Background: Policies set at the state, district, and school levels can support and enhance a healthy and safe school environment. Methods: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducts the School Health Policies and Programs Study every 6 years. In 2006, computer-assisted telephone interviews or self-administered mail questionnaires were…

Canada is a country composed of 10 provinces and three territories with very limited federal control over the public K-12 education system. This lack of consistent direction has led to a range of diverse educational policies for educating students with emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD). This article investigates the current state of policies…

Aim: To examine the associations between connectedness to family and friends, and school engagement, and selected health compromising and health promoting behaviours in a sample of New Zealand adolescents. Methods: A web-based survey was designed and administered to a random sample of 652 Year 11 students aged 16 years from all Dunedin (NZ) high…

Schools are complex social settings where students, teachers, administrators, and parents interact to shape a child's educational experience. Any effort to improve educational outcomes for America's children requires a dynamic understanding of the environments in which children learn. In "The Social Organization of Schooling", editors Larry Hedges…

This document presents the proceedings of the 17th Annual Research Forum held June 29, 2012, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included herein are the following 25 action research papers: (1) "Reading and Writing": A Study Comparing the Strengths of Peer Review and Visible Author Writing Strategies (Elizabeth Behar); (2)…

In the action research project report the teacher researchers targeted 70 elementary students in third- and fifth-grade classrooms that demonstrated a lack of social skills necessary to work cooperatively in a classroom. The purpose of the project was to improve the social skills in children. The three teacher researchers who conducted this action…

The "National Index of Violence and Harm" (NIVAH) tracks levels of violence and harm in the United States and identifies trends over the study period 1995-2003. NIVAH is comprised of nineteen variables in the areas of interpersonal, intrapersonal, institutional and structural violence and harm as experienced by people in the U.S. Two…

The Accelerated Math and Science (AMS) Project is a 3 year program funded by the California Migrant Education Program Improvement Program. It targets 6th, 7th, and 8th grade low-achieving migrant students who are 2 to 4 years behind their language peer group. Two questions guided the second year evaluation study for the Region IX Migrant Education…

The goal of the study described in this paper was to examine the role of possible selves in perceptions of competence and in self-regulation. The study investigated whether possible selves, or individuals' perception of what they might be like in the future, exert their influence on self-efficacy and self relation via the dimensions associated…

A practicum was designed to reduce disruptive behavior of students riding school buses in a small multicultural community. It was determined that many students were disruptive when riding the school buses, making it difficult for the bus drivers to ensure riders' safety. The practicum implemented a school bus safety education and public awareness…

A study traced the experiences of Australian working families as their children started formal schooling. Each family faced the prospect of moving their child or children from the intimate environment of a child care center that operated from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to a large elementary school with a 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. school day. The study focused on:…

This study compared physical education majors' attitudes toward teaching students classified as behaviorally disordered (BD), mildly mentally retarded (MiMR), and learning disabled (LD). These types of students are likely to receive physical education in a regular class setting. Currently enrolled in an introductory adapted physical education…

This study examined the relation of conduct problems and depressed mood to tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other drug use in 6th through 11th grades. A total of 200 at-risk 6th-grade boys completed an extensive assessment that involved interviews, home observations, questionnaires, test data, telephone interviews, court records, and school…

This study investigates factors influencing participation of Afro-American female adolescents in sports. Following a review of the literature, two topics are addressed. The first of these, "Behavior in Sport," discusses benefits of sports to youth; stereotypes of Afro-American female sports participants; behaviors of female athletes; and…

A survey was conducted of a random sample of students who had enrolled in one of the seven community colleges in the Twin Cities metro area of Minnesota in spring 1992, but who did not return in fall 1992. A total of 300 students from each of the colleges (i.e., Anoka-Ramsey, Cambridge Center, Inver Hills, Lakewood, Minneapolis, North Hennepin,…