Many students rely on rote algorithms that have been recently taught as they look for a direct way to tackle challenging problems. Especially for students who have not succeeded in the typical high-school curriculum, problem-solving in a novel situation is complex, and students ask for a direct way to solve rather than persevering. The purpose of…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore how leaders in an Islamic school in the United States engaged in culturally relevant leadership (CRL) within a diverse school community to develop students' critical social consciousness. Research Design: Data were collected over 4 years at an Islamic K-8 school in the United States and included…

Establishing a student-centered classroom environment where learning puts students' interests first is essential for middle school students to learn and thrive. Student success does not simply rely on instruction; it relies on external factors such as school and classroom climate, positive relationships with their teachers and other adults, and a…

This study sheds light on the interrelations of universal, school-based social-emotional learning strategies and ethnic-racial identity over time. We assessed exposure to social-emotional learning practices and ethnic-racial identity exploration and resolution among 367 middle school students (70% African American, 30% Latinx; 51% girls) across 3…

"Hall of Heroes," a digital game, was used to compare social and emotional skills of 63 adolescent female students matched for age across Malaysia, South Africa, and the United States. Participants were assessed on six social and emotional competencies during game play, namely impulse control, cooperation, communication, social…

In the fall of 2019, 3,355 10-year-old students in the Houston Independent School District (HISD) students participated in the Study on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES), part of an international effort led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), with Houston serving as the only U.S. site. This report provides a…

This article explores how a laboratory middle school (LMS) serving students from low-performing elementary schools and students with academic or social-emotional challenges is developing as a trauma-responsive school. The authors explore the literature, school/community context, student cases, and the ways in which classroom and school-wide…

Although the importance of mentor teachers in clinical teacher preparation is well established, few researchers explore the social identity development of these individuals. Through our study we contribute to the body of research by exploring mentor teachers' social identity development through the concept of Apprenticeship of Observation --…

The competency-based model implies a process of humanization of education that diversifies content, focusing in this case on the development of the civic and artistic competence of the students. This paper presents the CIVABLES Program designed within the framework of teaching and research collaboration between the University and the Primary…

In this study, the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy sought to uncover the ways in which Massachusetts schools and districts support students' behavioral health needs. This study was guided by the following research questions: (1) What are districts doing to integrate social, emotional and behavioral health supports? (2) What are…

This is the final report of a large-scale independent evaluation of the Building Assets and Reducing Risks (BARR) model in ninth grade in eleven high schools in Maine, California, Minnesota, Kentucky, and Texas. This sample of schools included large and small schools in urban, suburban, and rural areas, serving students from a wide range of…

This study examines whether summer programming that relies on the delivery of a hands-on, experiential service learning curriculum to deliver content is able to reduce or eliminate summer learning loss in middle school students. Using Alexander, Entwisle, and Olson's (2001) faucet theory as a theoretical framework and a qualitative case study…

Research has begun to show that certain schoolwide characteristics--such as student-centered learning environments, leadership, and safety--can be important for improving student outcomes. In keeping with these insights, school improvement efforts around the country are becoming less narrowly focused on the performance of individual students and…

Adventure-based learning (ABL) is a sequenced curriculum using structured physical and team building activities that create the space for participants to work on group communication, cooperation, trust, and problem solving. Reflection (i.e., debriefing) is an essential aspect of the ABL curriculum (Cosgriff, 2000). A debrief in ABL is the…

Behaviors that warrant school discipline (e.g., fighting, victimizing peers) is detrimental to school climate and the learning process. This study examines the effectiveness of preventing school disciplinary incidents in middle school through an experiential, social and emotional learning (SEL) program. A community youth development organization,…