This paper is concerned with research into early school leaving. A narrative interview approach was used to document and analyse the experiences, processes and decisions that a small sample of boys made prior to leaving school, in this case, before completing year 10 and 11. Data collected in 2004 indicate that schools along with students…

The Talent Development High School (TDHS) reform model, with career academy programs, was introduced at Randolph High School. Three academies were implemented, one called the Arts and Humanities Academy (A&H) focused on careers in creative arts, law, and public service; another titled the Business and Industrial Technology Academy (BAIT) was…

This study examined the effectiveness of a Question Exploration Routine and associated graphic organizer for enhancing the performance of students of diverse abilities when assessed on knowledge and comprehension of content and quality of written responses. Participants were 36 students with and without learning disabilities (LD) in Grades 9…

It has been almost 30 years since the last systematic look at writing instruction in middle schools and high schools in the United States (Applebee, Writing). Since that report, there have been a number of significant changes in the contexts in which teachers teach and in which their students learn to write. Stretching back to the 1969-70 school…

This study describes 5th, 8th, and 11th-grade students', teachers', and medical professionals' conceptions of flu and microbial illness. Participants constructed a concept map on "flu" and participated in a semi-structured interview. The results showed that these groups of students, teachers and medical professionals held and structured their…

The present study examines the correlates of indirect and verbal victimization by peers at school. The research is based on a nationally representative sample of 16,604 students in grades 7 through 11 in 324 schools across Israel. Self-administrated anonymous questionnaires were completed during class. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to…

Syllabus and policy documents in many states and countries around the world, and more specifically in Queensland are underpinned by an emancipatory agenda, in particular the principles of social justice. Educators are called upon to achieve this through a pedagogy which is immersed in the language of critical theory. Two elements that underpin…

The present study examines how exposure to relational aggression at school is associated with adolescents' perceptions of, and participation in, a hostile school environment. Participants were 1,335 African American and European American adolescents in grades 7 through 12 (52% female, 49% African American). Results indicate that exposure to…

This study examined the reasons that four high school students who had previously refused to attend school willingly attended an alternative K-12 school for students with special needs. The two research questions that framed this study were (a) why do students who refused to attend their regular schools willingly attend Brookfield Park? and (b) in…

This report describes the results of two studies designed to evaluate the impact of self-reported mathematics course-taking on performance on SAT mathematics questions measuring new content (Algebra II). A supplemental table and figure are appended.

The relationship between musical training and general intellectual capacity as well as academic achievement has been discussed in numerous contexts. In our study, we examined the relationship between participation and achievement in music and achievement in academic courses, based on data from three consecutive British Columbia student cohorts.…

In this article the authors resort to a qualitative analysis of the plot of science fiction stories about a group of scientists, written by two 11th-grade Earth and Life Science students (aged 17), and to semi-structured interviews, with the double purpose of diagnosing their conceptions of the nature of science (namely, as regards scientists'…

If school renewal is to ultimately impact student outcomes, then understanding and responding to the factors students describe as influencing their constructive and unconstructive effort is vital. Results from focus groups with 4th, 7th, 9th, and 11th graders indicated that when students set and work toward goals, they expend more effort in…

Concern about academic cheating in the schools has been persistently expressed in the scholarly and mass media literature for several decades. Much of this concern derives from studies that show cheating as a widespread problem in American schools, behavior that clearly runs counter to the ethic of intellectual honesty. In this study cognitions…

Noting that perceived violence in society has been found to be positively and significantly related to television viewing and especially related to the viewing of highly violent television, a study examined the relationship between MTV (Music Television) viewing and perceived violence in society. Subjects, 116 seventh grade students and 107…