A qualitative study explored teacher-student relationships in classrooms for adolescents identified as emotionally disturbed or behaviorally disordered. These children are often the most difficult students to teach, but teachers who communicate caring can be powerful resources for children who feel frustrated, helpless, and angry. Previous…

This monograph discusses how to protect adolescents by addressing health behaviors. Data come from the Add Health Survey, a comprehensive school-based study of adolescents' health-related behaviors. Secondary students answered surveys about their lives, health, friendships, self-esteem, and expectations for the future. School administrators…

This book tells the story of a year in one middle school teacher's class full of lively young adolescents, highlighting exemplary ways of learning and types of schooling. This alternative model of education shows how a strong, supportive community is essential in helping students reach their highest potential. The book includes: specific projects…

This publication presents seven articles concerned with the education of students with disabilities or special talents who also have cultural or linguistic differences. Section 1 contains the following four articles: (1) "Code Switching: A Bridge or Barrier between Two Languages?" (Alejandro Brice and Linda I. Rosa-Lugo); (2) "Resistance Theories:…

Noting that during adolescence the importance of feeling intimate or close to a relationship partner (mothers, fathers, or friends) increases and that closeness to parents is associated with positive adolescent outcomes, this study examined how features of adolescent relationships are related to adolescents' experience of subjective closeness in…

Taped before an audience of teachers from around the country, this 65-minute videotape presents a discussion between James Comer and Chip Wood, noted experts in child development and education, in which they converse and respond to questions about critical issues confronting educators today. During the first part of the video, Comer and Wood…

This paper examines whether an illiterate worker's earnings are affected by the literacy of other members of the household. Theory suggests that a member of a collective-action household may or may not share knowledge with others in the household. Shared income gains from shared knowledge may well be offset by a shift in the balance of power…

This curriculum module explores genes, environment, and human behavior. This book provides materials to teach about the nature and methods of studying human behavior, raise some of the ethical and public policy dilemmas emerging from the Human Genome Project, and provide professional development for teachers. An extensive Teacher Background…

This booklet features eight K-6 teachers from the region served by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) whose work illustrates research-based principles of how children learn to read and write and the environments that support that learning. (These principles were presented as 13 core understandings about learning to read in…

This publication summarizes five works exploring the key role schools can play in dealing with emotionally disturbed students, in part because teachers are more reliable sources of information about troubled youths. The importance of interpersonal cognitive problem-solving (ICPS) skills is analyzed in "Preventing Violence the Problem Solving…

This paper describes an ongoing national survey to provide baseline data on mental health services delivered in public elementary, middle, and secondary schools. The survey will: (1) identify and describe models and arrangements for the delivery of mental health services and document which models are most prevalent; (2) identify and describe the…

This summary presents data from seven papers based on six different data sets (three national and three local). Data were collected for different purposes, in different years and places, using different interview techniques. Overall, nearly one in five adolescents has had sex before his/her 15th birthday. In early adolescence, being sexually…

This study examined the types of activities offered through Girl Neighborhood Power (GNP) and the extent to which low-income girls reported positive experiences and outcomes related to psychological, social, behavioral, and academic adjustment. Four communities implemented federally funded GNP programs, which provided various activities and…

Though the media depicts U.S. youth as more criminally prone than they actually are and highlights school shootings, schools are still one of the safest places for youth to be. This policy brief adds perspective to punitive school policies (e.g., zero tolerance policies that require suspension or expulsion) in the face of stable or declining rates…

One-hundred and sixty parents of students (ages 9 and older) who were part of an Indiana Alternative Residential Services (ARS) program were surveyed regarding their satisfaction with services received. At least one response came from 47 family units (46 mothers, 24 fathers, and 25 students). Parents completed the Parent's Stressors Scale, the…