Sixty-eight percent of fourth-grade public school students in the United States performed below the National Assessment of Educational Progress proficient level on the 2022 reading assessment, yet Massachusetts fourth-grade students demonstrated better reading outcomes. The problem addressed through this study was a lack of knowledge regarding the…

School systems have the responsibility to promote student success and character education is one program used to help improve school climate. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the implementation of a school developed character education program and student perceptions of school climate in a city elementary…

This exploratory sequential mixed methods study aimed to understand teachers' perceptions of the impact of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) on school climate and student engagement, which is an area of study lacking in current literature. The research questions which guided the study were: What are teachers' perceptions of the connection between a…

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has spent over 2 decades researching the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL). The CASEL's (2020b) research revealed that the implementation of evidence-based SEL programs led to an 11% gain in student achievement, fewer behavior issues, reduced dropout rates, and…

This study describes the development of a 12-item inventory of school supports for military-connected (MC) children. Participants were 444 students (grades 3 or 5) with an active-duty military parent (48% female; 57.3% White, 10.7% Black, 6.2% Native American, 5% Asian, 3.3% Pacific Islander, 17.5% bi/multiracial; 19% Latinx). Youth completed the…

The researcher explored the impact of a student voice initiative (SVI), the Student Ambassador Council (SAC), on the social-emotional competencies (SECs) of middle school, 5th-8th grades students. Drawing upon the principles of youth empowerment, more specifically Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), and social-emotional learning (SEL), the…

The opportunity gap continues to widen in the U.S. education setting due to the ever-growing diversification of student populations resulting in part from increasing numbers of BIPOC students in schools. Meanwhile, most educators continue to be White middle-class females. In this study, fourth- and fifth-grade students at a K-8 charter school were…

The middle school transition year poses known challenges to early adolescent adjustment, particularly for students from ethnic and racial minoritized backgrounds who face ethnic and racial discrimination from school personnel and classmates. Drawing on a sample of 711 African American and Latinx sixth-grade students attending 17 schools, we…

Kids learn better and feel better about themselves in an atmosphere of safety and respect. This book shows you how to help students in grades three through six: (1) Foster kindness, compassion, and empathy; (2) Manage anger; (3) Prevent conflict; (4) Respond to conflict; (5) Address name-calling and teasing; (6) Deal with bullying; and (7) Accept…

The purpose of this cross-sectional study (n = 43764 in four cohorts/groups) is to uncover the values when learning mathematics that students at Religious Vocational Middle Schools (in Turkish: Imam-Hatip Middle Schools) where religious contexts and contents are taught intensively in Turkey. In this regard, the study investigates the mathematics…

There was a lack of empirical narratives from principals, and in particular, secondary principals in Texas, about the critical conditions and leadership modes within the 2019 Effective School Framework (ESF) designed by the Texas Education Agency. The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to understand how secondary principals seeking to improve…

Professional development training is a crucial aspect of educational institutions worldwide, but its role in shaping and enhancing school culture is not always well-defined. This study explores the effects of professional development training on student-to-staff connections, students' sense of security, and their perception of safety within a…

This study investigated whether a restorative practice initiative improved school climate. The study presents findings from a cluster randomized, controlled trial conducted with 2,248 students from grades 5 to 12 (38% Black, 32% Hispanic) attending 18 schools in the U.S. Northeast. After 1 year of implementation, the experimental analyses of the…

This study describes the development of a 12-item inventory of school supports for military-connected (MC) children. Participants were 444 students (grades 3 or 5) with an active-duty military parent (48% female; 57.3% White, 10.7% Black, 6.2% Native American, 5% Asian, 3.3% Pacific Islander, 17.5% bi/multiracial; 19% Latinx). Youth completed the…

Scholars have extensively researched leadership behaviors and traits in an effort to understand the phenomenon of organizational change and impact on student learning in educational settings. Leadership approaches identified by scholars include transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and laissez-faire leadership. This project is a…