Adaptation, or adjustment, is a psycho-social process that occurs when an individual accepts and integrates into his or her life a transition from one situation to another situation (Schlossberg, 1981). Many individuals struggle with transitions because transitions involve changes in the environment, roles, routines, and/or ways of looking at the…

Problem statement: Problem behavior theory describes both protective factors and risk factors to explain adolescent problem behaviors, such as delinquency, alcohol use, and reckless driving. The theory holds that problem behaviors involving risky behavior are used by adolescents as a means to gain peer acceptance and respect. Problem behaviors…

Epistemic beliefs are deeply held convictions about the nature of knowledge, knowing, and learning. In this study, approximately 500 ninth and tenth-grade physical education (PE) students completed fitness-specific measures assessing their epistemic beliefs in the simplicity and stability of knowledge and the speed of its acquisition along with…

In this study, students' understanding of chemical changes was investigated in relation to four individual differences, related to logical thinking, field dependence/independence, convergence and divergence thinking. The study took place in Greece with the participation of students (n = 374) from three grades (8th, 10th and 12th grades) of…

Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study examined the relationship between student and school-based factors (e.g., educational aspirations, quality of the program of study, and adults' impact on college enrollment) and students' academic engagement and satisfaction with student life in a career technical education (CTE) setting. This study…

The authors extend their understanding of learner motivation by addressing questions around the construct of classroom need for closure in a high school sample. First, they established that their classroom need for closure measure demonstrated adequate psychometric properties when used with high school students. Subsequently, they explored…

This study explored how neighborhood characteristics may relate to African American adolescents' internalizing symptoms via adolescents' social support and perceptions of neighborhood cohesion. Participants included 571 urban, African American adolescents (52% female; "M" age = 17.8). A multilevel path analysis testing both direct and…

The fundamental importance of motives, values and goals to academic behaviour has been noted by many social theorists. This paper reports the results of a survey investigation on the relationship of gender, professional career aspirations and the combined influence of materialism, religiosity, and achievement goals on students' willingness to…

The California Department of Education (CDE) has long asserted that success Algebra I by Grade 8 is the goal for all California public school students. In fact, the state's accountability system penalizes schools that do not require all of their students to take the Algebra I end-of-course examination by Grade 8 (CDE, 2009). In this dissertation,…

The increasing online access to courses, programs, and information has shifted the control and responsibility of learning process from instructors to learners. Learners' perceptions of and attitudes toward e-learning constitute a critical factor to the success of such system. The purpose of this study is to take TAM (technology acceptance model)…

A relatively new area of research suggests that naturally occurring mentoring relationships may influence the development of adolescents by protecting against risk behaviors. Few studies have explored how these relationships function to reduce risk behavior among youth, especially in the school context. Based on previous research and theory, we…

This study investigates the relationship among Japanese high school teachers' beliefs, their practices, and socioeducational factors regarding communicative language teaching (CLT). A multimethods approach was used consisting of a survey, interviews, and class observations. A Teacher Beliefs Questionnaire was sent to 188 randomly selected Japanese…

Peer assessment has been implemented in schools as both a learning tool and an assessment tool. Earlier studies have explored the effectiveness of peer assessment from different perspectives, such as domain knowledge and skills, peer assessment skills, and attitude changes. However, there is no holistic model describing the effects of cognitive…

Emerging in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the concept of individual student planning developed as a component of school guidance counseling programs. The underlying significance of these plans, such as the Individual Career Plan (ICP), is that "it gives [students] a chance to tell and develop their story" (N. Gysbers, personal communication,…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether instructional leadership functions, as defined in Hallinger's Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale, positively influence collective teacher efficacy to improve school achievement. Teachers from sample schools provided data for measures of collective teacher efficacy and instructional…