This curriculum is based on the peaceable classroom model, which emphasizes cooperation, communication, appreciation of diversity, the healthy expression of feelings, responsible decision-making, and conflict resolution. This guide presents over 150 activities and tools to help middle school students learn to effectively handle the conflict that…

Much of the early research on the effects of all day kindergarten had serious problems with internal and external validity due to inadequate methodological standards. This digest reviews research conducted in the 1990s. The digest discusses the academic, social, and behavioral effects of all-day kindergarten, as well as parents' and teachers'…

Although there are no simple solutions for how to turn around a school with serious discipline problems, schoolwide approaches have been effective, according to this report. The report examines research on schoolwide approaches to discipline and discusses the characteristics of programs that promote a culture of safety and support, improved…

This report discusses the outcomes of a study that investigated the consistencies and the differences revealed among teachers and school counselors when using the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS) to rate the strengths of children at three separate school levels: elementary, middle, and high school. The sample included 60 children (ages…

This study identified preservice teachers' knowledge about effective and ineffective classroom management strategies. A group of 108 preservice teachers at a southern rural public university generated classroom management strategies in response to hypothetical vignettes depicting shy and withdrawn student behavior. Researchers coded the extended…

Most social scientists assert that Whites and African Americans exist in different economic, political, and social environments and that these contextual differences contribute substantially to group differences in violence and other antisocial outcomes. This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and structural…

This study analyzed the ability of college students to bargain strategically in the financial aid process. A bargaining model of the financial aid process was developed and used to evaluate the effect of increased number of acceptances into different colleges on a student's financial aid package. A theoretical model was developed using a…

The need for the exploration of phenomena in students' daily lives requires effective approaches in inquiry-based science education for minority and urban students. There are few descriptions of students' initial attempts at inquiry, especially among urban school students. This study focuses on seventh and eighth grade students, and investigates…

This study investigated how unprepared beginning teachers engaged in problem solving within the context of a community of practice, examining how they: defined and perceived classroom problems; negotiated the meaning of problems; and viewed the mentor teacher's role. Twelve alternatively certified beginning teachers participated. Each completed an…

This report makes policy implementers and educators aware of the importance of work attendance and its relation to student outcomes. It also encourages policymakers to better implement and supplement existing policies through different strategy options. The focus is on the Pacific region. Rather than recommending a punitive approach, the report…

Congressional testimony is presented concerning school buildings and their connection to student health, behavior, and learning, including a review of selected empirical studies conducted over the past 30 years showing an explicit relationship between physical characteristics of school buildings and educational outcomes. The factors responsible…

This action research project sought to improve the social skills of targeted first-, third-, and fourth-grade students. Students demonstrated an inability to collaborate with others, a disregard for the feelings and opinions of others, a lack of responsibility, excessive noise, incomplete assignments, unnecessary physical contact, inappropriate…

This action research project sought to improve social skills in targeted elementary students. The problem of poor social skills was documented by means of data revealing the number of students exhibiting inappropriate behaviors. Students exhibited a lack of social skills through: inappropriate manners, lack of cooperation, not occupying one's own…

This action research project sought to improve the social skills of targeted third-, fourth-, fifth-, and seventh-grade students in order to improve their classroom performance. The students' lack of social skills was documented by means of teacher observation checklists, teacher and student surveys, and past disciplinary records. Objectives of…

Maintaining that much of the prevailing public discussion and media "hype" surrounding gender issues in education amount to little more than anecdotal rhetoric and opinion, this paper examines evidence for sex differences in the experiences and outcomes of schooling from recent and emerging teacher and school effectiveness research. The paper…