Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the 3-year trajectory of students' interest in learning physical activity (PA) knowledge during middle school and the effects of gender and prior knowledge on the trajectory. Methods: Using a repeated-measures design, a cohort of 447 sixth-grade students' interest in learning PA knowledge was…

As writing is a complex and resource demanding task, high-quality writing instruction is indispensable from primary grades on to support beginning writers in developing effective writing skills. Writing research should therefore provide teachers and schools with evidence-based guidelines for teaching writing in daily practice. In this respect, the…

To better address the many consequences of peer victimization, research must identify not only aspects of individuals that put them at risk for victimization, such as aggression, but also aspects of the context that influence the extent of that risk. To this end, this study examined the contextual influences of gender, same-sex peer group norms of…

Given their significance to school violence, this study quantifies the association between bullying victimization and perceptions of safety separately for victimization where the type is not specified versus victimization that is physical in nature. Generalized liner mixed modeling was employed with 5,138 sixth- to eighth-grade students in 24…

This study examines the nature and implications of peer academic reputations in math and science classes for early adolescents' achievement beliefs and behaviors. The sample was 840 students (51% girls; 36% African American, 47% European American, 7% Latino, 6% Asian American, and 3% Other). About half the sample (47%) was from 27 fifth-grade…

This study analyses the effects of school resources on student mathematics achievement in Zimbabwe using a 3-Level Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM). The major findings of the research are that a teacher trained in the relevant subject, class size, having a highly qualified school head and having a generally high resource endowment at school level…

The trajectory of early adolescents' popularity goal during the transition to middle school was examined in a diverse sample of 401 students. Popularity goal was assessed at five time points from the spring semester of fifth grade through the spring semester of seventh grade with the transition to middle school occurring between the fifth and…

This study examined the role that everyday academic successes and failures--and the interactions with family members and peers that follow these events--play in predicting day-to-day changes in children's emotional responses to school. Middle school students (N = 101; mean age = 11.62 years) completed daily assessments of their academic…

Students become increasingly disconnected from their schools across the middle school years, but little is known about the factors contributing to changes in school connectedness. This study examined the time-invariant and time-varying roles of depressive symptoms and externalizing problems in trajectories of student-perceived school connectedness…

This study aimed to explore the cross-lagged association of achievements in mathematics and languages. While the effect of language on achievements in mathematics is well-documented, few studies have examined the reciprocal relationships among mathematics, the Chinese language and the English language in the same study. This study conducted a…

Little is known about factors other than students' abilities and background variables that shape teachers' achievement expectations. This study was aimed at investigating the role of teachers' perceptions of students attributes (working habits, popularity, self-confidence, student--teacher relationships, and classroom behavior) in shaping…

The current study examines data from students in grades 4-8 who participated in a statewide computer-based benchmark writing assessment that featured automated essay scoring and automated feedback. We examined whether the use of automated feedback was associated with gains in writing quality across revisions to an essay, and with transfer effects…

This dissertation is comprised of three manuscripts and presents a line of research aimed at improving the measurement of bullying in schools. The first manuscript investigated the impact of an educational video on self-reports of bullying. A sample of 1,283 middle school students in randomly assigned classrooms either watched or did not watch an…

This article reports the findings of a study examining independent variables that contributed to the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) achievement of students with reading difficulties who participated in a technology-enhanced astronomy curriculum. The curriculum incorporated key elements of the Universal Design for Learning…