This study evaluated the effectiveness of a positive behavior support (PBS) intervention in a rural elementary school. Through this use of clear, consistent behavioral expectations, grade-level assemblies, and complimentary reinforcement, there was a substantial improvement in hallway behavior, with an overall increase of 134.9% for compliance…

Across the U.S., more than 24 million students begin and end their school days on buses. In most cases, the driver is the only adult on board. To transport students safely, the driver must watch the road, not the riders, during most of the trip. Although bus drivers have mirrors and usually see fights, they can easily miss pushing, shoving, and…

This study of 282 dyads examines early- and mid-adolescents' perceptions of friendship quality and their association with daily disagreements, self- and mother reports of behaviour problems, and school grades. Actor and partner analyses identify unique associations between perceptions of friendship quality and perceptions of daily conflict. Actor…

The belief that schools can play a powerful role in preventing tobacco use among adolescents has led to the implementation of various tobacco-related polices and practices. This study examines the association between school policies regarding monitoring student behavior, severity of action taken for infraction of policies, and tobacco use by…

Several recent studies indicate that cheating has become both more prevalent and more socially acceptable. In this article I draw parallels between market values and student attitudes about cheating. They include: (1) reduction of a broad range of goods to their economic value, (2) use of non-reciprocity as a guiding principle, (3) valuing the…

This study examined the impact of different student academic profiles on students' perceptions of school functioning within a modified alternating day, block-8 (A/B) schedule. Five academic profiles of students were identified using reports of their grades, satisfaction with their achievement, attributions of success to effort or ability,…

Bullying, drug use, sex--curious about whether or not these news-making trends describe a teacher's middle school students? And if so, how do they affect the classroom? This article presents an interview with Linda Perlstein, a reporter who spent a year attending classes at Wilde Lake Middle School in Maryland to find out what really is going on…

The aims of this study were to characterize the spontaneous physical activity of children during school recess, and to estimate variation in physical activity associated with gender and age. A MTI actigraph (Model 7164) was used with a sample of 140 boys and 131 girls, 6 to 10 years of age. MTI counts were converted to METs using a regression…

While the majority of students in schools tend to respond to effective general academic instruction and proactive schoolwide discipline systems, some continue to exhibit intense and chronic problem behaviors, even in the best schools. For these students, schools are highly variable in their ability and capacity to provide accurate and durable…

This article reports the findings from a longitudinal study investigating the influence of phonological processing and inattentive behavior on reading acquisition. Data from individually administered measures of phonological processing and reading, as well as teacher ratings of children's behavior, were collected from a cohort of 132 children at…

Characterisations of "the Chinese learner" in education and applied linguistics have frequently taken a "large culture" approach, which involves describing the values, attitudes and learning practices of individuals in terms of fixed, homogeneous, reified national cultures. A shared Confucian cultural heritage is offered by way…

An article in the December 15, 2003, issue of "Time" magazine--"Does Kindergarten Need Cops?"--described what it called an "alarming trend" of violence, profanity and "other outrageous acts" by children in kindergarten and first grade. The article, based on a regional study conducted by Partnership for…

This two-phase study, conducted in religious and secular high schools, investigated the attitudes of teachers and students to disruptive behaviour. The first phase examined a religious school, then applied the same research tools to a secular school. It was assumed that differences of attitude would be found, with teachers viewing disruptive…

The problem of student discipline disproportionately affects urban schools with large numbers of low income and ethnic minority students. Research over the past 35 years however has consistently shown that discipline policies that are understood and accepted by teachers, students, and parents and consistently enforced by school officials,…

Student resistance can be a very important problem for the instructors in universities. Student resistance includes the conscious and preplanned behaviors towards the information presented to them in the classroom and the institutional practices. Typically, student resistance takes the form of passive or active non-compliance with roles and…