This research examines the relationship between student ratings of school climate and three student outcome variables: Number of credits earned in one semester, number of days in attendance in one academic year, and number of discipline referral incidents in one academic year. The research further examines whether these relationships were…

The aim of this research is to assess the opinions of students in a variety of high schools at different class levels who received disciplinary punishment for violence. The research comprised 35 boys and 10 girls, for a total of 45 students. The data for the research were obtained with semi-structured interviews. The results show that the students…

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examines what students know in reading, mathematics and science, and what they can do with what they know. It provides the most comprehensive and rigorous international assessment of student learning outcomes to date. Results from PISA indicate the quality and equity of learning…

In this article, youth from diverse racial backgrounds describe the challenges they face in aspiring to excellence in underperforming schools. The research explored the perceptions of school inequality on the part of Latino, African American or immigrant, and Caucasian students in two central Minnesota communities. This study tapped the experience…

PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) was inaugurated in 2001 as a follow-up to International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's 1991 Reading Literacy Study. Conducted every five years, PIRLS assesses the reading achievement of young students in their fourth year of schooling--an important transition…

In an effort to increase students' success, schools and communities have begun to develop school-based mentoring programs (SBMP) to foster positive outcomes for children and adolescents. However, experts have called for more research into the effectiveness of these efforts for students across grade levels. Therefore, this study was designed to…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact block scheduling has on (a) student academic achievement, discipline, and attendance, and (b) administrator, teacher, and student perceptions. The study compared 2005-2010 data from a high school utilizing the A/B block schedule and a high school under a traditional schedule, in one suburban…

Travis County Collaborative Afterschool Program served 1,309 Austin Independent School District (AISD) students during the 2009-2010 school year. Program participation had mixed results on students' attendance, discipline and academic performance.

This article focuses upon the relationship between social and emotional behavioural difficulties (SEBD) and learning. It argues that, while inclusion is desirable in principle, it can be highly problematic in practice. Further, it explores the contested nature of the concept of SEBD and the nature of support for pupils categorised as such. The…

This paper describes staff perceptions of the implementation of an alternative curriculum, Skill Force, for disaffected pupils in the UK. The perceptions of Skill Force and school staff were compared based on data from questionnaires completed by 62 Skill Force and 84 school staff, and interviews with representative samples of each. While the data…

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…

School leaders are often placed on the "hot seat" when negative images of the school, its staff, or its students appear in the local media. Such reports can strongly affect a school's public and image and, in turn, impact the climate both in the community and within the school itself. Sometimes these perceptions are not based on fact; however,…

Investigated factors affecting high school students' attendance. Data from student, staff, and administrator interviews and review of attendance data revealed serious problems in how students perceived they were treated by staff and peers as well as problems related to school climate and curriculum and instruction, which destroyed student…

A token reinforcement program with microcomputer free time as the reinforcer was implemented to decrease the tardiness of a middle school economically disadvantaged student. The microcomputer time was a very effective reinforcer; school personnel reported improved school attendance and a decrease in administrative discipline related to tardiness;…

Principals and teachers have long thought that student tardiness was a serious problem. In one study from the 1990s, 8-12% of students were absent each day, and more than 40% of teachers found tardiness to be a significant problem. In fact, it is considered so serious that a school's response can go to extremes. The question, of course, is not…