Presents fundamentals of the author's approach to teaching, drawn from her experiences in New York City concerning (1) caring; (2) high expectations; (3) creating interest; (4) keeping students busy to avoid discipline problems; (5) performance-based assessment; and (6) parent involvement. Techniques and tactics for teaching mathematics are also…

Eight help-seeking categories were identified and compared with regard to adolescents' gender, race, alcohol consumption, substance abuse, and school misconduct. Problem behaviors were most prevalent for two categories: friends as only resource and social isolate. Males, Blacks, and Hispanics were overrepresented in the social isolate category.…

Discusses four principles involved in teaching beginning reading most effectively, related to: (1) the literacy environment at home, child care, and school; (2) experiences to develop concepts and related vocabulary; (3) developing understanding of purposes of print; and (4) enjoying books and being read to. Discusses how these principles can be…

A Chicago two-way bilingual immersion magnet school gives equal regard to English and Spanish and values student cultures. Other features include family atmosphere, student-centered instruction, and strong parent and community collaboration. Students, including low-income limited-English-speaking students, consistently score high in English…

Assessed effects of social risks on psychological adjustment of African American and black South African 6- year-olds. Confirmed poverty and gender as risk factors; but not single-female family headship. Found that poverty and gender posed less risk for South Africans than African Americans. Found gender and national differences in adjustment;…

Examined a comprehensive program that used a whole-school approach to prepare high school students for making healthy lifestyle choices, particularly related to sexuality/sexual risk taking. The program involved teacher development, parent involvement, and peer leadership development. Survey data indicated that the program influenced the whole…

This longitudinal study examined socioemotional antecedents of adolescent school adjustment. Findings indicated that early and later parental problem-solving support accounted for 13 percent of variance in high school adjustment. Early and later parental problem-solving support, peer competence, externalizing behavior, and emotional…

This study applied individual growth trajectory analyses and person-oriented analysis to identify common profiles of out-of-school activity engagement trajectories among racially and ethnically diverse inner city teens (N = 1,430). On average, teens exhibited declining trajectories of participation in school-based and team sports activities and…

This article is about one school district's effort to reform its elementary science curriculum through a program of professional development called Science, Parents, Activities and Literature (Science PALs). The differential exposure of the district's K-6 teachers to Science PALs and differences in how well teachers implemented Science PALs-type…

During the last two decades, estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau have suggested that the U.S. high school completion rate was steadily rising and nearing 90 percent. In the last few years, however, estimates from independent researchers have contradicted this rosy picture and found much lower completion rates ranging from 66.1 percent to 74.4…

In this column, the author relates her experience as a teacher in a K-12 school in Point Hope, Alaska, where most of the students spoke "village English," a form of nonstandard English mixed with the village's native language of Inupiaq. She relates how the students' reading test scores, which had been below the 25th percentile, were…

This paper summarizes investigations of school connectedness completed by the Social Development Research Group in two longitudinal studies, the Seattle Social Development Project and Raising Healthy Children. The theoretical importance of school connectedness, empirical support for the theoretical propositions of the impact of school…

This study examined concordance between adult and child reports of child suicidality using a sample of 1,046 8-year-old children at risk for, or having experienced, maltreatment. Concordance was low with both caregivers and teachers. For children reporting no suicidality, caregiver-child agreement was associated with few transitions in caregiver…

This article describes an action research project, based within a school, to develop and increase the social resiliency of students with special education needs in both school and community settings. The programme included role-plays, scenarios and problem solving. An assessment tool was developed to measure self-esteem amongst the students and…

Obesity is epidemic in the nation's school-age population with African American and Hispanic children and adolescents specifically at risk. School nurses at elementary and middle public schools in the Missouri 8th Congressional District were surveyed regarding their perceptions of childhood obesity. School nurses supported preventive interventions…