This study analyses student and parental perspectives on the decision to drop out from a rural junior high school in northeast China. Data were collected in 2017 via participant observation, focus groups with students who were considered at "high risk of dropping out", and semi-structured interviews with parents. The official Chinese…

This study examines developmental change across adolescence in the similarity of friends versus nonfriends. This differential in similarity is a key aspect of the organization of the peer context of development: The stronger the correlation between friends for an attribute, the more the attribute delineates clustering and divisions of friendships.…

Parent-adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) communication plays an important role in reducing sexual risk behaviour and preventing HIV. We sought to enhance limited information about the unique barriers to parent-adolescent SRH communication in the Arab states. This mixed-methods study, using a two-phase sequential explorative design,…

This narrative qualitative study aimed to explore the perceptions of using Twitter as an effective professional learning tool for public school secondary-level teachers in Missouri. In addition, the researcher sought to find the perceptions of teachers who used Twitter for professional use, what they found to be valuable in developing a…

Given the increasing emphasis of communicative competence in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts and the lack of validation research on speaking assessments for adolescent EFL learners, in the current study we examined the validity of the TOEFL Junior® speaking test, a relatively new speaking assessment developed by Educational Testing…

Among a sample of 472 Indigenous high school students, juxtaposed with 15,884 non-Indigenous students from the same 54 schools, we investigated variation in motivation and engagement from school to school, and the role of motivation and engagement in predicting various academic outcomes (aspirations, buoyancy, homework completion, and…

District leaders have invested widely in the creation of parent portals, but have paid less attention to ensuring that they are achieving their purpose in providing information that parents can use in supporting their children's academic success. This study, based on qualitative field note data from a larger four-year study of a continuous…

This 2-year prospective study aimed to examine the predictive role of students' achievement goals (mastery-approach and performance-avoidance) on socioemotional adjustment in high school by assessing the potential mediating contribution of academic motivations. A total of 407 high school students (46% boys) were surveyed each year in Secondary 2…

This study estimates the causal impact of 8th grade English learner (EL) reclassification on high school English language arts (ELA) standardized test scores, SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) reading, and on-track to graduate status. I apply a regression discontinuity design to rich administrative data from a large district in California. The…

This report examines which instructional components (e.g., visual representations, use of number lines, teaching and using of mathematical language) and study features (e.g., group size, interventionist training) may have contributed to the effectiveness of intervention. In choosing to focus on instructional components and study features, the…

Introduction: The paper discusses the term cognitive competence of foreign language teachers and focuses on their application in practice. It also deals with possible impact of cognitive competences on choice of teaching methods. The paper identifies a list of the cognitive competences which are both expected and needed when conducting English…

Identifying struggling students in real-time provides a virtual learning environment with an opportunity to intervene meaningfully with supports aimed at improving student learning and engagement. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of quit prediction modeling in students playing a learning game called Physics Playground. From the…

Much research has been done into the relationship between students' motivation to learn and their basic psychological needs as defined by the self-determination theory (autonomy, competence, relatedness). However, few studies have explored how these psychological needs relate to different types of maladaptive behavior in the classroom. To prevent…

While past research has shown the Student Engagement Instrument (SEI) to be an adequate measure of school engagement, this self-report questionnaire currently exists as a number of different versions, each comprising various subsets of the original 35 items. The first objective of this study was to use confirmatory factor analysis to assess the…

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has become an increasingly worrying phenomenon among adolescents and young adults. This study sought to address the paucity of data about the prevalence, nature, and functions of NSSI in the South African context. The Inventory of Statements about Self-harm and the Beck Depression Inventory-II were administered to…