For the past two decades, the idea of integrating more science concepts into the secondary agriculture curriculum has gained support. The purpose of this study was to assess the confidence and competence of agriculture instructors to teach concepts related to science. The sample was derived from the population of agriculture instructors teaching…

Genre-based approaches to teaching writing have made important strides in heightening students' awareness of audience and purpose but have paid less attention to the ways in which expectations for written performance in school context are embedded in expectations for certain kinds of discipline-based thinking. In this paper we present a study that…

Girls have caught up with boys in math course taking in high school but reasons for taking math still differ by gender. This study, therefore, investigated gender differences in the linkage between peer relations and math course taking by applying multilevel modeling to a nationally representative data set that includes peer networks and school…

Educational accountability has grown substantially over the last decade, due in large part to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Accordingly, educational researchers and policymakers are interested in the statistical properties of accountability models used for NCLB, such as status, improvement, and growth models; as well as others that are not…

This study aimed at determining the interaction between parents and adolescents pertaining to television advertisements as a consumer socialization agent and the effects of advertisements on the purchasing decisions of adolescents. The effects of age and sex were also investigated. The sample included 240 high school students in grades 9, 10 and…

The District conducts a "cross-sectional" analysis of student dropouts annually; it examines dropout rates among students enrolled in various grades at one point in time. A "longitudinal" analysis, also conducted annually, tracks a group of students in the same grade or cohort over a period of several years. Each method…

The AISD Student Substance Use and Safety Survey, administered annually to a random, representative sample of AISD students, provides self-report data on student knowledge, attitudes, and behavior related to substance use and school safety issues. This report summarizes results from the 2010-2011 school year.

I identify and discuss ways in which different types of connections are described in the South African mathematics National Curriculum Statement and its related documents, particularly at the Further Education and Training (FET) level. I argue that connections are central to the way the discipline of mathematics, its learning outcomes, and…

This study examined classroom climate and student goal structures in high-school biology classrooms in Kenya. Participants included 891 students and their teachers in Grades 10 and 11 from two same-sex boarding schools--one for boys and the other for girls. School differences were found on all classroom climate aspects except teacher support and…

There is an underlying assumption that regardless of student ethnicity, socio-economic status, or any other variable, elite, independent schools by mission and design are effective at producing successful students. This would cause some to conclude that all students enrolled in elite, independent schools perform similarly on all academic measures.…

S. Zellman (personal communication, September 16, 2003), Ohio's superintendent of public instruction, stated, "Students in Ohio's urban high schools demonstrate serious shortcomings in their academic performance." Hence, this ex post facto study, which used pre-existing data, sought to investigate if a statistical difference between the…

This manual, "Course Information for the Graduation Program, Grade 10, 11, and 12 Courses: 2009-2010," was approved by the Minister of Education on July 30, 2009 for setting out graduation requirements. The manual provides information for schools about courses that students take in Grades 10, 11, and 12. It is updated annually with…

Past research has documented a link between negative problem orientation (NPO) and poor emotional well-being, but little of this research has focused on adolescence or has collected multiple waves of data. The authors conducted a 3-wave longitudinal survey of 841 adolescents in Grades 8, 9, and 10 (428 boys, 411 girls, 2 unidentified). The survey…

In this pilot study, we sought to examine the influence of the beliefs of Grade 10 to 12 physical science teachers on their intended and actual usage of interactive simulations (Physics Education Technology, or PhET) in their classrooms. A combination of the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the Technology Acceptance Model and the Innovation Diffusion…

The authors evaluated emotional distress among 9th-12th grade students, and examined whether the association between being lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgendered (i.e., "LGBT") and emotional distress was mediated by perceptions of having been treated badly or discriminated against because others thought they were gay or lesbian.…