The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between a school's design and architecture and its educational practices, in light of critical theories regarding place, space and education. The study was based on 63 observations during the school daily activities and 75 semi-structured interviews with students, teachers and other staff,…

Based on fieldwork conducted in five alternative provision schools across three large cities in England, this article explores the relationship between young people's involvement in urban street gangs and their attitudes and behaviour in school. By applying and developing a lens of social field theory, the article highlights the ways in which…

Theoretically, organisational culture, instructor training, and learning space design influence how faculty teach STEM courses. Previous studies have used classroom observation protocols to characterise the range of teaching practices in mostly teacher-centered, traditional STEM classrooms. In this study, we examined the classroom behaviour of 13…

Observational methods are increasingly used to assess the impact of school-based interventions. Yet, few studies have used observations in nonclassroom settings, such as hallways or the cafeteria, or explored aspects of the school context that may be related to the observed behavior. The current study used a multilevel approach to examine…

Background: Behavioral support may be effective in increasing physical activity (PA) in school settings. However, there are no data collection systems to concurrently record PA and behavioral support. This paper describes the development and validation of the System for Observing Behavioral Ecology for Youth in Schools (SOBEYS)--an instrument used…

Schools in post-apartheid South Africa appear to be under siege by violence. In turn, school leaders find themselves in the unenviable position of not only having to deal with inadequate educator professionalism and learner underachievement--particularly in previously disadvantaged schools--but are under pressure to find ways to counteract the…

In this paper, we explore how students' engagement varies in different STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) learning environments. More specifically, we focus on the significance of a learning environment applying an integrated STEM (iSTEM) approach and the significance of STEM learning environments' student-centredness. Moreover,…

This study examines the effectiveness of the Lions Quest Program: Skills for Growing by employing a quasi-experimental design with a control group. The experimental and control group each comprises two primary schools--one public, one private. One classroom at each grade level, 1 through 4, in each school was selected by random sampling for a…

Sam and his classmates despise "nerds": they say working hard in school makes a student unpopular, and that they purposefully do only the minimum to pass. Research suggests that such "oppositional" attitudes are prevalent among working class students and/or ethnoracial minorities. Like most of his classmates, however, Sam is…

Decreasing classroom disruptions that result from hallway-related behavior in high school settings can be very challenging for high school staff. This article presents a case example of preventing problem behavior related to hallway settings in a high school with over 1,200 students. The interventions are described, and the results of the plan are…

In "Those Kids, Our Schools," Shayla Reese Griffin examines patterns of racial interaction in a large, integrated high school and makes a powerful case for the frank conversations that educators could and should be having about race in schools. Over three years, Griffin observed students, teachers, and administrators in a…

Today's grading practices mirror those of the early 1900s, and despite myriad research suggesting they are invalid, unreliable, and a hindrance to student learning, many teachers continue detrimental practices such as using 100-point percentage scales averaging all academic and nonacademic factors together into a single grade, and using grades to…

Purpose/Objectives: A national trend to improve school breakfast participation is the integration of breakfast within the school day. Breakfast in the classroom programs increase student access to school breakfast. Service models include "grab and go," distribution of breakfasts to each classroom, and mobile breakfast carts in hallways.…

Due to the unique features of early childhood classrooms, teachers routinely modify the social and physical environment to support children with mild to moderate challenges. Yet despite their access to behavioral consultants, school-based prekindergarten programs are more likely to expel young children from their classroom settings compared with…

Across the modern history of the field of special education and emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD), direct observation of student and educator behavior has been an essential component of the diagnostic process, student progress monitoring, and establishing functional and statistical relationships within research. This article provides an…