Although it is important to study the negative outcomes experienced by victims of bullying, it is equally important to study the factors that may buffer victims from distress. Thus, the relationship among social support, victimization, and internalizing-externalizing distress from bullying was investigated. Participants were 355 middle school…

This article reports on the results of a mixed method case study investigating the relationship between professional learning community (PLC) activities and teacher improvement in a first-year middle school. Data were collected from core academic sixth, seventh, and eighth grade teachers using a professional development survey, teacher interviews,…

Action research includes a variety of methods engaged in by practitioners who wish to learn more about their work and the possibility of constructively changing it. This paper describes an action research dissertation project that focused on the work of a group of community activists to construct new understandings of their work and, as a result,…

What happens to unruly kids? Apparently some of them grow up to become college professors. The author recently attended a workshop with a group of professors who admitted to being rather incorrigible, until they had a significant learning experience facilitated by middle and high school teachers who let them know that resistance was futile.…

According to a January 2007 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 55 percent of teens (ages 12 to 17) report having created a personal profile online, and an equal number regularly use social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook. Of those, 91 percent use the sites to stay in touch with friends they see frequently. With all…

This study examines interpersonal competence configurations in relation to students' concurrent behavior problems and social risks for later adjustment difficulties. Participants are 648 (345 girls, 303 boys) fourth-grade students (65% White, 6.9% African American, 19.5% Hispanic, 4.6% Asian, and 4.0% Other) from the suburbs of a major Midwestern…

This study assessed the stability of adolescents' social networks over a school year, focusing on the stability of close friendships, best friendships, friendship groups, and the adolescent's role in his or her social network. As part of an ongoing Adolescent Peer Influence Project, 6th-, 8th-, and 10th-grade students from a working class suburban…

Groups and educators have sought to construct gender-sensitive learning environments for women and girls in science, thus providing them with opportunities to legitimately participate in the science and science education communities. Results of the study reported in this paper show that women science educators who work to provide such contexts…

A study explored the nature of adult learners' social networks by interviewing six adult learners at a suburban northeast Ohio adult education site. Five of the subjects were working to pass the General Education Development Test and one was a student of English as a Second Language. The study found that several of the subjects had social networks…

This document reports the results of a cross-cultural study of adolescents' assessments of the quality of their relationships. Subjects were 13- to 15-year-old adolescents in Nanjing, China (N=53), a metropolitan area in the midwestern United States (N=53), and Harare, Zimbabwe. The adolescents in Zimbabwe were members of the Shona tribe (N=37).…

This study analyzed the relation between the friendship networks of parents and the peer networks of their children. Subjects were 255 second- through fifth-grade children of an inner-city primary school in the western part of Berlin, Germany, who were interviewed about friends. In the interview, children were asked to name other children with…

This study examined the social networks of college students and how such networks affect student commitment and persistence. The study's theoretical framework was based on application of the social network paradigm to Tinto's Student Integration Model, in which a student's initial commitment is modified over time as a result of the student's…

This project located in Glasgow, Scotland, is concerned with the use of distance teaching for a non-formal community education program that is a component of a social change strategy to combat poverty. The study shows that the use of distance learning courses in non-formal community education is successful in attracting, at a reasonable cost per…

A strategy was developed at Montana State University to ensure future employment for their preservice teacher education students. The emphasis is upon a full utilization of networking and mentoring for the students beginning as freshmen in college. The college suggests a seven-step approach to finding future employment which involves both…

The School Renewal Network, an interactive knowledge base on school reform, was created to provide opportunities for educational practitioners to have an audience for, make notations of, and reflect upon practical wisdom for the teaching culture. To appraise the network's effectiveness in meeting its goals and the nature of its interactions, data…