The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a Tier 2 classroom-based motivational interviewing (MI) intervention--the Aspire Group Intervention (AGI)--designed for ninth-grade students identified as being at high risk for school dropout. The nine-lesson AGI curriculum was…

Contextualised learning is required for learners to master successfully the 'big ideas' of science and to perceive the relevance of science education. Science curricula can either foster or impair teaching for contextualised learning depending on what science they plan to be taught and the way they recommend this to be done. This paper presents an…

Background: Youth with ADHD are at risk of academic impairments, dropping out of high school, and dysfunction in young adulthood. Interventions delivered early in high school could prevent these harmful outcomes, yet few high school students with ADHD receive treatment due to limited access to intervention providers. This study will test a…

In this study, we employed a new instructional model that helps students develop scientific writing and presentation skills. Argument-driven inquiry (ADI) is one of the most novel instructional models that emphasizes the role of argumentation and inquiry in science education equally. This is an exploratory study where five ADI lab activities take…

The purpose of this study was to document the process one district used to design, develop, and implement a one-to-one pilot at its high school as part of its broader commitment to contemporary learning. Specifically, this qualitative case study (a) outlines the process of the laptop pilot, (b) describes the pilot implementation experience for…

Both autonomy and friendship quality have consistently been associated with adolescent adjustment. To date, the potentially moderating role of peer relationships in the context of autonomy achievement has received less attention. The present study used observational and quantitative data, as well as multiple reporters, to examine interactions…

The aim of this study is to understand the main principles of the CEFR and to what extent Anatolian High Schools' 9th grade EFL curriculum meet the principles advocated in that document. Hence, document analysis was used as a method to seek answers to the research questions set by a comparative analysis of the CEFR and Anatolian High Schools'…

This article describes Aspire, a new motivational interviewing (MI) early intervention program designed to prevent dropout among students repeating the ninth grade, and then examines the feasibility and acceptability of this program through a mixed-methods approach. The Aspire program is a nine-lesson curriculum grounded in MI with an emphasis on…

Longitudinal links between early childhood temperament, maternal sensitivity, and adolescents' adjustment have been proposed and found in several longitudinal studies, but the mechanisms of influence have not been explored. The authors examined the paths from maternal sensitivity and temperament in early childhood to adolescents' prosocial,…

By incorporating psychopathology and subjective well-being (SWB), the dual-factor model of mental health (DFM) can comprehensively measure psychological health. We examined the utility of the DFM among 1,293 Chinese adolescents (Grades 7-12). Furthermore, we examined the dynamics of mental health group membership via a two-wave longitudinal study…

Since 1986, Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) has conducted an annual attrition study to track the number and percent of students in Texas who are lost from public secondary school enrollment prior to graduation. The study builds on the series of studies that began when IDRA conducted the first comprehensive study of school…

The goal of this action research is to increase student awareness of context clues, with an emphasis on student use of visual cues in making predictions. Visual cues in the classroom were used to differentiate according to the needs of student demographics (Herrera, Perez, & Escamilla, 2010). The purpose of this intervention was to improve…

Student failure is a prominent issue in many comprehensive secondary schools nationwide. Researchers studying error, reliability, and performance in organizations have developed and employed a method known as critical incident technique (CIT) for investigating failure. Adopting an action research model, this study involved gathering and analyzing…

Since 1986, Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) has conducted an annual attrition study to track the number and percent of students in Texas who are lost from public secondary school enrollment prior to graduation. The study builds on the series of studies that began when IDRA conducted the first comprehensive study of school…

Within the African American community, African American males, arguably, experience a great deal of difficulty in the current educational system (Biggs, 1992; Kleinfeld, 1998a, 1998b; Kunjufu, 2005; Tatum, 2003; Wynn, 1992; Wynn, 2005). This study seeks to examine the role of culturally relevant texts and comprehension strategy instruction in the…