Background: Schools across America spend money, invest in programs, and sponsor workshops, offer teacher incentives, raise accountability standards, and even evoke the name of Obama in efforts to raise the academic achievement of African American males. Incarceration and college retention rates point to a dismal plight for many African American…

Previous research has suggested differences in the locus of control (LOC) orientations of students with intellectual disability, learning disabilities, and no disabilities, although this research has been characterized by methodological limitations. The purpose of this study was to examine the development of LOC orientations in students with…

Purpose: The aims of this study are: to present a training evaluation based on the "four levels model"; to demonstrate the value of experimental designs in evaluation studies; and to take a first step in the development of an evidence-based training program. Design/methodology/approach: The Kirkpatrick four levels model was used to…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore why some low-income minority students were academically successful in school using a three-tiered approach to research including individual student interviews, classroom observations, and photographs and follow up interviews on photographs to identify factors contributing to academic…

Past research in both the transitions to adulthood literature and cultural sociology more broadly suggests that the working class relies on traditional cultural models in their construction of identity. In the contemporary post-industrial world, however, traditional life pathways are now much less available to working-class men and women. I draw…

This article uses four academics' gendered and cultural responses to life in a university in Aotearoa New Zealand under the new managerialist regime. Performance Based Research Funding (PBRF) requires academics to submit evidence-based portfolios every six years to categorise and rank them, with government funding assigned accordingly. When the…

While our knowledge about the cognitive and social components of disability continues to grow, little is known about how the self specifically develops in adolescents with physical disabilities and whether a specific source is an indicator of self-determination with this population. Adolescents who have a physical disability may have difficulty…

While it is widely acknowledged that the family and childhood environments affect adult well being, why they matter is still an area of significant debate. Previous research concerned with this issue has focused on the influence of family income, family structure, and cognitive ability. Much of this research has focused on economic and social…

The importance of emotional wellness for rural older adults is a topic of growing significance. Older adults, now the fastest growing United States population sector, have special wellness needs. By the year 2030, about 70 million people will be over the age of 65. A low or declining sense of control over one's life increases depression. Emotional…

When conflict between adult and youth arises, each side quickly draws lines in the sand, daring the other person to cross the line. The tendency is to react in ways easiest and most convenient for oneself, rather than to maintain a proactive stance that aggressively meets the needs of the child and employs two of the most important…

Some questions about education in the United States are easier to answer than others. If one wants to compare curriculum requirements across states, the data can be acquired and conclusions announced. However, any discussion of philosophy of learning or results of some pedagogy or another requires a look at what others have thought about,…

Recent educational policies have altered scholastic experience. It is the contention of the authors that contemporary school experience may therefore, for some individuals, be distressing. This study is concerned with the identification of stress-related behaviours of sixth-form pupils within female single-sex, selective, scholastic environments.…

Students' beliefs about why they may or may not be successful in various pursuits can influence the extent to which they are likely to invest effort in these pursuits and which in turn affects the level of achievement likely to be experienced. Attributional beliefs assign causes for success and failure to a range of factors, including ability,…

The goal of the current study was to compare diathesis-stress and transactional models of cognitive vulnerability to depression in samples of Canadian (n = 118) and Chinese (n = 405) adolescents. We utilized a six-month multi-wave, longitudinal design in order to examine whether (a) perceived control moderated the association between the…

Although schools have always struggled with student failure, retention, and attrition, the turn of the new century has produced added pressures for schools to reduce student dropout rates. In the current political and economic environment, increased costs and reduced budgets are forcing difficult choices in how best to spend limited resources.…