Despite increased professional attention to the role of culture in school environments, implications of the construct for student behavior remain underexamined. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, I examine factors that contribute to the overrepresentation of black male students in school exclusion rates from a cultural perspective.…

Epilepsy is one of the most common diseases to affect the human nervous system, affecting approximately 0.5% of school-age children (Leppik, 2001; Kaleyias et al., 2005). Epilepsy has the potential to profoundly impact a child's adjustment to school. A large body of literature documents that children with epilepsy are at an increased risk for…

This book was written in response to feedback from volunteer teachers who feel that the time spent dealing with classroom management issues detracts from the time they spend actually teaching the content. Volunteers and staff members provided practical strategies for dealing with the most commonly reported challenges. Chapters include teaching in…

A positive school climate is an important component of successful and effective schools and thus is often an aim of schoolwide initiatives. Climate has traditionally been conceptualized as a school-level factor and is often assumed to be related to other school-level factors (e.g., school size). The current study examines variation in perceptions…

Conscientious educators grapple with the challenge of teaching all students, including emotionally troubled, high risk students. The general expectation is that teachers should know how to reach and teach every student--even the most irritating and obstinate child. To do that, teachers must be able to identify basic psychological factors of…

Maintaining well-disciplined schools is becoming more difficult in today's educational system, and problem behavior or lack of school discipline is reaching crisis proportions. Nationally recognized author and educator Geoff Colvin provides the "what's," "why's," and "how's" for establishing an effective discipline program while promoting an…

Thousands of schools throughout the country are now implementing School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) as a way to improve school culture, safety, and climate. Research is needed to assess the effects of implementing SWPBS on (a) teacher stress and (b) teacher efficacy. The present pilot study provides a preliminary study of these…

This study investigated preservice science and mathematics teachers' perspectives regarding classroom management difficulties. It was carried out with two aims in mind: first, to determine the preservice science and mathematics teachers' attitudes and beliefs of classroom management, and second, to reveal their perceptions of classroom management…

Oshima, Raju, Flowers, and Slinde (1998) described procedures for identifying sources of differential functioning for dichotomous data using differential bundle functioning (DBF) derived from the differential functioning of items and test (DFIT) framework (Raju, van der Linden, & Fleer, 1995). The purpose of this study was to extend the…

This study examined the efficacy of an after-school program, the Challenging Horizons Program (CHP), that met four days a week and focused on improving organization, academic skills, and classroom behavior. The CHP was compared with a community control that included involvement in a district-run after-school program that met one to three days a…

Teachers are often ill-prepared to manage classrooms in urban schools. In the present study, an empirically-based behavioral management strategy, the Good Behavior Game (Game), was investigated. The effects of the Game on student behavior and teacher response statements, including praise, were examined. A teacher with 22 students in a first grade…

This guide introduces behavior management strategies within the broader context of a comprehensive early intervention program, the CO-TEACH Model. It describes practices that teach desirable alternatives to child misbehavior and that avoid opportunities for inappropriate behavior to occur. An introductory section on positive behavior management…

This brief guide notes the effectiveness of self-management strategies in increasing students' responsibility for their own learning and behavior, heightening student motivation and self-esteem, and reducing demands on the teacher's time. A strategy is outlined to help students increase their on-task behavior, by having students chart, correct,…

School refusal behavior refers to child-motivated refusal to attend school and/or difficulty attending classes for an entire day (Kearney & Silverman, 1996). As such, the term represents an umbrella construct for many historical ones that have been used to describe youths with problematic absenteeism, including truancy, psychoneurotic truancy,…

Introduction to "Students and Drug Abuse, prepared by the Public Information Branch and Center for Studies of Narcotic and Drug Abuse, National Institute of Mental Health, in cooperation with the staff of Today's Education.