"Alabama Education News" is published monthly except for June, July, and December by the Alabama Department of Education. This publication, authorized by Section 16-2-4 of the "Code of Alabama", as recompiled in 1975, is a public service of the Alabama Department of Education designed to inform citizens and educators about…

"Social Network Theory and Educational Change" offers a provocative and fascinating exploration of how social networks in schools can impede or facilitate the work of education reform. Drawing on the work of leading scholars, the book comprises a series of studies examining networks among teachers and school leaders, contrasting formal…

The Duke University School Research Partnership (SRP) Office was developed with support from the Office of the Provost and the Center for Child and Family Policy. Begun in 2006 as the Duke Office for Research in Schools (DORIS), the SRP Office is an integral part of the work of the Center for Child and Family Policy. The SRP Office facilitates…

Sizeable achievement differences by race appear in early grades, but substantial uncertainty exists about the impact of school quality on the black-white achievement gap and particularly about its evolution across different parts of the achievement distribution. Texas administrative data show that the overall growth in the achievement gap between…

This study compares 6-11-year-old, clinically referred boys and girls diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, either with (ODD + CD, n = 40) or without Conduct Disorder (ODD only; n = 136), to a matched sample of healthy control children (HC; n = 69). Multiple informants completed intake diagnostic interviews and self-reports to evaluate…

A substantial body of literature considers excessive corruption an indicator of a weak state. However, in nondemocratic societies, corruption--whether informally approved, imposed, or regulated by public authorities--is often an indicator of a vertical power rather than an indicator of a weak state. This article explores the interrelations between…

The research examining the correlates of academic achievement is immense. In particular, scores of studies have examined individual- and family-level variables that influence student achievement. Based upon Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological theory of human development, this study extends one step beyond previous studies and incorporates…

O'Brien (2003), when redefining the competencies of struggling students, said it makes sense to provide opportunities for at-risk or struggling students to explore topics of interest including, but not limited to, inquiry into popular media. This use of popular media should be a welcomed addition of the use of technology to improve students'…

In order to gauge youth perceptions of school violence, this study links two perceptual bias literatures: third-person perception and optimistic bias. The intersection of the two literatures may be especially beneficial in understanding how adolescents process and interpret public health messages and subsequently engage in risk behaviors or…

A large-scale study conducted in Tasmania, Australia, of teenage risk-taking across 26 potentially harmful risk activities has examined a range of factors that encourage or inhibit risk-taking. Among these factors, the degree of social and professional support the teenage students say they would access for personal, study or health problems has…

This paper reviews the social origins of students' development of self-regulatory skill, with special emphasis on observational learning through peer modeling. A social cognitive perspective on self-regulation is presented. In this view students' academic competence develops initially from social sources of academic skills and subsequently shifts…

Motivating students is one of the primary challenges facing public speaking instructors. Numerous techniques can be used to generate a stronger desire among students to excel in their presentations. For example, instructors can increase motivation through a rather simple process of manipulating the speaker order to create an environment in which…

This book, written for parents of school-aged children and adolescents, shows why drug prevention in most schools today is inadequate, and explains what parents need to do in order to stop the flow of drugs through their local schools. The first half of the book consists of six chapters that explore the problem of drugs in schools. Chapter 1…

CHAMPS Peer Leadership is a program designed to prepare school and community teams to empower youth to take responsibility for themselves and to prevent abusive behaviors. Students who master process skills such as goal setting, team building, communication, self-responsibility, self-esteem, and empowerment, also have the capability to respond…

In an effort to clarify some of the problems educators have in understanding children's play behavior, a half-hour-long episode of two 4-year-old girls playing with newsprint, paints, and brushes at an easel is described. The episode showed how ephemeral yet recognizable play can be. The idea of countours is used to describe play behavior in its…