Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the thoughts, feelings, and actions of middle school administrators regarding their school leadership and their influence on the use of exclusionary and restorative justice practices. Theoretical Framework: This research was on grounded by two foundational theories: Sociocultural Theory…

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of parents and educators after the implementation of an immigrant parent program in an urban middle school that lacked parental involvement support. This qualitative study used multiple data collection methods to triangulate the data. Study participants provided their contributions through…

Successful middle schools exhibit effective practices that engage families as valued partners. However, as at-home learning increasingly shifts to digital spaces, parents may have concerns with technology and how their role shifts in digital learning environments. This includes concerns about the balancing act for parents wishing to encourage…

Previous studies have suggested the impact of intervention fidelity on the management and prevention of chronic diseases; however, little is known about the effect of the contributing determinants (at multiple levels of influence) that can impact health-related interventions intending to improve the health status of Hispanic adolescents with…

Background: Despite the establishment of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) in 2010, child nutrition programs continue to experience challenges impacting participation. Prior qualitative studies have explored how to reduce barriers to implementation of these programs in schools, but few studies have examined attitudes held by students, who…

Background: Despite the establishment of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) in 2010, child nutrition programs continue to experience challenges impacting participation. Prior qualitative studies have explored how to reduce barriers to implementation of these programs in schools, but few studies have examined attitudes held by students, who…

The benefits of afterschool activity participation for youth development are well-documented. An interesting question dominating this field is whether there is a threshold at which point participating in too many activities (breadth) and spending too much time in those activities (intensity) is negatively associated with desirable outcomes. Using…

This dissertation examines the factors influencing the self-efficacy of PreK-8th grade educators in supporting students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in southeastern Louisiana. This qualitative phenomenological study analyzes the lived experiences of educators to identify critical influences, such as classroom experience,…

Ecological factors, such as family involvement and school context, are important to consider in understanding middle schoolers' math development. In this study, we examined the relations of middle school student-reported parental monitoring and school climate as well as school-averaged teacher reports of school organizational health (OH) to…

An approach to action research of innovative and disruptive socioecological understandings of young people's wellbeing, resilience, and engagement in middle school was piloted with a coalition of school principals, lead teachers, police, and community development professionals by an RMIT research team. This coalition was built around the…

Developed for school and district leaders, Family and Communication Engagement (FACE) departments, educators, and all departments charged with engaging families, this playbook offers evidence-based strategies to enhance family engagement in middle schools. It is a comprehensive resource for those seeking to implement broad-based improvements and…

Research has consistently highlighted the importance of promoting child-parent interactions. In this essay, we describe the development of MAKEngineering kits that provide collaborative learning experiences for children in Grades 2-6 to engage in engineering design tasks with members of their families in their home environment. First, we present…

Social-emotional learning (SEL) involves developing self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills crucial for success in school, work, and life. This study aimed to explore middle school teachers' perceptions of SEL implementation, the support needed, and the strategies used. It also examined the relationship between these perceptions and…

The purpose of this study was to examine in detail the relationship between perceived parental involvement in homework (content-oriented and autonomy-oriented forms of involvement) and students' homework behavior (homework time, homework time management, and amount of homework completed). The study also looked at how the relationships between…

Extracurricular learning plays a key role in shaping students' interest in (not only) biology. The research examined which extracurricular areas related to biology can make biology more attractive for the participating Finnish and Czech students. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was administered to 178 Finnish and 195 Czech 9th-grade…