The Princeton Peer Leadership Program, which evolved from Sharon Rose Powells' doctoral research in the 1970s, trains seniors to serve as mentors to high school freshmen. The program involves the freshmen in school life and with students outside their social cliques, breaks down social and cultural barriers, and exposes the universality of many…

A battery of questionnaires administered to 121 male and female high school freshmen, college freshmen, and college seniors provided evidence that the greater role conflict experienced by females fosters earlier relativistic and/or dialectical reasoning and more differentiated role articulation regarding family and career issues. (DM)

Assessed substance use and levels of perceived family cohesion and adaptability of high school freshmen (N=1,082). Found adolescents who perceived families as extreme on cohesion and adaptability were more prone than adolescents from balanced and midrange families to use substances. Found adolescents from extreme families especially vulnerable…

Two educators studied the effect of written teacher and peer comments on ninth graders' writing assignments, creating a peer response activity and analyzing student responses to a survey. Results showed that students considered both teacher and peer comments requesting additional information and correcting mechanics most helpful in the revision…

A positive, welcoming environment and well-planned support services let students know they are valued and expected to succeed at a Lincolnshire, Illinois, high school. Programs include freshman transition, a tutoring resource center, guided study, a mentor program, student support teams, peer helpers, and annual student surveys. (MLH)

Become a Goggle Power User was developed for incoming students in Sackville High School, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 2003, and has been adapted for use in other local schools and in several universities, it is an instructional program designed for first-year high school students that was integrated into the English Language Arts curriculum, the…

Three students with behavior disorders who exhibited difficulty with reading in content area courses learned to use a computer program to create cognitive maps of the reading material required for class. Using a modified multiple-probe design across behaviors or stimulus sets, replicated across students, allowed for the evaluation of student…

The present study explored the heterogeneous nature of popularity by investigating subgroups of popular girls (N = 365) in their first year of secondary school (mean age = 13.05). Cluster analysis revealed the presence of five subgroups based upon sociometric popularity (i.e., those considered "likeable" by peers) and consensual popularity (i.e.,…

Students who successfully complete grade nine are substantially more likely to graduate from high school than are students who fail the freshman year. However, many middle grades students are not academically prepared for ninth grade. This report addresses five questions that can help school leaders ensure that middle grades students know the…

Two techniques for detecting differential item functioning (DIF) of test items are compared: (1) item response theory (IRT), using the three-parameter model; and (2) Mantel-Haenszel chi square techniques (MHCS). The steps necessary for identifying differentially functioning items are identified for both approaches. Using data from the 1988…

This report of the writing project at P.K. Yonge Laboratory School, University of Florida, examines the effectiveness of a systematic approach to teaching high school composition. The approach, which focuses on the skills that enable students to write clearly, correctly, and purposefully, includes sequential instructional units, considerable…

THE AVERAGE IQ SCORES OF DIFFERENT STUDENT GROUPS WERE COMPARED--HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN ENROLLED IN VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE AND THOSE NOT ENROLLED, AGRICULTURE I AND AGRICULTURE II STUDENTS, AND RURAL AND NONRURAL STUDENTS. DATA WERE COLLECTED FROM 18 OF 24 RANDOMLY SELECTED HIGH SCHOOLS WITH A FOUR-SECTION QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTERED BY THE…

This study examines the effects of early experiences and behaviors on course failure, grade point average, and educational aspirations, analyzing survey data gathered from 20 high schools participating in a whole-school reform initiative aimed at helping troubled high schools. All of the schools served mainly poor and minority students. Students…

Assessed the effects of a career awareness program on the career maturity of ninth-grade students. No difference was discovered on overall career maturity between experimental and control groups. Results indicate that a developmental approach is needed that can regularly be evaluated and restructured. (JAC)

Investigates the effects of gender, race, and achievement on ratings by advanced undergraduate education students of appropriateness of occupations and classifications of occupations (people, data, things) suitable for future exploration by ninth-grade students. Data indicate that complex combinations of student attributes influence teachers, but…