Student engagement is associated with many positive outcomes, including academic achievement, school persistence, and social-emotional well-being. The present study examined whether the Freedom Writers Institute, a professional development program designed to improve teachers' skills in creating personalized learning environments, can increase…

Over the past 30 years, school principals have been exhorted to articulate a clear vision as a key tool for stimulating the improvement of teaching and learning in their schools. Over the past decade, as school systems have sought to distribute leadership more broadly within schools, the same imperative has applied to middle-level leaders. Indeed,…

Contending that justice experiences in school serve as a hidden curriculum that conveys messages about the wider society and impact student attitudes and behavior, we investigate the effects of students' sense of distributive and (school) procedural justice on democratic-related attitudes: liberal democratic orientation (civil rights), social…

Purpose: The authors of this study described developmental trajectories and predicted kindergarten performance of Spanish and English receptive vocabulary acquisition of young Latino/a English language learners (ELLs) from socioeconomically disadvantaged migrant families. In addition, the authors examined the extent to which gender and individual…

Research on diversity in higher education has evolved to consider the nature of interracial contact and campus climate as well as the factors that may foster meaningful interactions. While some studies have explored predictors of cross-racial interaction (CRI) and interracial friendship (IRF), it remains unclear whether and how the same precollege…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if collective student trust functions as a resource for urban elementary students. Methods: Data from 1,646 students nested in 56 elementary schools in an urban school district were used to test the hypothesized effect of collective student trust on school identification, self-regulated…

Although countries worldwide are emphasizing the importance of science education for technological development and global economic competition, comparative findings from standardized international student assessments reveal a huge gap in science scores between developed and developing countries. Certain developed economies too have made little…

Context-based curriculum reforms in chemistry education are thought to bring greater diversity to the ways in which chemistry teachers organize their teaching. First and foremost, students are expected to perceive this diversity. However, empirical research on how students perceive their teacher's teaching in context-based chemistry classrooms,…

Participating in communities of practice (CoPs) is an important way of learning. For newcomers in such communities, the learning process can be described as legitimate peripheral participation (LPP). Although a body of knowledge on LPP has been accumulated from qualitative case studies, mostly focusing on the use of practices, the concrete…

The present study evaluates the effectiveness of Check & Connect (C&C) in a randomly assigned sample of students who were all receiving Communities in Schools (CIS) services. The research questions for the study include: Are there differences in attendance, academics, and behavior for CIS students who also receive C&C compared to…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between rural students' personal characteristics and experiences, high school experiences, and postsecondary enrollment patterns. By focusing on factors that differentiate among the educational experiences of rural and metropolitan (urban and suburban) students, this research adds to…

In a recently published meta-analysis, Tran, Sanchez, Arellano, and Swanson (2011) synthesized 13 studies that permitted assessment of characteristics of children who were adequate and inadequate responders to instruction. The authors indicated that "[t]he central question addressed in this review is whether individual differences in…

Prior research has shown that greatest student achievement in sciences is attributed to "inquiry-based instructional approach", in which the goal of science teaching is nurturing attitudes and skills necessary for independent quest for scientific knowledge. While prior research has clearly demonstrated positive instructional effects of…

Using Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM), this study aimed to identify factors such as ESL/ELL/EAL status that would predict students' reading performance in an English language arts exam taken across Canada. Using data from the 2007 administration of the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP) along with the accompanying surveys for students and…

The present study investigates empirical models of groupwork management in online collaborative learning environments, based on the data from 298 students (86 groups) in United States. Data revealed that, at the group level, groupwork management was positively associated with feedback and help seeking. Data further revealed that, at the individual…