This paper focuses on findings from the first wave of a longitudinal study investigating high school students' perceptions and behaviors as they engage in a graduation project focused on exploring postsecondary options. Students (n=157) completed surveys regarding their achievement goals, sense of belongingness and career exploration endeavors. A…

This study explores the effects of social integration on behavioral change in the course of an intensive, community-based public health intervention. The intervention trained volunteers and mobilized local organizations to promote 16 key family health practices in rural San Luis, Honduras, during 2004 to 2006. A mixed methods approach is used.…

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of learner-centered education in conveying the message to change participants' fruit and vegetable consumption. Design: Focus groups were conducted with sites participating in the Finding the Teacher Within (FTW) program and comparison sites 4-6 months after participants attended the Special Supplemental…

Objectives: This article describes the process of developing a culturally based family intervention for Spanish-speaking Latino families with a relative diagnosed with schizophrenia. Method: Our iterative intervention development process was guided by a cultural exchange framework and based on findings from an ethnographic study. We piloted this…

This paper draws on the theory and method of free association in psychoanalysis to frame an investigation of the content, structure, and function of the thinking expressed in conversations about sexuality and sexual health. The investigation emerges from an ongoing three-year study of the way adolescents, teachers, and peer sex educators negotiate…

This article presents findings from an exploratory, qualitative study whose objective was to identify professionals' perceptions of organizational factors that support or hinder the implementation of family-centered practice (FCP). Two disability services organizations in Manitoba, Canada, were selected as the research sites. In 2002, all staff…

Postschool outcomes for youth with disabilities vary depending on culture, ethnicity, race, gender, and socioeconomic status. The aim of this study was to identify and describe the needs of youth with disabilities from Latino backgrounds who are transitioning from school to adulthood in Oregon. Using a conceptual model that included community…

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate application of a new framework, the validation framework (VF), to assist researchers in evaluating mixed research studies. Based on an earlier work by Dellinger and Leech, a description of the VF is delineated. Using the VF, three studies from education, health care, and counseling fields are…

In this paper, based on a project funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council considering how people position themselves in relation to popular representations of mathematics and mathematicians, we explore constructions of mathematicians in popular culture and the ways learners make meanings from these. Drawing on an analysis of popular…

Many adolescents, both rural and urban, are not meeting the recommended levels for physical activity (PA). This investigation was designed to elicit socioecologic barriers and facilitators for PA in rural and urban middle school youth and their parents. Thirteen focus groups were conducted with 41 youth and 50 parents from eastern North Carolina.…

This article reports on the action research (AR) approach adopted by one New Zealand (NZ) primary school to review and improve its appraisal system. Historically the staff had demonstrated considerable negativity towards appraisal. The classic reconnaissance, implementation and evaluation phases of AR were adopted by the case study school as a…

The total number of individuals in correctional institutions in 2000 was 1,976,020 (http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t26.html). Moreover, the population of women offenders has risen at a particularly fast rate, doubling since 1990. The purpose of this study was to add to the information about the experience of women related to…

The purpose of this case study is to understand and explain the characteristics of a small business incubator located on the campus of a community college. Business incubation and entrepreneurship programs are increasing in number on community college campuses across the country (Montoya, 2009). As community colleges have traditionally played a…

In this paper, we compare teacher and administrator perspectives on multiple dimensions of teacher professionalism. An instrument with a total of 51 professional behaviors and characteristics that operationalize the multiple dimensions of professionalism was developed. Survey participants, including 216 teachers and 89 administrators, were asked…

The purpose of this study was to use the Lifelong Physical Activity (LLPA) framework to examine the influence of high school physical education (PE) on university students' level of physical activity (PA). Participants included 365 undergraduate students from the Rocky Mountain West of the USA enrolled in a university physical activity course.…