This paper provides experimental evidence on the impact of tracking primary school students by initial achievement. In the presence of positive spillover effects from academically proficient peers, tracking may be beneficial for strong students but hurt weaker ones. However, tracking may help everybody if heterogeneous classes make it difficult to…

To estimate peer effects in college achievement we exploit a unique dataset in which individuals have been exogenously assigned to peer groups of about 30 students with whom they are required to spend the majority of their time interacting. This feature enables us to estimate peer effects that are more comparable to changing the entire cohort of…

It is estimated that between ten and twenty percent of children in the United States are exposed to domestic violence annually. While much is known about the impact of domestic violence and other family problems on children within the home, little is known regarding the extent to which these problems spill over to children outside the family. The…

Studies suggest that the perceived certainty of punishment has little or no effect on subsequent offending. Some researchers, however, argue that perceived certainty deters offending among some types of people but not among others. This article contributes to this line of argument by examining whether the effect of perceived certainty on offending…

The current study examined whether proactive and reactive aggression were associated with the risk for initiation of substance use from fourth to ninth grade in a sample of 126 aggressive children (66% male). In addition, the study examined whether these functions of aggression increased risk for initiation via peer delinquency and peer rejection.…

"The First-Year Seminar: Designing, Implementing, and Assessing Courses to Support Student Learning and Success," a five-volume series, is designed to assist educators who are interested in launching a first-year seminar or revamping an existing program. Each volume examines a different aspect of first-year seminar design or…

The often aggregated reports of academic excellence of Asian American students as a whole, compared to students from other ethnic groups offers compelling evidence that Asian Americans are more academically successful than their ethnic counterparts, particularly in the area of mathematics. These comparative data have generated many topics of…

Mixed-race children are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, and it is essential that educators are aware of the unique experiences of this student population. The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to examine the experiences of mixed-race students in relation to their racial identity formation, their social…

This conceptual article explores the notion of educational researchers operating as public intellectuals. To do this, I situate my analysis within a broader tradition of public intellectual work in the American academy. I also offer a framework for three specific forms of public intellectual work, supported by relevant examples, which can be taken…

Acknowledging the general difficulty of new e-learning pedagogical approaches in achieving wide acceptance and use, the study described in this article examines a class of MBA students' adoption of a proposed online interactive learning environment. To this end, a web-based, case-based constructivist learning environment was developed, embedding…

The growth of enrolment in the ODL system has been considerable. However, another parameter of significance in the context of Open and Distance learning is the learner success rate. While enrolment rates have been very encouraging in distance education, the pass-out rates haven't been similar. There is a need to focus on the dynamics involved…

As boys in the upper elementary grades become increasingly influenced by peer pressure, many are less likely to participate in singing activities because singing is considered a "feminine" activity. The purpose of this research was to explore if there was an effect on upper elementary boys' level of participation during group singing activities…

This quantitative study examined the influence of family, school, and peers on the educational aspirations of 60 urban African American male high school students attending two high schools in the Midwest. Participants completed an in-class survey that included demographic information as well as survey questions regarding educational aspirations,…

A random sample of 213 school psychologists working in a school setting completed a survey on their schools' current anti-bullying practices. Talking with bullies following bullying incidents, disciplinary consequences for bullies, and increasing adult supervision were the three most frequently used strategies. Peer juries/court, an anti-bullying…

Dinkes, Cataldi, and Lin-Kelly (2007) claims that 78% of public schools reported one or more violent incidents during the 2005/2006 school year. School shootings are a rare but real threat on school campuses. Shootings at private schools are even less frequent with only a few recorded examples in the United States. This case study examines how a…