The purpose of this study was to determine whether a significant difference existed in the pretest/posttest self-reported academic and social-transitional anxieties of first-year community college students (n=356) at the start and at the end of their first semester of college enrollment. The study was conducted in the absence of a formal…

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the ideas and beliefs of high school science students (n=37) about the processes of observation in their learning of science, and how these students approached the task of observing during their science experiments. Findings include: many students saw observation as a teacher-directed process;…

Today's school children often come from homes that are dramatically different from those of 25 years ago. To help this new generation of students, many schools have developed advisor/advisee programs; tips on how a school can start such a program are covered in this booklet. Its main purpose is to outline the basic features of a successful program…

When students increasingly exhibited disruptive behavior at a particular school, a comprehensive multilevel discipline program was developed to respond to the students' behavior. The conceptual model and key intervention approaches used in this multilevel discipline program are described in this paper. Previous experience convinced school…

Based on a participant observation study of a full-day kindergarten in a North Carolina public school in 1994, this report argues that instructional transitions or classroom rituals act as rites of passage enabling children to disengage from their home roles, transition to school roles, and assume the moral identity of the student role. Portal…

Although college faculty often complain about class attendance, little data are available on why students miss classes and especially why absences are more common late in the semester. To explore this phenomenon, students' abilities to persevere in an academic setting and relate that to their actual attendance and performance in a college class…

Schools offer the possibility of providing safe, supportive structures for children whose lives have been marked by chaos. They can enable vulnerable children to develop competencies which can help to protect them from the effects of traumatic backgrounds. When a child's lived experience falls outside the boundaries of normative experience, as in…

This book was designed to answer the question, "What should schools do to minimize the likelihood of student suicide?" Written by professionals representing the fields of law, psychology, and education, the legal portion of the book addresses the issue of what should be done, the psychological section on what is to be done, and the…

This publication presents the proceedings of the invitational forum on student conduct and violence in schools in Canada. Participants identified several key issues related to student conduct and violence in schools. Those internal to schools include school climate, student values and attitudes, consequences of behavior, and peer culture. Issues…

In an effort to determine the underlying roots of kindergartners' unruly behavior during dismissal time, this study examined the children's conversational topics during classroom dismissal routines. Using participant observation as the primary method of data collection, researchers observed seven dismissals, each lasting approximately 45 minutes,…

The ways that high school staff value, use, and share information about student background, performance, and behavior are an essential component of school improvement, especially in decisions involving the placement, instruction, and progress of disadvantaged students. Using survey data from seven high schools, the study summarized in this report…

Many schools have been dealing with youth suicide and other death-related issues. From the experiences of the schools and other community organizations have emerged workable practices and procedures which can be implemented for general use. Schools can now develop and implement comprehensive plans to deal with death issues using a variety of…

When beginning or experienced teachers lack control over pupils in their classrooms, they do not experience job satisfaction and become increasingly ineffective in their classroom work. Based on a review of the literature, this paper provides: (1) practical, workable strategies to assist experienced and inexperienced teachers to become more…

This study investigated the correlation between attendance and grade point average among high school juniors, hypothesizing that there would not be a significant correlation between the two. The sample consisted of 32 students randomly selected from among 172 high school students enrolled in a Chicago public school during school years 1995-1996…

This study collected information regarding the direct and indirect management techniques employed by elementary teachers to control inappropriate student behavior and its relationship to discipline referral rates. The study also examined whether effective management techniques affected student on-task rates. A group of 270 elementary school…