Based on data from China Education Panel Survey, this article examined the impact of teacher gender on student human capital development at the junior secondary education level. The research findings showed that female teachers were more capable of promoting cognitive and non-cognitive ability development of both girl and boy students than their…

Beliefs about academic functioning play an important role in the academic development of students. This study considers perceptions about underachievement, that is, the degree to which accomplishments are believed to be in line with potential. In particular, we examined why these perceptions might deviate from measured underachievement, determined…

Previous studies show that girls have a lower scientific self-concept than boys. Since interest starts declining over the course of lower secondary school, this exacerbates the issue that fewer girls aspire to choose a scientific profession. In this article, we present the concept of scientific profile classes. Profile classes pursue the goal of…

Some assert that middle school should be the stage in an individual's educational trajectory where they begin to make plans for the future. For many young men of color, middle school becomes a stage where they begin to get off track academically. This is the story of Escobar Cruz, a young Latino male student, and his navigation through the 7th…

Interactions between teachers and students contribute to the quality of the classroom setting and growing evidence that the affective undertone of these interactions matters when considering outcomes for both the students and the teachers they serve. Although numerous measures of teacher-student interactions exist, relying on self-report or…

This paper investigates the growth of early adolescent self-esteem and self-concept as students progress through the middle level years (sixth through eighth grade). Based on mixed method longitudinal research conducted from 2004 to 2007, the study's findings suggest that this sample of 104 urban students' self-esteem changed most significantly…

New Jersey After 3 (NJ After 3) is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to expand and improve afterschool opportunities for New Jersey's youth. Using both public and private resources, it supports a network of youth-service providers that deliver afterschool services based on NJ After 3's program model. Under an agreement with NJ…