Background: Summer camps can promote positive youth development. Unfortunately, racial, ethnic, and economic disparities contribute to inequities in camp participation and related research on marginalized youth. Consequently, it is not clear what types of camping programs work best for marginalized youth. Purpose: To conduct a quasi-experimental comparison of three summer camps described as experiential education camp (EEC), recreational camp (RC), and integrated didactic and experiential camp (IC). Methodology/Approach: Black and Latinx middle schoolers completed summer camps with the support of a community organization that also provided social-emotional learning classes during the school year. Findings/Conclusions: Dependent sample t tests and effect size comparisons on self-report collected before and after the camp showed that the EEC had small negative effects, the RC had neutral or mixed effects, and IC had positive effects. Implications: Overnight summer camp interventions can have a range of effects based on the type of activities and procedures. Outcomes may be improved by integrating didactic lessons with experiential education. Other explanations, such as positive behavioral supports and relationships with adults on the trip, could also account for differences in outcomes. Further research is needed to establish best practices for overnight camps to support the positive development of marginalized youth.

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Students who enter kindergarten without school readiness skills are more likely to demonstrate academic, behavioral, and social struggles during school. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are particularly at risk for underdeveloped school readiness skills, which can undermine academic achievement, and result in poor long-term outcomes. The purpose of this article is to synthesize literature that aligns with a widely used Office of Head Start’s model of school readiness, applied to children with ASD, and to present critical gaps in research and opportunities for practice that may improve school readiness in this population. Research in this area may ultimately help to enhance service delivery that improves preparation for school and, therefore, later academic and long-term life outcomes for students with ASD.

Students with autism may struggle to develop the academic skills necessary for success in school and beyond. Understanding and improving academic skills performance requires appropriate measurement approaches. One such option that has been minimally studied with students with autism is curriculum-based measurement (CBM). Coinciding with the need to study different approaches to academic skills measurement for students with autism was the global pandemic which forced a shift to remote service delivery with little warning. While some autistic students struggled with this shift, others thrived, raising questions about how to further support students with autism in virtual formats.The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of using remotely administered CBM for autistic students by studying both the practicality and acceptability of this approach. Five students with autism (Grades 2-5) participated in this pilot study, completing reading, math, and writing CBMs at three time points. Student behavior and assessor fidelity were collected to examine practicality; assessor ratings of usability provided insight regarding the acceptability of the approach. Results indicated that remotely administered CBM is feasible for some students with autism: all participants completed the study tasks with minimal behavioral difficulties, and assessor ratings of acceptability were high.