Research and Policy

Putting Research into Action To Bolster Policy and Practice

Making Waves has put substantive research into practice to help underserved students succeed in high school and college. The Making Waves Education Foundation has learned from a growing knowledge base in everything from out-of-school learning and use of school time to health supports and parent education. But it has also put to use its own hard-earned lessons, gained over 20 years of implementation, that constitute a valuable roadmap for policymakers and practitioners working to improve outcomes for underserved populations.

Teaching and Tutoring

What Research Says

Out-of-school tutoring programs have a particularly positive effect on the academic achievement of at-risk youth.

What Making Waves Does

Making Waves provides hours of intensive teaching and tutoring in small-group settings with highly trained tutors and instructors. The after-school and weekend education programs offer academic advising, subject-specific tutoring, and standardized test preparation.

Summer School

What Research Says

Student achievement decreases over summer vacation, particularly in math and spelling. Low-income students tend to lose ground in reading over the summer, while higher-income students tend to gain ground.

What Making Waves Does

Making Waves operates a Summer Academy for Wave-Makers in grades five through eight. Students in grades nine through 12 enroll in two three-week workshops. From September through June, Making Waves operates a Saturday Academy (providing 80 additional hours per year of academic learning) and a summer academy (providing an additional 120 hours).

Mental Health Services

What Research Says

The majority of U.S. schools (58 percent) report that financial constraints on families are a "serious barrier" to students' receiving mental health services. Nearly half report that inadequate school mental health resources are a serious barrier, according to the most recent federal study.

What Making Waves Does

Making Waves supplies students and their families with counseling and assessment in individual, group, and family settings. Therapists address issues involving grief, drugs, alcohol, domestic violence, educational challenges, and learning differences.

Nutritional Services

What Research Says

Studies indicate that children with low protein intake have lower achievement scores, and that students who skip breakfast perform less well on cognitive tests. Moreover, iron deficiency negatively affects attention span and concentration.

What Making Waves Does

Making Waves offers healthy meals and snacks, low in fat and sugar, to all students every day and to families on Saturdays. All meals exemplify a balanced diet and model a healthy eating regimen for students and families to implement.

Parent Education

What Research Says

Students with involved parents, regardless of income or background, are more likely than students with less-engaged parents to have higher academic achievement levels, as well as to graduate from high school and go on to post-secondary education.

What Making Waves Does

Making Waves brings parents and guardians into committed partnership with their students and the Making Waves programs through ongoing parent/guardian education courses.

College Support Services

What Research Says

Students who are first-generation college-goers lack knowledge about college selection, the application process, and financial aid; tend to be less likely to apply to college; and underestimate their ability to find resources to pay for college.

What Making Waves Does

Making Waves provides scholarships, admission and financial counseling, college tours, guidance during the selection process, advice on course work and major, and ongoing academic and social mentoring beginning with the school search and ending with a bachelor’s degree.