This Capstone project intended to create a greater awareness and develop an understanding of the impact of attendance on academic performance. Schools are faced with the tasks of ensuring students attend school and keeping them engaged while they are at school. This project encourages the reader to look past school attendance as a mere student…

This Capstone project intended to create a greater awareness and develop an understanding of the impact of attendance on academic performance. Schools are faced with the tasks of ensuring students attend school and keeping them engaged while they are at school. This project encourages the reader to look past school attendance as a mere student…

Recruiting and retaining African American students in middle school gifted education continues to be challenging in American schools. African American students continue to be underrepresented in middle school gifted education and accelerated programs, even when they qualify to be gifted education participants. The case study that follows focuses…

Employing longitudinal, multisite comparative mixed-methods, we describe patterns of reclassifying and not reclassifying eligible English learner (EL) students to fluent English proficient, and we identify factors impeding and facilitating reclassification. Analyses of administrative data for 7 cohorts of students over 3 years in one district and…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) have become a popular strategy in various forms (e.g., data teams, grade-level teams) and with various champions (e.g., district leaders, university researchers, teacher advocates). Although well-implemented PLCs have been shown to distribute leadership, the tension between democratic inquiry processes and…

This qualitative case study explored the policies and procedures used to effectively address cyberbullying at a technology-based middle school. The purpose of the study was to gain an in-depth understanding of policies and procedures used to address cyberbullying at a technology-based middle school in the southern United States. The study sought…

Background: Schools can promote healthy eating in adolescents. This study used a qualitative approach to examine barriers and facilitators to healthy eating in schools. Methods: Case studies were conducted with 8 low-income Michigan middle schools. Interviews were conducted with 1 administrator, the food service director, and 1 member of the…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the results of current school uniform policies according to views of stakeholders. Descriptive case study method was used for this study to understand the concerns of the stakeholders about school uniforms. Data was collected through interviews with stakeholders and also reviewing the documents in TOKI…

This article reports the results of a survey of parental involvement (PI) policy and practice in middle schools in a large New Zealand city. Principals at all 11 middle schools in the city were contacted and agreed to be interviewed. Interviews were conducted using a schedule that focuses on 11 aspects of PI: encouraging parents into school,…

Social media has permeated almost every aspect of the lives of anyone who utilizes the internet. Teachers and students are no exception. Students are most likely to use social media sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. This research focuses on best practices related to augmenting school curriculum to utilize these tools to increase student…

Bully victimization takes place within a social context of youths' parents, peers, teachers, school administrators, and community. Victims often rely on parents, educators, or peers for support. However, there is a gap in the literature in understanding parents' experiences of what occurs before, during, and after reporting bullying to school…

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that influence African American parents' involvement in their children's middle school experiences. Two focus group interviews were conducted with African American parents. While the participants viewed parent involvement as important, they reported that family structure and socioeconomic…

Aims: Schools have emerged as a key site for prevention and early intervention strategies for antisocial behaviour. This paper examines teacher perspectives of the scope within their day-to-day practice for the implementation of monitoring and management of student risk status for substance misuse. Methods: Teacher perspectives of early…

Background: Schools are in a unique position not only to identify mental health problems among children and adolescents but also to provide links to appropriate services. This article describes the characteristics of school mental health and social services in the United States, including state- and district-level policies and school practices.…