The after-school activity context has grown in importance over the past 30yrs as major demographic change (i.e.dual-career families & latchkey children) has swept the country. This bk looks at the influences of after-school activities on child & adol.dev

Explore how the peer relationship and extracurricular organized activities—like sports, the arts, and community-based organizations—influence academic functioning, social development, and problem behavior. This volume shows how out-of-school activity offers an ideal context to study peer processes, and to explore both how and why peers matter for organized activity participation. Starting with the theoretical and empirical research on peers and organized activities, it goes on to address several questions including: Does co-participating in an organized activity with your friend improve the quality of the relationship? When do peer relations amplify the benefits of participating and when do they exacerbate negative outcomes? Does participation in organized activities help adolescents manage difficult transition periods? Finally, the volume concludes with a conceptual framework to guide future research on how organized activity characteristics influence peer processes and how these processes within organized activity contexts influence outcomes for adolescents. This is the 140th volume in this series. Its mission is to provide scientific and scholarly presentations on cutting edge issues and concepts in child and adolescent development. Each volume focuses on a specific new direction or research topic and is edited by experts on that topic.

Explore how the peer relationship and extracurricular organized activities—like sports, the arts, and community-based organizations—influence academic functioning, social development, and problem behavior. This volume shows how out-of-school activity offers an ideal context to study peer processes, and to explore both how and why peers matter for organized activity participation. Starting with the theoretical and empirical research on peers and organized activities, it goes on to address several questions including: Does co-participating in an organized activity with your friend improve the quality of the relationship? When do peer relations amplify the benefits of participating and when do they exacerbate negative outcomes? Does participation in organized activities help adolescents manage difficult transition periods? Finally, the volume concludes with a conceptual framework to guide future research on how organized activity characteristics influence peer processes and how these processes within organized activity contexts influence outcomes for adolescents. This is the 140th volume in this series. Its mission is to provide scientific and scholarly presentations on cutting edge issues and concepts in child and adolescent development. Each volume focuses on a specific new direction or research topic and is edited by experts on that topic.

"Do not do to others that which would anger you if others did it to you."—Socrates (the Greek philosopher), circa 470-399 B.C. Mr. Rabbit's new neighbors are Otters. OTTERS! But he doesn't know anything about otters. Will they get along? Will they be friends? Just treat otters the same way you'd like them to treat you, advises Mr. Owl. In her smart, playful style Laurie Keller highlights how to be a good friend and neighbor—simply follow the Golden Rule! This title has Common Core connections. Do Unto Otters is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

In 1988, the Chicago public school system decentralized, granting parents and communities significant resources and authority to reform their schools in dramatic ways. To track the effects of this bold experiment, the authors of Organizing Schools for Improvement collected a wealth of data on elementary schools in Chicago. Over a seven-year period they identified one hundred elementary schools that had substantially improved—and one hundred that had not. What did the successful schools do to accelerate student learning? The authors of this illuminating book identify a comprehensive set of practices and conditions that were key factors for improvement, including school leadership, the professional capacity of the faculty and staff, and a student-centered learning climate. In addition, they analyze the impact of social dynamics, including crime, critically examining the inextricable link between schools and their communities. Putting their data onto a more human scale, they also chronicle the stories of two neighboring schools with very different trajectories. The lessons gleaned from this groundbreaking study will be invaluable for anyone involved with urban education.

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.

First published in 1983, this volume assembles recent theory on school organization, drawing on a wide range of research, mainly on schools in contemporary Britain but with some illuminating historical and overseas comparisons. It examines elements of organization both within and outside the school, and shows how they vary with the age, sex, ethnicity and social class of pupils, as well as school size and efficiency. It argues how, with understanding, organizational patterns may be changed to respond to new objectives and how they may become more effective and responsive to human needs in schools and classrooms.