By: Kristin Hill

There are many different programs out there to help students become better individuals and better students. I will be addressing three different programs out there for our students today.

1.Positive Action Program2.School Gardening Programs3.After School Homework Programs

This program is supported by the National Institute on drug abuse. It goal is to help cut down on substance abuse, violence, and early sexual activity in young people.

  PA (Positive Action) not only helps with drug

abuse and other similar problems, it also helps

student with test scores.

Positive Action Program

This program starts in the First grade and continues through senior year.

PA program enhances social behavior and academic achievements by focusing on responsible self management, getting along with peers, and self-improvement.

This structural equation analysis demonstrates how Positive Action can change the relationships between

common correlates of school achievement and student outcomes. This model also shows the relationships between student behavior and

achievement.

This is a great program that I really was happy to learn about. The fact that it is integrated throughout all grades is great. Positive Action actually help students learn academic subjects by providing them with a solid foundation of learning skills. If this program can help with substance abuse all the way to increasing student’s test scores this is definitely a program I would like to see get started in my community.

Gardening curricula is targeted for elementary students in particular, but it does continue though high school.

The purpose of having garden programs is for academic behavior, recreational, social, political, and environmental remediation.

It teaches kids a sense of belonging, self-esteem, and responsibility.

By Incorporating something fun like gardening, it gets kids more enthusiastic and excited for other classes which ultimately made test scores higher.

Studies also showed that areas of science achievement, food behavior, children’s environmental attitude, and social behavior all improved with school gardening.

I personally really enjoy gardening myself, so I believe this would be a great program to get started in schools. It not only teaches students about the environment and responsibility it also helps student’s better themselves individually. I remember being in school and it wasn’t always fun for me, so if programs like this exist they should definitely be used to help motivate students to want to learn and want to come to school.

This is a great program that gets students the help they need with homework, a location and time is provided to help students complete their homework, as well as instructional assistance.

Students doing their homework showed a 73% increase in test scores versus students that weren’t doing their homework.

After school homework programs not only provide students with the necessary environment to complete homework through staff, these homework programs also fostered students positive attitudes toward academic success through the development of study skills and by motivating students to be engaged in learning.

Homework programs are a great idea because this can help students get the questions answered they need they might not have got in class. I have been a tutor before and it’s very rewarding knowing you have helped out in some way. With these homework programs it gives students a sense of pride and really gets them the motivation they need to succeed.

After reviewing different programs such as: Positive Action, Gardening Programs, and After School Homework programs we can see that different programs that get students involved in education and learning can really influence how students learn and treat their education. Those were just three programs; there are hundreds more out there promoting the same thing and getting the same results. As a teacher I want to better myself and all the students, so knowing about all these different types of programs gives me ideas of how I’m may conduct my classroom. With the help of these programs, I believe it will lead to great success later in life.

(2009). Tools for Schools. Curriculum Review, 49(1), 4-5. Retrieved December 7, 2009, from Education Full Text database.

Blair, D. (2009). The Child in the Garden: An Evaluative Review of the Benefits of School Gardening. The Journal of Environmental Education, 40(2), 15-38. Retrieved December 7, 2009, from Education Full Text database.

Huang, Denise, and Jamie Cho. "Academic Enrichment in High-Functioning Homework Afterschool Programs." Journal of Research in Childhood Education 23.3 (2009): 382-92. Education Full Text. Web. 7 Dec. 2009.