This explanatory sequential mixed methods study examines what influences 7th and 8th grade rural middle school students to consider a potential career trajectory. Phase One of the study includes a demographic and career cluster interest survey of 38 participants. Phase Two of the study focused on 23 of the 38 Phase One participants, who were…

Students with disabilities are at an increased risk of experiencing poorer quality peer relationships than those without disabilities. Previous school-based efforts to promote positive peer interactions among students with and without disabilities have included individual skill development and broader initiatives such as inclusive school…

The study examined how L2 engagement is associated with students' general life satisfaction, a core element of well-being. A total of 1,109 seventh-grade EFL learners from a rural secondary school in China completed a measure of life satisfaction (family satisfaction, environment satisfaction, academic satisfaction, school satisfaction, freedom…

The purpose of the present study was to explore the voices of high- and low-achieving middle school students around the function and utility of a student-engaged design learning how to learn intervention. The intervention was a year-long standard elective course in the curriculum in which all students enrolled during their time in middle school.…

Educators rely on a conglomeration of assessment instruments to appraise, measure, monitor, and document evidence of students' academic readiness, learning progressions, acquisition of interdisciplinary knowledge, and extensive educational needs. The Mississippi Academic Assessment Program for Mathematics (MAAP-M) and the i-Ready Assessment…

Research on peer socialization rarely examines individual differences in adolescents' susceptibility to peer influence, perhaps because few theories or methods have elucidated how susceptibility is operationalized. This study offers a new analogue measure of peer influence susceptibility in adolescence that is adapted from sociological theory. A…

The researchers investigated adolescent perceptions of school climate and academic self-efficacy over time for a group of Grade 7 through Grade 9 students. We followed 717 students in an ethnically diverse school district in a small town in northern Ohio from fall 2009 to spring 2011. Four waves of data collected in surveys each fall and spring…

Exploring students' systems thinking (ST) is essential in enhancing science learning, but existing studies have failed to understand students' ST fully as it relates to ecological issues. This study aimed to fill the aforementioned literature gap by exploring lower-secondary school students' ST regarding ecological issues. The Systems Thinking…

This study examined whether the intensive reading intervention affects annual reading level growth in middle school students to mitigate reading loss from the COVID19 school closures. Participants included struggling middle school readers (N = 101) from a rural district in east Texas. Student participant Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)…

Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and the theories of reasoned action and planned behaviour (TRAPB) have both guided studies seeking to explain students' intentions and decisions related to future science engagement. The purpose of this study was to simultaneously validate measures for these two social psychological models and closely examine…

Algebraic Thinking Skills (ATS) are one of the skills that students need to master in order to solve nonroutine problems. These skills are also necessary as a foundation for students preparing to enter university studies and fields of work that require logical and analytical thinking. However, Malaysian students' performance in solving algebraic…

The present study examined relations between concern for mianzi, or the social perception of one's prestige and standing in the group, and adjustment in Chinese adolescents. Participants were seventh- and ninth-grade students in rural and urban regions of China (n = 794, M[subscript age] = 14 years). Data were obtained from multiple sources…

This study examines the effects of student-, family-, and school-related factors on student achievement at lower secondary schools in rural Cambodia. To investigate the determinants of student achievement, a survey study was conducted in four rural districts, including 20 lower secondary schools for investigation. A total of 517 seventh graders…

Appalachian youth are highconsumers of added dietary sugar and are very sedentary. "Mentoring to be Active" trains teens to deliver a theoretically based program to promote home-based physical activity (PA) and reduce dietary sugar among rural Appalachian youth. For this pre-test/post-test pilot study, 52 seventh graders from two…

The more students read, the better they read, and students are more inclined to read when they are motivated to read. Students' interests and their confidence as readers contribute to their motivation. Confidence is impacted by how students view themselves as readers, an identity which can be influenced by the environment surrounding them. The…