Katherine A Ayers, Katherine Wade-Jaimes, Lei Wang, Robyn A Pennella, Stanley B Pounds
The St. Jude STEM Clubs: An Afterschool STEM Club for Upper Elementary School Students in Memphis, TN
Journal of STEM outreach
cognitive behavioral deficits associated air pollution exposure may farreaching negative effects childrens scholastic achievement moreover air pollution may conditioning success educational investments support students face greatest levels societal adversity study examined direct main effects cumulative neurotoxicological exposure annual reading improvement also tested statistical interaction ie moderation neurotoxicological exposure academic intervention sessions annual reading improvement large sample ethnic minority 95 elementary school children n 6080 k6th grade enrolled standard literacy enrichment program children behind grade level reading attended predominantly lowincome schools n 85 urban settings across state california multilevel modeling assessments accounted random effects associated school neighborhood environments incorporated extensive individual school community level covariates findings show individual elementary students color progress less reading exposed greater accumulations neurotoxin air pollution home school environments average deficit equivalent 15 weeks learning delay per year findings also show neurotoxicological exposure diminish efficacy literacy intervention sessions received reading improvement throughout school year results suggest pollution abatement salient strategy help bridge child educational achievement gap addition several methodological strengths study one first show ambient pollution undermine program efficacy literacy enrichment program