In order to investigate the effectiveness of using Student Response Systems (SRS) among grade 7 and 8 science students in New York, the How Do You Feel About This Class? (HDYFATC) questionnaire was administered to 1097 students (532 students did use SRS and 565 students who did not use SRS). Data analyses attested to the sound factorial validity…

This study explored the perceptions of teacher-student relationships and personal student safety differences between Caucasian and African-American middle school students. The research was conducted using a survey in a suburban middle class school on Long Island, New York. Twenty-eight of 176 Caucasian students were chosen through random sampling…

School counselors help foster student's academic, social, and career development; yet, school counselors are often neglected in research on school climate and student safety. Framed by the theory of planned behavior, this study examined how 206 school counselors' multicultural counseling competence, multicultural self-efficacy, and perceptions of…

Students perform better in school to the extent they are able to engage fully, cope adaptively, and bounce back from obstacles and setbacks in their academic work. These three processes, which studies suggest are positively inter-connected, may comprise a self-sustaining system that enables "motivational resilience." Using…

How children and youth deal with academic challenges and setbacks can make a material difference to their learning and school success. Hence, it is important to investigate the factors that allow students to cope constructively. A process model focused on students' motivational resources was used to frame a study examining whether engagement in…

This study investigates the link between process evaluation components and the outcomes of a school-based nutrition curriculum intervention, "Choice, Control and Change". Ten New York City public middle schools were recruited and randomly assigned into intervention or control condition. The curriculum was to improve sixth to seventh…

Conducted at 10 schools in four communities, this study investigated relationships of young adolescents' reading motivation, reading preference, and reading engagement as influenced by their English Language Arts teachers' use of instructional strategies. Students in eight sixth grade (N = 196) and nine seventh grade (N = 218) classes completed a…

A study was designed to examine a multidimensional measure of children's coping in the academic domain as part of a larger model of motivational resilience. Using items tapping multiple ways of dealing with academic problems, including five adaptive ways (strategizing, help-seeking, comfort-seeking, self-encouragement, and commitment) and six…

Family interviews were conducted with 28 7-12-year-old children who had experienced various forms of bullying and relational aggression by their peers, as well as with their parent and with an older sibling. Interviews explored possible supportive strategies of older siblings, parents, and teachers. All bullied children reported negative feelings…

The study evaluates the relationship between middle school principals' leadership characteristics and academic achievement of African American male students in grades 6, 7, and 8 in a large urban school district. Academic achievement is typically defined as the cognitive knowledge, skills, and abilities that are measured by achievement tests. The…

A non-experimental research study was performed in which the researcher investigated the relationship between principals' use of transformational leadership practices and students' reading and mathematics achievement. A sample of principals from 2,500 randomly selected elementary, middle, and high schools in New York State were recruited by…

Teacher expectations and their effects on student academic performance began with the work of Robert Rosenthal (1968). His work led to a plethora of studies by researchers investigating teacher behaviors with high and low expectations of students. However, there are few studies on how students' perceptions of teacher expectations influence…

Increases in substance use prevalence among girls, as well as a lack of research conducted with urban girls of color, highlight the importance of understanding both predictors and outcomes of substance use abstinence (SUA) within this population. This study addresses gaps in SUA research through a longitudinal investigation conducted with urban…