This analysis of the Harlem Children’s Zone, a charter school that offers extensive student, parent, and community supports as part of its overall education mission, finds that the program improves student achievement to the point of narrowing the black-white achievement gap by half in reading and closing it completely in mathematics at the middle school level.
Providing The Educational Opportunities That Change Lives
Research Summaries
The following summaries provide greater insight into the growing research supporting Making Waves’ approach to educating underserved students. Included with each summary is a link where you can learn more information. Note that some reports may require subscription or payment to read the report in full.
Community Schools
Are High Quality Schools Enough to Close the Achievement Gap? Evidence from a Social Experiment in Harlem
Will Dobbie, Roland G. Fryer, Jr, The National Bureau of Economic Research, 2009
Community Schools - Producing Results that Turn Around Failing Schools
The Coalition for Community Schools, 2009
The Coalition for Community Schools, an alliance of national, state, and local organizations, produced this national overview of community schools and their academic and social successes. The paper profiles individual schools and highlights their efforts and results, including after-school tutoring, parent outreach and education, reduced behavior problems, and increases in attendance and graduation rates.
Confronting the Urban in Urban School Reform
Pedro Noguera, School of Education, University of California, Berkeley, 1996
In this report, noted community schools expert Pedro Noguera discusses the pivotal role public schools play in urban communities and their potential to revitalize those communities by providing social services to students and their families. He frames this discussion through the efforts of Lowell Middle School’s efforts to build stronger connections to their community in Oakland, Calif.
Summer Learning
Lasting Consequences of the Summer Learning Gap
Karl L. Alexander, Doris R. Entwisle, Linda Steffel Olson, Johns Hopkins University, 2007
This report finds that differences in summer learning (the amount that students learn and retain over vacation) are a significant contributor to the gaps in high school achievement, graduation rates, and college attendance rates between lower-income and higher-income students.
Effective and Promising Summer Learning Programs and Approaches for Economically-Disadvantaged Children and Youth: A White Paper for the Wallace Foundation
The Wallace Foundation, 2009
This review of research on summer education programs finds that they can have a significant effect on student achievement, particularly in reading. It also finds that programs targeted at urban, low-income youth are most effective when they include parent education and the community as a whole.
Out-Of-School Time
Making the Case: A 2009 Fact Sheet on Children and Youth in Out-of-School Time
National Institute on Out of School Time, 2009
This review of research on after-school tutoring programs demonstrates their effectiveness in improving student achievement, particularly for at-risk youth. It also highlights research showing the beneficial effects on student behavior, self-esteem, and the community as a whole and notes key issues regarding staffing and funding that must be resolved in moving forward.
Evaluations Backgrounder: A Summary of Formal Evaluations of the Academic Impact of Afterschool Programs
The Afterschool Alliance, 2008
This summary of studies on after-school programs notes findings surrounding school attendance, student performance, and the impact on at-risk youth. It also specifies the characteristics of after-school programs that are most effective and provides detailed overviews of individual reports.
The cost of changing lives? Lessons from the Making Waves Foundation
What does it cost to provide poor children with good schools and supports for their lives outside them? Not as much as you might think.
College Prep Programs
Strategies for Success: High School and Beyond
Barbara Schneider, The Brookings Institution, 2003
In this series of analyses, Barbara Schneider attempts to identify what kinds of school characteristics lead to higher numbers of students attending postsecondary institutions. She finds that schools can significantly improve college-attendance rates, particularly among minority students, through college-prep programs that, for example, provide students with help for the college admissions process and financial aid applications.
From High School to the Future: Potholes on the Road to College
Melissa Roderick, Jenny Nagaoka, Vanessa Coca, Eliza Moeller, The Consortium on Chicago School Research, March 2008
This study, part of a larger analysis of the postsecondary experiences of Chicago Public School students, finds that many students are unprepared for the challenges of applying for postsecondary education. Of all the Chicago students reporting that they hope to attend a four-year college, only 41 percent take the necessary steps to enroll. The numbers are even lower for minority students, indicating that young people need significant assistance to help them achieve their postsecondary goals.
Parent Education
Transforming Urban Schools through Investments in the Social Capital of Parents
Pedro Noguera, contained in Social Capital and Poor Communities, Russell Sage Foundation Publications
In this chapter from a collection of essays on building school communities, Pedro Noguera asserts that when schools reach out to the parents of their students, the school, its students, and the community as a whole benefit. He argues that urban schools need to be more responsive to the needs and concerns of parents and build a greater sense of trust.
First in My Family: A Profile of First-Generation College Students at Four-Year Institutions Since 1971
Victor Saenz, Sylvia Hurtado, Doug Barrera, De’Sha Wolf, and Fanny Yeung, The Foundation for Independent Higher Education, 2007
This analysis of the characteristics of first-generation college students (students whose parents did not attain a postsecondary degree) reveals a correlation between these students and key factors linked to academic success, including encouragement from teachers, guidance counselors, the community, and parents.
The Relationship between Parental Involvement and Urban Secondary School Student Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis
William Jeynes, Urban Education, 2007
This analysis of over 50 studies on the impact of parental involvement on student achievement finds that it has a significant effect, particularly in secondary education, indicating that engaging parents is a key component to student success. The effect is equally strong for white and minority children.
Health Supports
The Relative Health Burden of Selected Social and Behavioral Risk Factors in the United States: Implications for Policy
Peter Muennig, Kevin Fiscella, Daniel Tancredi, Peter Franks, American Journal of Public Health, 2007
An analysis by Columbia University finds that social indicators such as poverty and dropping out of high school can have just as negative an effect on individuals’ health as smoking or obesity. The article brings attention to the numerous health problems and barriers that our nation’s poor encounter on a daily basis.
Active Hours Afterschool: Childhood Obesity Prevention & Afterschool Programs
The Afterschool Alliance, 2006
This issue brief outlines the nutritional crisis affecting America’s youth and its numerous health and economic costs. It also highlights the impact that after-school programs can have on improving student nutrition and provides examples from around the country of successful ways to improve children’s dietary and exercise habits.
A Collaborative School-Based Mental Health Program that Helps Students Succeed
Rebecca A. Newgent, Larry W. Featherston, Charles E. Stegman, and Sang Min Lee, Educational Research Service, 2009
This study analyzes the results of a comprehensive mental health program that helps schools identify at-risk students, improve behavior, educate parents, and support mental health education. After three years, the study finds that the program has helped these students succeed and offers recommendations on how to further improve these supports.
Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Dropping Out: A Fact Sheet
National High School Center, 2009
This publication demonstrates the link between mental health problems and high school dropouts, as well as the lack of resources in schools and districts for treating such problems in students. It concludes that more mental health supports in schools could help reduce dropout rates and improve student achievement for at-risk youth.
"The work that we do creates positive disturbances or positive movement in our students’ lives and in our communities. We seek change in our society; the status quo is not acceptable. We seek to be agents of beneficial change for our children and the communities we serve. Most importantly, we strive to instill in our children the awareness that they are gifted and have a responsibility to share their gifts and thereby make a difference in their lives and the lives of others."
Contact Making Waves Foundation
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Richmond, CA 94806
Phone: (510) 237-6027
Fax: (510) 237-6538