Bullying, a complex phenomenon impacting virtually every school, can be damaging both in the short term and long term (Nansel et al., 2001; Solomontos-Kountouri et al., 2017; Wolke et al., 2013). About 20% of students aged 12 to 18 years old report having experienced bullying while 20-25% of college students report having experienced bullying…

Throughout the history of higher education, students have engaged in activism, demanding that institutions become more and more equitable. This study shares data collected across Big10 institutions through the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership regarding trends in activism involvement, activism behaviors, and social issues around which those…

The current study investigated adolescents' (N = 213) decision finding processes and affective reactions to interactions on social media "via" 29 focus groups. As part of a larger study, adolescents participated in focus groups at two time-points across an academic year while participating in a school-based intervention promoting healthy…

This basic qualitative study examined the implementation of restorative practices (RP) in schools as an alternative to punitive discipline approaches like zero-tolerance policies. The study aimed to understand their perceptions of effective behavioral intervention approaches, the relationship between restorative practices and school climate, and…

The purpose of this descriptive study was to obtain a better understanding of the varying levels of exposure to trauma professional development and training within school settings and the reported impact of this professional development/training, specifically (a) what is the relationship between the level of exposure to trauma training/PD and the…

This narrative study explored the holistic, interconnected challenges that impact special education practitioners in three cross-categorical (CC) special education junior high classrooms in rural Central Illinois. Participants included three junior high school special education teachers, three special education administrators, and three junior…

Focus groups and interviews can help to determine teachers' perspectives on classroom management. The problem with special education in the United States is that teachers are not prepared for specific classroom challenges, and their perceptions of classroom management have not been thoroughly documented. Gaps in the literature included teachers'…

The purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs and perceptions of teachers and their view of social-emotional programs, specifically Second Step®, and its effect on students from low-income households. Given the current state of specific students who battle language barriers and poverty levels, some children are not taught critical thinking…

School districts historically approached conflict-resolution from a zero-sum perspective: suspend students seen as disruptive and potentially harm them, or avoid suspensions and harm their classmates. Restorative practices (RP) -- focused on reparation and shared ownership of disciplinary justice -- are designed to avoid this trade-off by…

This exploratory study expands the literature on teachers' natural use of praise and reprimand, in terms of how teachers deliver praise and reprimand. Sixty-six middle and high school teachers' delivery of praise and reprimand to individual, small groups, and large groups during a 20-min observation were examined. Teachers delivered significantly…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether pro-bullying attitudes mediate the relation between affective and cognitive empathy and a student's willingness to intervene in support of a bullied peer. Participants were 764 early adolescents (372 boys, 392 girls) from the Illinois Study of Bullying and Sexual Violence (ISBSV). As predicted,…

Paraprofessionals play a significant role in the education system. However, they often need more training on specific instructional strategies to use with the students they work with. In this study, we trained two paraprofessionals working in a self-contained U.S. elementary classroom for students with high-intensity behavioral support needs. Each…

The success of all students in schools, including students with learning differences, is contingent on how schools operationalize universally designed instruction, positive behavior support, and data-based decision-making for individualized and group-level interventions. When schools have fully functional multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS)…

This study explored students' perceptions of the library's impact on their academic success based on open-ended responses from a 2018 survey assessing student use and satisfaction. The qualitative findings demonstrated differences in the library resources students perceived as contributing to their achievements, based on such demographics as race,…

Researchers and policymakers have written extensively about the lack of evidence for the use of suspension and expulsion in schools and the disproportionate impact among racial and ethnic minorities and children in special education. As a result, states across the country have passed legislation to reform school discipline practices, with varying…