Are middle schools ill-suited for early adolescents, or can school characteristics account for any differences in student functioning? Achievement, school engagement, and perceived competence of children starting middle schools in 5th and 6th grades were compared to those of their same-grade peers in elementary schools in a national, longitudinal…

This commentary frames the importance of the topic of this special issue by highlighting the changes that have occurred in school systems around data use, particularly in large urban districts, and the need for a more rigorous evidence base. Collectively, the articles in this volume provide a jumping-off point for such a research agenda around…

The first decade of the 21st century has been one of slow growth for education institutions, and that is reflected in the enrollment numbers of the nation's 100 largest school districts. The combined enrollment of those districts grew nearly 21 percent from 1990-91 to 2000-01; from 2000-01 to 2010-11, the student population in those districts'…

Background: In this paper we call for studying school leadership and its relationship to instruction and learning through approaches that highlight the role of configurations of multiple organizational supports. A configuration-focused approach to studying leadership and other essential supports provides a valuable addition to existing tools in…

Background: In this paper we call for studying school leadership and its relationship to instruction and learning through approaches that highlight the role of configurations of multiple organizational supports. A configuration-focused approach to studying leadership and other essential supports provides a valuable addition to existing tools in…

Background: In 2004, Congress passed legislation mandating that all public school districts participating in federal school meal programs develop a school wellness policy (SWP) to direct efforts related to nutrition and physical activity. We examined the extent to which SWPs varied in comprehensiveness and strength in a representative sample of…

With Response to Intervention (RTI) increasingly used for identification for special education services, interventions are systematically being implemented and evaluated to improve achievement for students with disabilities. This descriptive study provides baseline data on RTI interventions and tiered instruction from 15 school districts (5 large,…

The educational resources of schools play an important role in order to diminish the effect of socioeconomic features on academic achievement, and create equal opportunities for students. In this sense, it is highly crucial to investigate the relationship between the educational resources of schools and the academic achievement of students. This…

Set in the context of a choice-saturated public school system, this study examines the school choice process of low-income parents who participated in Louisiana's 2008 voucher program. Based on semistructured interviews with 16 parents at 1 Catholic school, we report that spirituality, small class and school size, character/values, familiarity,…

Sexual minority youth are at risk for negative school-based experiences and poor academic outcomes. Yet, little is known about their experiences in positive school-based contexts. Using the "National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health" (1,214 sexual minority and 11,427 heterosexual participants), this study compared participation…

This correlation research study examined school and teacher characteristics in relationship to the academic performance of students in elementary schools in South Carolina. The school characteristics examined in this study were school size, poverty, minority level, and student teacher ratio. The teacher characteristics examined in this study were…

This is the second part of a series on Web 2.0 tools available from community college libraries' Websites. The first article appeared in an earlier volume of this journal and it illustrated the wide variety of Web 2.0 tools on community college libraries' Websites serving large student bodies (Blummer and Kenton 2014). The research found many of…

This research study examined the impact of the size of accredited public associate degree-granting community and technical colleges on institutional characteristics and behaviors that support general education programs. Further, it sought opinions of the chief academic officers (CAOs) of these institutions regarding key elements of their general…

This article presents lists of the top ten schools with most students, largest enrollment, and other categories for 2011 in the U.S. The school districts with most student for 2010-2011 are New York City with 1,043,886 followed by Los Angeles with 667,251, Chicago with 403,770 and down to the 10th spot Orange County (Fla.) with 175,986. The…

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the Census of Governments and the Annual Surveys of State and Local Government Finances as authorized by law under Title 13, U.S. Code, Sections 161 and 182. The Census of Governments has been conducted every 5 years since 1957, while the annual survey has been conducted annually since 1977 in years when the Census…