The retrospective case study conducted in Israel was aimed at assessing students' and parents' views relating to grade skipping. It sheds light on authentic views and decision-making related to the processes and outcomes of grade skipping. The study sample comprised students (N=5) who had experienced grade skipping at different stages in their…

There has been abundant research examining how early life experiences affect achievement. In this article, we investigate the transition from elementary to junior high school at a developmental stage where numerous changes have an impact on students. Using nationally representative survey data, we found no differences in academic achievement…

The present study examined the influence of pre-transition friendship and self-system characteristics on junior high school transition adjustment in a sample of 111 early adolescent girls and boys. Transition adjustment was defined in terms of youth's post-transition friendship quality, emotional distress, and school adjustment. Pre-transition…

There are those in the school community who believe that the anxious feelings and heightened sense of anxiety experienced by sixth graders as they transition from elementary to junior high school constitute a rite of passage. Teachers and school administrators in the Indiana Area Junior High School in Pennsylvania believed differently. During the…

Children's vulnerability to jealousy surrounding their best friends was explored in 2 studies. Study 1 involved 94 adolescents who reported on their friendship jealousy on a newly created measure. Results indicated that the jealousy measure had sound psychometric properties and produced individual differences that were robust over time and free…

This report summarizes results of a 2007-2008 survey of AISD parents, students and staff about how well students are prepared for transitions to middle and high school.

This study compared the effectiveness of short-term developmental group counseling applying Gestalt-play versus cognitive-verbal approaches with Taiwanese adolescents. On a measure of behavioral and emotional strengths, teachers reported significant changes in students' overall behavioral and emotional strengths measured via total scores. Specific…

We investigated bias in self-perceptions of competence (relative to parent ratings) for family, school, and peer domains as predictors of adjustment problems among 139 young adolescents over a 1-year period using a prospective design. Regressions examined measures of bias at Time 1 (T1) as predictors of ratings of internalizing and externalizing…

The association of mothers' report of the adequacy of family financial resources with African American mothers' and adolescents' depressive symptoms was assessed. Findings for families with male adolescents revealed that mothers' report of the adequacy of families' financial resources was linked to mothers' and adolescents' depressive…

Judgments about the quality of students' experience of school generally focus on their academic performance and indeed this is an important indicator but closer attention needs to be paid to equally important, more broadly based outcomes that include social/emotional adjustment as they also are shown to impact on students' lives at, and beyond…