The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) documents dimensions of quality in undergraduate education and provides information and assistance to colleges, universities, and other organizations to improve student learning. Its primary activity is annually surveying college students to assess the extent to which they engage in educational…

As the college-age Latino population continues to increase throughout the nation, meeting the country's future human capital and workforce needs make it imperative to improve outcomes for Latino students today. As public attention is focused on existing achievement gaps, educators and policymakers are seeking ways to improve educational outcomes…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

An observational study of reading instruction, using the MS-CISSAR protocol, was conducted in general education classrooms, resource classrooms, and self-contained special education/deaf education classrooms in Grades 1 through 4 in public schools within the tri-state area of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Participants were 24 students who…

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…

This book advances the new field of educational leadership--that of policy scholarship. It examines the ways in which concepts of educational leadership and management have evolved historically and culturally and reviews contemporary debates about the nature of school leadership. These debates involve cultural conservatives, New Right marketeers,…

An increasing number of elementary school sites have begun to implement nongraded, multiage, primary developmental learning environments. Nongraded primaries are more than just a loosening of the age limits and a changing of the promotion strategies. This broad educational restructuring strategy provides a unique opportunity for creating new…

This paper presents findings of a study that investigated the factors perceived by teachers as significant to the development of a safer school-work environment. The case study involved a 4-year project to decrease school violence in an urban, elementary, Chapter 1 school. Data were obtained from administration of the School Level Environment…

This publication is designed to show principals how to improve staff development strategies. It begins by laying the foundations for teacher development. The first chapter explains what is known about teaching and identifies four general groups of teachers: productive teachers, who are highly motivated and skilled; novice teachers, who are still…

This digest summarizes research in the affective and social realms that overwhelmingly affirms the superiority of small schools. Findings on the affective and social effects of school size are extensive and highly consistent, while the research base on outcomes of schools-within-a-school arrangements is smaller and less conclusive. While many…

This book focuses on the relationship between ethnic and racial identity and academic engagement, examining in particular the role that schools and classrooms play in shaping this relationship. It examines the lives of students to ask how they conceptualize and assert their ethnic and racial identities across varied curricular settings. The case…

Understanding the quality of the day care environment is useful for practitioners and policymakers in the evaluation and improvement of day care provisions. Regulated features, interactive dimensions and global indices of quality have been examined in relation to child developmental outcomes. This study investigated the effects of variations in…

Bullying in schools is a widespread phenomenon that has been largely ignored by professional investigators. It is often a covert problem, but once it is put into the context of social interaction, schools are able to respond to it in productive ways. A multifactorial response is best, and prevention is far better than crisis management. One of the…

Despite the widespread attention given to education reform, no substantial knowledge base has existed for identifying and implementing effective reforms for at-risk student populations. This document, the third of three volumes, describes the research design for a study that identified the essential mechanics of effective reforms for students at…

The study explores the relative effects of a wide range of variables that influence learning, and whether three methods--content analysis, expert ratings, and meta-analysis--agree on whether and how strongly these variables influence learning, using the educational research literature and an expert survey. The presence of an emergent knowledge…