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By providing opportunities for closer youth-adult contact, exercising responsibility, performing community service, and learning practical skills, well-functioning youth groups create important educational occasions which are often lacking in school. To point out the overlooked features of traditional youth groups, researchers interviewed and surveyed the directors, leaders, members, and members' parents of two 4-H clubs, two Girl Scout troops, and two Boy Scout troops. All six groups served as channels to the adult world by increasing members' contact with responsible, civic-minded, generous, and concerned adults. Four-H provided the most extensive youth-adult network. The groups' main activity was the successful teaching of practical skills not taught anywhere else. Each group's history and leadership affected which skills they emphasized. While all groups taught members some leadership skills, the Boy Scouts provided an especially structured program of leadership and responsibility development to prepare boys for business and community leadership roles. The groups also socialized the members for adult service organizations and stressed voluntary community responsibility. Parents and children generally agreed on the groups' major goals and benefits. Parents found that the groups gave them occasions to educate their children and give their children a working ideology. (SB)

How to make learning more interesting is a basic challenge for school education. In this Finnish study, the international ROSE questionnaire was used to survey, during spring of 2003, the relationship between interest in biology and out-of-school experiences for 3626 ninth-grade pupils. Interest and experience factors were extracted by using the explorative factor analysis. Out-of-school, nature-related experiences, including watching nature programs on television, reading on nature from books or magazines, or having out-of-doors, nature-related hobbies were the most important factors correlating with interest in various contexts of human biology/health education like health and illness, personal appearance and fitness, human body in extreme conditions and in general biology like zoology, applied biology and genetics, and evolution. Out-of-school experiences in science and technology-related activities, such as using science kits and constructing models, had surprisingly the highest correlation with an interest in basic processes in biology, such as conceptually more abstract phenomena in ecology or cell biology. Design and technology-related experiences, such as using large tools, or experiences in using computers and mobile phones, were the least important factors to correlate with the studied interest contexts. More boys than girls were interested in basic processes of biology, while more girls than boys found human context interesting. When planning biology lessons and field work, it is important to connect pupils' out-of-school, nature-related hobbies and experiences to biology education, because they may represent longer-lasting personal interests. (Most of this paper is a summary of Uitto, Juuti, Lavonen, & Meisalo, 2006.)

This English textbook is designed for the seventh and eighth grades of the elementary school. Like Book One (ED623274) of the same series, it lays stress on spoken language and aims throughout rather to lead the pupils to see the value of correct and accurate language and desire to use it, than formally to cover any mapped-out field of knowledge. In respect to the various kinds of work included under the catch-all title of English, the intention has been to secure for each piece of literature an opportunity to make its own appeal and, secondly, to make clear to the pupils the very living and constant relation between literature and any honest effort of their own toward adequate expression. In the lessons in grammar as much use as possible of the text of the book is suggested as a practical means of showing this relation. In the treatment of written composition, the effort has been made to show' that it is possible to bring about a good degree of interest and efficiency without reliance upon "models'' drawn from literature. In regard to these points, however, as to all others, the effort has been to take no extreme position, but to furnish a variety of material and suggestion, assuming that teachers will select from both as they think good.

133 p. ; 19 cm

133 p. ; 19 cm

Two secondary out-of-school activities were evaluated to determine how well each met rigorous definitions of curriculum. It was found that the activities--a whitewater canoe trip and a series of 3 10-day expeditions to a boreal forest, a subarctic area, and a mountain setting--both met the criteria for curriculum including intent of the teacher to teach and of the student to learn, sustained application, ordered content, and seriousness attributed to the enterprise by the participants. However, the canoe trip is treated as noncurriculum by the school while the expeditions are treated as a proper part of the curriculum and called by a regular school subject title, Environmental Biology. If it strains the concept of curriculum too much to include activities having the attributes ascribed to education, but outside the recognized subject boundaries, then another conceptualization is needed to reflect the valuable impact that these activities have on the participants. The current practice of defining all such school activities negatively as noncurriculum fails to do them justice. The notion of curriculum needs to include educating activities that transcend the subjects and the school boundaries but otherwise meet rigorous criteria of education. (JHZ)

Environmental education resources are presented in three categories: (1) print materials; (2) non-print materials; and (3) physical resources. The print material category is subdivided into two sections: books, booklets, and card sets; and magazines, reports, and pamphlets. Entries, arranged alphabetically by title within each section, include grade application, suggested student and/or teacher use, focus in one or more subject areas, brief description, author (or source), publisher, estimated cost (when applicable), and other information. As an additional service, the section on books is cross-referenced according to a list of authors. The non-print resource category is subdivided into five sections: filmstrips/slides; films, videotapes/videocassettes, video-discs or laser discs; records and audio-cassettes; games and maps (including photosets, transparencies, and computer software); and multi-media resource kits. Entries, arranged alphabetically by title, include grade application, subject area focus, description, and source. Physical resources are arranged in alphabetical order by five, arbitrarily divided areas in Alberta (Northern, Edmonton, Central, Calgary, and Southern regions). These resources are actual locations to which students could be taken for out-of-school lessons. Title, type of facility (such as industry, natural area, camp/wilderness, tourist attraction, government facility), description, and location/contact are provided for each entry. (JN)

Considering the great impact the first PISA-results caused in Germany and Japan, this study seeks to provide an explanation for the continuous higher achievement rates of students in the PISA-winner country Japan compared to their German peers. Another great difference between the two participants that was detected in PISA is the correlation between students' social origin and educational achievement, which is still very strong in Germany but not in Japan. The author assumes the reason for these differences lay outside the formal school system, in the sector of shadow education. The so called juku-industry in Japan provides out-of-school lessons that seem to enable all Japanese students to achieve top results regardless of their social origin. In Germany the increased use of Nachhilfe is seen as an indicator for the downfall of the compulsory school system and a problem that seem to widen the gap in education levels all the more. If in Japan almost every household regardless of its social status sends its children to out-of-school classes, the assumption that people do invest in further education in terms of extra classes at juku believing this will have a neutralizing effect on disadvantaged family background suggests itself. Consequently the author intends to refute the prevailing assumption of researchers in Germany and Japan stating that out-of-school lessons just contribute to the reproduction of class structure. Using secondary data as well as PISA-data the author wants to show that shadow education helps to counteract educational disadvantages through the provision of various educational opportunities.

Events in the development of competency standards for the teaching profession in Australia are documented, including publishing articles and reports, conducting conferences, commissioning sets of standards, validating support for the competency framework, and promoting of standards by government and professional organizations. Competency-based approaches are also being promoted in Australia's vocational education and training sector as the way to increase the quality and quantity of workplace skills which in turn will lead to higher productivity and profitability. Issues that are being raised in the out-of-school vocational training sector, which may be relevant to colleagues associated with teacher education in the school sector, are discussed. These include definitions of competency; the relationship between competency standards and the curriculum; how competency is assessed; where assessment should take place and who should be the assessors; the need to recognize expertise and excellence; how assessment should be recorded and who should keep the records of competencies and qualifications; and the implications of this for industrial relations. (Contains 60 references.) (JDD)

This study, drawing on date from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009, examined the relationships of out-of-school-time mathematics lessons to mathematical literacy in Singapore and Australia. Results of two-level hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) analyses revealed that out-of-school-time enrichment lessons in mathematics were not significantly associated with mathematical literacy in Singapore and Australia. Out-of-school-time remedial lessons in mathematics were negatively associated with mathematical literacy in Australia, while such remedial lessons in mathematics were not significantly related to mathematical literacy in Singapore. Learning time in out-of-school-time lessons in mathematics was significantly negatively linked to mathematical literacy in Singapore and Australia. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Barriers to summer enrichment and learning experiences reinforce gaps in resources and opportunities in public education that face students from lower-income households. In a growing number of cities, new support structures are emerging to help parents overcome barriers to summer enrichment and learning for their children. These supports provide parents with coaches, often called navigators or advocates, who consult with parents on out-of-school learning for their children and other educational issues. In 2017, RESCHOOL Colorado introduced an employer-based navigator program to address barriers to out-of-school learning. Known as the Learner Advocate Network (LAN), the program provides one-on-one support for parents on all aspects of their children's learning. This report describes the implementation of the LAN between 2018 and 2019 and what it implies for expanding similar efforts elsewhere. Based on interviews with RESCHOOL leaders, advocates, and 33 participating parents, surveys of 49 participating parents (22 of whom answered the survey in 2018 and 2019), and observations of coaching meetings in 2018, the authors found: (1) Parents needed resources; (2) Parents wanted help with a range of education issues; and (3) LAN advocates tailored support to meet families' needs. The implementation of the LAN underscores the importance of providing financial support to parents to address barriers to learning and enrichment for their children. The program also highlights the benefits of pairing financial support with customized advice and expertise and trusting relationships. Advocates for the LAN and similar programs must keep this human element in mind as they look to extend and deepen the impact of navigator supports for parents. [For "Expanding Access to Out-of-School Learning: Lessons from Year 1 at ReSchool Colorado," see ED602941.]

Out-of-school time, especially in the summer, offers students an opportunity to explore new passions, build friendships and relationships, and experiment with independence. Taking field trips, visiting museums, and going to camp can all boost students' learning and social development. But engagement in and access to these vital opportunities are not equitable. Many parents, especially those who are new to the country or living in historically underserved communities, are unfamiliar with these opportunities or their potential value to their children. And these opportunities can often be expensive, costing anywhere from a few hundred dollars to even thousands of dollars, making it difficult if not impossible for less affluent children to participate. Even when interest and resources are not a barrier, information about when and where the opportunities exist and how to enroll children are often fragmented and difficult to find, leaving parents to rely on their informal social networks or their own legwork to track down information. In 2017 ReSchool Colorado launched a set of initiatives to expand access to out-of-school learning opportunities for children in the Denver area. This brief seeks to provide an initial, formative assessment of lessons learned in the first year of the initiatives, focusing on the core issues of families' expectations for out-of-school time, availability of programs across communities, and equitable access.