From decades of recommendations, middle school advocates have recommended various organizational structures and instructional practices to meet the specific educational needs of young adolescents. Several notable national studies have sought to assess and report the status of implementation of these recommended practices, though largely from the…

Although School based agricultural education (SBAE) teachers have a variety of responsibilities within a comprehensive program, supervised agricultural experience (SAE) programs are considered an intracurricular component. Unfortunately, the ability for teachers to plan for and facilitate SAEs has been reported as lacking. The purpose of this…

In this article, we describe the positive outcomes emerging from a three-year implementation of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) in the first Italian implementation of the model. Both students and teachers benefitted from the positive experience of the SEM educational approaches to talent development which provides an educational experience…

Physical education is often viewed as a public health tool that can be used to increase the amount of physical activity young people engage in. However, not only should the amount of physical activity at school and in physical education lessons be increased, but students should also acquire the knowledge, skills, motivation and responsibility that…

Background: In response to escalating concerns about the pervasive use of digital media and research documenting the impact on adolescent well-being and academic performance, schools are exploring opportunities to reverse these concerning trends. Many schools respond with full or partial bans on social media use during the school day; however,…

Background: For years, physical activity settings had portrayed a discourse that does not allow to add new and different elements in its practice. This discourse established a status quo that has affected in many ways the structure, the pedagogy and practice of physical activity settings. This is the case of out-school programs. Purpose: The…

Research-practice partnerships play an important role in critically examining racial disparities in schools, as well as supporting the immediate adoption of practice improvement. This article outlines the results of a multisite case study with students, teachers, and administrators across two racially and ethnically diverse middle schools in the…

This study examined the impact of a classroom-level component of The Inclusive Skill-building Learning Approach (ISLA), an instructional and restorative alternative to exclusionary discipline, on student behaviors and school discipline practices in middle schools. Intervention implementation, classroom observations, and all other data collection…

The present study was carried out to examine the impact of the outdoor activity-based values education program on the effective citizenship values of sixth-grade secondary school students. In addition, the implementation process for the outdoor activity-based values education program was examined within the context of student, teacher, and parent…

Household Food Insecurity (HFI) is a frequent challenge for children living in poverty that impacts social, emotional, and behavioral development. Federally assisted meal programs, such as the National School Breakfast Program, address HFI for students living in poverty through free or reduced-price breakfast. However, there are challenges for…

Emotion regulation is a key developmental skillset, but many existing measures rely on self-report or laboratory-based measurement approaches. This study aimed to develop a training and implementation protocol for the widely used Facial Expression Coding System (FACES) to be used in real-world settings with pre-recorded video data. A revised…

As evidence-based interventions are scaled, fidelity of implementation, and thus effectiveness, often wanes. Validated fidelity measures can improve researchers' ability to attribute outcomes to the intervention and help practitioners feel more confident in implementing the intervention as intended. We aim to provide a model for the validation of…

Autistic youth frequently experience interfering anxiety, and schools may be an ideal setting to deliver mental health care. A type 1 hybrid-effectiveness, cluster randomized trial was used to examine the effectiveness of school-based Facing Your Fears compared to usual care. Change in provider cognitive behavior therapy knowledge and treatment…

Creating safe and supportive environments where students engage in prosocial behaviors is a priority and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) are used to achieve these goals. This study investigated relationships between PBIS fidelity, school climate, and office discipline referrals (ODRs). Participants were 204,701 students in…

The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of professional development (PD) and implementation fidelity on the performance of middle school students in mathematics within an online learning environment. Using a quasi-experimental design, the research compares educational outcomes between control and experimental groups…