McGinnis draws on the idea of engaged learning as critical and illustrates how school literacy practices do not provide urban Khmer youth (and by extension, other groups whose backgrounds are linguistically or socioculturally distinct) with deep levels of engagement in literacy activities. By looking at the types of writing experiences these youth…

Members of the Alabama Counseling Association were surveyed to examine the extent to which they demonstrate homonegativity (prejudicial attitudes toward homosexuality). The majority of the counselors did not appear to approach homosexuality from traditional prejudices, although almost one-third believed homosexuality to be immoral. The counselors…

Commitment and attachment to school and perception of school norms were examined in a sample of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders to determine whether bullies, victims, bully victims, and students who reported no or low levels of bullying and victimization differed in their level of bonding to school and their perceptions of standards and…

The purpose of this project was to gain a better understanding of dimensions of trust and inter-relationships between those dimensions during the adolescent years. Drawing from survey data collected at the beginning and end of a semester in eighty middle- and high-school social studies classes, relationships were assessed between: social trust,…

This study examines the meaning of teaching in rural, historically monocultural communities as it is experienced by teachers of color. This research project developed in three phases: (1) identifying; (2) observing teaching practices of; and (3) conducting a weekend focus group with a sampling of teachers of color working in middle and secondary…

This article reports qualitative findings of seven focus groups that illuminate the phenomenon of dating and dating violence from the perspective of the young adolescent. This study was part of a larger intervention project, "An Arts-Based Initiative for the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls," a collaboration of the Centers…

This report, the first in a series of four 1996 releases of students' opinions, represents a continued effort by MetLife to provide insight and understanding to the issues of violence and social tension in American public schools. The survey focuses on the social climate of the nation's public schools from the perspective of public school students…

Prevention research continues to focus on school-based substance use programs aimed at adolescents. These programs are designed to reduce substance use and risk behavior by targeting key mediators, such as normative beliefs, which in turn reduce substance use. All Stars is a newly developed program that was recently evaluated in a randomized field…

For more than 250 years, Americans have shared a vision of a democracy in which all citizens understand, appreciate, and engage actively in civic and political life. In recent decades, however, increasing numbers of Americans have disengaged from civic and political institutions such as voluntary associations, religious congregations,…

Based on an ethnographic case study done in an all-white, rural middle school, this article examines the students' experience with and interpretation of an international education program implemented with a hope of providing more global/international contents to the curriculum. The study shows that these students interpreted other cultures…

This paper looks at the relationship between the study behavior and academic engagement of individual students, the norms and attitudes of close friends, and the peer culture of school. The authors are particularly interested in how the academic orientation of a student and his or her close friends invites or protects him or her from harassment by…

Education specialists have written volumes on the best ways to help children learn to read and write, but who is helping them navigate the potentially treacherous waters of social interactions? While in school to study, children are also preoccupied with understanding the rules governing social relationships. Issues of trust and loyalty, rivalry…

The objectives of this study were to examine outcomes of the Minnesota D.A.R.E. Plus Project on violence-related behaviors among middle school students and mediation analyses that test how the intervention was effective in reducing physical and verbal violence. Twenty-four schools were randomly assigned to the D.A.R.E. middle school curriculum,…