement of rules alongside strong adult support—is associated with lower rates of bullying victimization, less is known about whether it influences how negatively adolescents feel after being victimized at school. Further, it is unclear whether boys and girls respond differently to an authoritative climate. Identifying ways that schools can reduce negative feelings after being bullied is important given the long term psychological ramifications of bullying that, if left unaddressed, can extend into adulthood. To address these gaps, this study examined whether authoritative school climate related to how negatively adolescents felt about their schoolwork, relationships, physical health and self-perception after being bullied. Differences between boys and girls were also investigated. Analyses were conducting using national data from the 2017 School Crime Supplement on a sample of 1,331 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years (Mage = 14.3 years; 59% girls). Findings from a set of ordinal regression models with a robust set of student, parent and school controls demonstrated that adolescents in more supportive schools were less likely to report that bullying victimization negatively impacted their schoolwork and feelings about themselves. Similar results were found for girls but not boys. By investing in supportive school climates, schools can be potentially transformative places where adolescents, especially girls, can feel more positively about themselves despite being bullied.

IntroductionMany underserved adolescents, defined as those with inequitable access to educational resources, face limited access to interventions that develop their college and career know-how. In our study, we implemented and evaluated a pilot college and career readiness curriculum intervention called Paths to the Future for All (P2F4A). P2F4A takes a developmental approach to college and career development, weaving together the procedural know-how of college and career planning with a broader focus on building social-emotional skills that support positive trajectories towards the future. We evaluated pre-post changes in adolescents' career-related and social-emotional outcomes alongside views of their personal growth.MethodsWe used a purposeful sample of five schools in the Western region of the United States and recruited a sample of adolescents (N=61; Mage=16.3 years; 57.4% female) who experienced challenging academic and life circumstances to participate in P2F4A. We conducted pre-post surveys as well as focus groups and interviews with adolescents.ResultsWe detected significant (p&nbsp

Author(s): Gee, Kevin A; Cooc, North | Abstract: Schools can play an influential role in the victimization experiences of Asian American youth. We investigated the extent to which characteristics of schools—their disciplinary structure, guardianship role, and the opportunities for exposure to victimization they provide—related to whether Asian American adolescents were physically or socially victimized. Our sample included 1,303 adolescents (M age = 14.8 years) from six waves of the School Crime Supplement of the National Crime Victimization Survey. Results from logistic regression models show that disciplinary structure and guardianship, in the form of school security measures, were unrelated to victimization. Asian American adolescents with supportive peers had lower odds of physical victimization (odds ratio [OR] = 0.16; p l .01) while those exposed to school gangs and physical fights had higher odds of social victimization (OR = 2.90; p l .001 and OR = 4.97; p l .01, respectively). Our findings underscore the need for schools to consider strategies beyond commonplace school disciplinary structures and security measures to protect Asian American adolescents from victimization.

Background School health systems are increasingly investing in telemedicine platforms to address acute and chronic illnesses. Asthma, the most common chronic illness in childhood, is of particular interest given its high burden on school absenteeism. Objective Conduct a systematic review evaluating impact of school-based telemedicine programs on improving asthma-related outcomes. Data Sources PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, Embase, and Google Scholar. Study Eligibility Criteria Original research, including quasi-experimental studies, without restriction on the type of telemedicine. Participants School-aged pediatric patients with asthma and their families. Interventions School-based telemedicine. Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods Two authors independently screened each abstract, conducted full-text review, assessed study quality, and extracted information. A third author resolved disagreements. Results Of 371 articles identified, 7 were included for the review. Outcomes of interest were asthma symptom-free days, asthma symptom frequency, quality of life, health care utilization, school absences, and spirometry. Four of 7 studies reported significant increases in symptom-free days and/or decrease in symptom frequency. Five of 6 reported increases in at least one quality-of-life metric, 2 of 7 reported a decrease in at least 1 health care utilization metric, 1 of 3 showed reductions in school absences, and 1 of 2 reported improvements in spirometry measures. Limitations Variability in intervention designs and outcome measures make comparisons and quantitative analyses across studies difficult. Only 2 of 7 studies were randomized controlled trials. Conclusions and Implications of Key Findings High-quality evidence supporting the use of school-based telemedicine programs to improve patient outcomes is limited. While available evidence suggests benefit, only 2 comparative trials were identified, and the contribution of telemedicine to these studies’ results is unclear.

In this study, I investigated the maltreatment profiles of child welfare–involved children in special education and examined how those profiles influenced their internalizing and externalizing behaviors. I analyzed data on a sample of 290 children (63% male, 37% female, Mage = 11 years) from the National Survey on Child and Adolescent Well-Being II. When weighted, this sample represented approximately 233,000 children involved in the child welfare system and in special education. Results from latent class analyses revealed four maltreatment classes, listed by predominance: supervisory neglect, physical abuse, other forms of maltreatment, and sexual abuse. Relative to children in the sexual abuse class, children had higher teacher-reported internalizing problem behaviors if their predominate maltreatment class was either supervisory neglect or physical abuse. Understanding maltreatment and its consequences for child welfare–involved children in special education can help better inform ways to promote their educational success.

Children from certain racial and ethnic minority backgrounds, in poverty, and/or with a disability, often face distinct challenges in attending school, leading them to miss more school relative to ...

Background/ContextChronic school absenteeism is a pervasive problem across the US; in early education, it is most rampant in kindergarten and its consequences are particularly detrimental, often leading to poorer academic, behavioral and developmental outcomes later in life. Though prior empirical research has identified a broad range of determinants of chronic absenteeism, there lacks a single, unified theoretically driven investigation examining how such factors concurrently explain the incidence of chronic absenteeism among our nation's youngest schoolchildren. Thus, it is difficult to determine the relative importance of one factor over another, hence making it challenging to develop appropriate supports and services to reduce school absences.Purpose/Research QuestionsOur study filled this critical void—we investigated multiple determinants of chronic absenteeism that were grounded, theoretically and empirically, in Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model of development. Specifically, using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11 and the method of hierarchical generalized linear modeling, we analyzed how the co-occurrence of key (a) process, (b) person, and (c) context (micro-, meso-, exo- and macrosystem) factors was associated with kindergarteners’ probability of being chronically absent.Findings/ResultsChildren who have poorer health, higher internalizing behaviors, and more frequent engagement in learning activities at home had higher odds of chronic absenteeism. Also, children from larger families and of lower socioeconomic status faced increased odds of chronic absenteeism. Conversely, children holding positive attitudes towards school had lowered odds of chronic absenteeism, a finding that remained robust across socioeconomic status groups. Finally, parent–school connections were associated with lowered odds of absenteeism.Conclusions/RecommendationsOverall, our findings strongly suggested that addressing chronic absenteeism will require comprehensive and multifaceted approaches that recognize these multiple factors. With this theoretically grounded, more descriptive approach, it is more feasible to identify key factors and subsequently design policies and practices to prevent absence behavior.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Previous studies of asthma-related school absenteeism have reported absenteeism dichotomously (i.e., any school days missed versus none). However, schools use higher thresholds to identify and intervene for students at risk of chronic absenteeism (18 days or ≥10% schoolyear missed), which is associated with negative health and educational outcomes. We sought to identify factors associated with excessive absenteeism (EA) due to asthma (≥9 days missed), a threshold based on a convention defined by Attendance Works for absenteeism risk, and is linked to decreased academic performance and increased risk of chronic absenteeism. METHODS We examined responses for asthma-related absenteeism from the 2011-2014 California Health Interview Survey for children ages 5-11. Multivariate logistic regression modeled odds ratios of EA for demographic, healthcare utilization, and asthma-related factors. Sensitivity analysis was performed modeling a ≥1 threshold (any absenteeism). RESULTS 715 respondents represent an estimated 314,200 California schoolchildren with asthma. 50.3% of students missed ≥1 day, and 11.7% missed ≥9 days of school due to asthma. Odds of EA were significantly higher for younger children, lower-income families, and rural students, but not significant for any absenteeism. Indicators of greater asthma severity and poorer control were significantly associated with both EA and any absenteeism. CONCLUSIONS This study identified factors significantly associated with EA that were not significant for lower absence thresholds. This may help direct school-based asthma interventions for which limited resources must target students at higher risk of chronic absenteeism.

Although the cognitive, physical and psychosocial consequences of maltreatment can heighten maltreated children's risk for special education, we know less about how a broader set of socio-ecological factors relate to their receipt of special education. This quantitative study investigated how selected attributes of children (e.g., gender) and their microsystems (e.g., caregiving settings) related to the receipt of special education among a sample of 1855 child welfare-involved youth (48% male, 52% female, Mage = 11 years) from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II. Results from logistic regression models show that children with cognitive challenges had higher odds of receiving special education (odds ratio [OR] = 3.13; p < .001). Regarding children's microsystems, youth in foster care had odds of receiving special education that was approximately 2.7 times higher relative to children in biological or adoptive care (OR = 2.72; p < .05). The association between foster care and special education receipt underscores the importance of supports that foster families may need to promote the educational well-being of children with disabilities under their care.

Purpose This study assessed the effectiveness of one of the earliest statewide policy initiatives to address obesity via schools—Arkansas's Act 1220 of 2003—on adolescent obesity. The Act required public schools in Arkansas to conduct body mass index (BMI) screening and reporting, restrict access to vending machines, and establish physical education and nutrition standards. Methods To determine the effect of Act 1220 as a whole, this study analyzed data representative of adolescents in grades 9–12 from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey using the quasi-experimental method of difference-in-differences. Changes in adolescents’ weight outcomes in Arkansas before (1999 and 2001) and after (2005, 2007, and 2009) the implementation of Act 1220 were compared to changes in weight outcomes for adolescents from the neighboring state of Missouri across the same time period. Results Arkansas's Act 1220 did not significantly influence adolescents’ BMI-for-age z-scores (−.017; 95% confidence interval [CI] [−.097, .063]; p = .68). Further, the Act did not lead to significant reductions in BMI-for-age z-scores among adolescents who were either overweight (−.003; 95% CI [−.043, .036]; p = .86) or obese (−.010; 95% CI [−.070, .051]; p = .75). Results remain robust to adjustments for self-report bias in height and weight as well as a set of alternative comparison states. Conclusions Preventing adolescent overweight and obesity is unlikely to occur through such large-scale policy initiatives alone.

Non-formal education (NFE) programs have been a long standing approach to educating marginalized children, especially girls, across the developing world. Though such programs provide girls expanded access to learning opportunities, the evidence of whether enhanced access actually leads girls to achieve on par with boys remains limited. I analyze the academic achievement of girls relative to boys in a sample of 1,203 children participating in a NFE program in rural Bangladesh, known as SHIKHON which means “learning” in Bengali. I find strong correlational evidence that gender is not significantly associated with achievement; on average, girls achieve on par with boys across four subject areas including literacy (English and Bangla), numeracy, science and social science.

The growth in the availability of longitudinal data—data collected over time on the same individuals—as part of program evaluations has opened up exciting possibilities for evaluators to ask more nuanced questions about how individuals’ outcomes change over time. However, in order to leverage longitudinal data to glean these important insights, evaluators responsible for analyzing longitudinal data face a new set of concepts and analytic techniques that may not be part of their current methodological tool kit. In this article, I provide an applied introduction to one method of longitudinal data analysis known as multilevel growth modeling. I ground the introductory concepts and illustrate the method of multilevel growth modeling in the context of a well-known longitudinal evaluation of an early childhood care program, the Carolina Abecedarian Project.

We investigated the relationship between four inquiry-based teaching practices (use of: (1) models or applications, (2) hands-on activities, (3) interaction and (4) independent investigations) and science achievement for 15-year olds across eight countries participating in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006. Within each country, we find consistent evidence that students reporting more frequent use of independent investigations have lowered achievement in science; however, students reporting higher frequency with which science lessons emphasize models or applications tend to have higher achievement. Evidence regarding the effectiveness of hands-on activities and interaction was mixed. Our findings highlight the importance of lessons that have applications to the real world and that have investigations which are directed and scaffolded versus purely discovery-based.

Bullying is a growing public health concern for South Korean adolescents. In our quantitative investigation, we analyze the frequency with which Korean adolescents in single-sex versus coeducational schools are targets of or engage in three peer aggressive behaviors (verbal, relational (social exclusion), and physical (including theft)). We use two nationally representative datasets, the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the 2005 Korea Education Longitudinal Study (KELS), and rely on propensity score matching (PSM). For adolescent girls, we find that being in all-girls schools mitigates both their exposure to and engagement in peer victimization. For adolescent boys, we find that boys in all-boys schools have significantly higher odds of experiencing more frequent verbal and physical attacks versus their counterparts in coeducational schools. Our findings strongly suggest that interventions to mitigate peer victimization and aggression in Korea should consider the gendered schooling contexts in which they are implemented.