The overuse and misuse of exclusionary and punitive discipline practices in schools have been consistently linked to social and educational inequities across the globe, particularly for students of color. However, there is an ongoing need for a greater understanding of how school climate factors (e.g., adult-student relationships, racial climate)…

This qualitative study examined the complexities of mutually engaging across differing positionalities (students and students, students and teacher) while intentionally working in spaces of distress (e.g. push and pull between oppression and liberation). The findings demonstrated the ways in which building a beloved community while situated within…

School counselors help foster student's academic, social, and career development; yet, school counselors are often neglected in research on school climate and student safety. Framed by the theory of planned behavior, this study examined how 206 school counselors' multicultural counseling competence, multicultural self-efficacy, and perceptions of…

This study is an exploration of how English as a second language (ESL) teachers relate their ethnic and social backgrounds to instructional practices. Fifty-seven ESL teachers from inner-city junior high schools of Los Angeles responded to a questionnaire, interviews and provided self-written perspectives on how their personal histories mediated…

Searching for ways to help students feel more connected to one another and to the school community as a whole, a junior high school implemented the social house approach. Social houses divide students into multiple social units, rather than into separate academic entities. Each unit has its own identity and theme.The different groups mix during…

Reports a study that examined acculturation and its association with smoking and other correlates of smoking for Latino seventh graders. Students completed surveys on demographics, smoking prevalence, parent attitudes, and acculturation. Results indicated that as young Latinos became more acculturated, psychosocial influences on smoking changed…

The effects of school policy on cigarette smoking among seventh graders were investigated in this study. All of the schools involved had restrictive smoking policies and many had smoking prevention education plans. Although punitive measures were found to have no effect, smoking policy generally was found to decrease adolescent smoking. (AF)

This document presents findings of a study that examined the extent to which middle-grade reforms in California actually affected the restructuring of middle-level education throughout the state. The California Middle Grades Task Force's report, "Caught in the Middle," led to the creation of the California Middle Grades Reform Model,…

Reports a study that evaluated teacher influence and impact in a middle school abstinence sex education program, noting pre-post change, teacher differences, and student differences. Surveys indicated abstinence sex education programs can produce positive outcomes that are significantly influenced by the teacher's own philosophy and commitment to…

The Accelerated Math and Science (AMS) Project is a 3 year program funded by the California Migrant Education Program Improvement Program. It targets 6th, 7th, and 8th grade low-achieving migrant students who are 2 to 4 years behind their language peer group. Two questions guided the second year evaluation study for the Region IX Migrant Education…

The workplace research of Sylvia Scribner provides a model with which to study relationships between socially and institutionally organized practices and individual cognitive processes as well as to explore relationships between practices and processes in writing and the teaching of writing. Observations and conversations in one inner-city,…

This study was designed to compare (on locus of control and several achievement variables) middle school students who have been instructed for two semesters in a cooperative learning study skills class with those who have been instructed for two semesters in a competitive study skills class. Seventy-six eighth graders were given a semester of…

A middle school reform initiative, sponsored by the Program for Disadvantaged Youth of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation 4 years ago, has taken hold in 12 urban middle schools nationwide. The article discusses that reform, noting the lessons about change to accommodate student diversity that urban middle schools can teach. (SM)

Maintains that educational reformers need to examine the past to understand why middle schools have not succeeded with Mexican Americans, and argues that current school reform does not depart radically from early 20th-century logic and practice. Presents current research and policy in a historical perspective. Describes Project Theme, a…

Juvenile gang activity is not limited to low-income, inner-city youth. In February 1990, suburban Santa Rosa (California) junior high school curbed emergent gang-related activities on campus. Action plan depended on positive school climate emphasizing safety and security, early identification of gang members and possible recruits, intervention…