When analyzing student reflection assignments from a mandatory research methods course, the authors were struck by the tension between students' own approaches to learning and the challenges, uncertainties, and frustrations accompanying their efforts. Students' ideas about what constitutes learning, how learning is to be done, and how they…

This essay critically reviews the application of Invitational Education (IE) beyond classrooms and schools by examining the activities of an educational volunteer program (The Atherton Gardens Homework Support Program). The authors advocate that in order to have a meaningful effect, IE needs to be implemented along with principles of other…

The student climate survey provides the opportunity to monitor students' opinions regarding topicssuch as behavioral environment, adult fairness and respect, student academic self-confidence, teacher expectations, student engagement, and social emotional learning (SEL) skills. This report examines differences in survey responses by student groups…

The student climate survey provides the opportunity to monitor students' opinions regarding topics such as behavioral environment, adult fairness and respect, student academic self-confidence, teacher expectations, student engagement, and social emotional learning (SEL) skills. This is a technical report on results from the 2016-2017 student…

According to neutralization theory, to justify unethical behavior delinquents often embrace strategies that deflect personal responsibility for their actions from them and toward other persons or contextual factors outside their control. Drawing on neutralization theory, this case study explores how middle school students endorsed comparable…

This study explores the effects of school-level characteristics on North Carolina students' reading and math achievement from fourth through eighth grade, focusing on the relationships between achievement and the racial and poverty composition of schools. After creating race-by-poverty cohorts of schools, I use multilevel models to examine math…

This paper identifies three noncognitive domains relevant for academic achievement in K-12-- student engagement, behavioral learning strategies, and school climate. The paper also documents empirical findings that show relationships between these three noncognitive domains and academic achievement, especially in the areas of reading and…

This article investigates China's middle school and secondary school teacher expectations of student book use as an aspect of learning environments. A questionnaire was used to probe the following teacher expectations: physical accessibility of books, homework, mastery of texts and types of extra-curricular reading materials. Results showed…

The effects of classroom assessment environment (CAE) variables on yearly achievement in mathematics and science in grades 7 through 12 were studied through the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY), using cohorts of approximately 3,000 students each in the 7th and 10th grades who were followed for 4 years. While the LSAY did not include all…