This study examined relations between the student-teacher trust relationship and school success, including school adjustment, academic motivation and performance. Data were collected from 318 7th-grade Korean middle school students (170 males, 148 females). All intercorrelations were positively correlated and correlation coefficients were…

The transition to high school has been identified as a potentially difficult time in adolescents' lives. Reductions in both academic and social functioning often accompany this transition. While these effects have been documented in urban youth, the move to high school has not been extensively studied in rural minority youth. Toward that end, the…

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…

This study examined the mediating role of self-blaming attributions on peer victimization-maladjustment relations in middle school and the moderating role of classroom ethnic diversity. Latino and African American 6th grade participants (N = 1105, 56% female) were recruited from middle schools in which they were either members of the numerical…

Two studies investigated the proposition that social achievement goals (different orientations toward social competence) are an important aspect of young adolescents' social motivation. Study 1 (N = 153 6th-grade students) established that different orientations toward developing or demonstrating social competence can be seen in young adolescents'…

Students who are not motivated and do not try to do well are unlikely to achieve consistent with their abilities. This research assesses the relationships over time between school engagement and parenting practices and peer affiliation among sixth to ninth graders using latent growth models. Participants included 2,453 students recruited from…

The transition to middle school is often marked by decreased academic achievement and increased emotional stress, and African American children exposed to social risk may be especially vulnerable during this transition. To identify mediators and protective factors, the authors related severity and timing of risk exposure to academic achievement…

In this study I rely on sociocultural views of learning and teaching to describe how fifth- sixth-grade students in a Fostering a Community of Learners (FCL) classroom gradually adopted scientific ideas and language in a socially complex classroom. Students practiced talking science together, using everyday, scientific, and hybrid discourses as…

The role of peer acceptance, number of mutual friends, and friendship quality in predicting adjustment across the transition from elementary to middle school was examined. Participants were 146 students (68 boys, 78 girls) who participated in the Time 1 (spring of fifth grade) and Time 2 (fall of sixth grade) assessments. Peer acceptance and…

Reintegrating students with emotional and behavioral disorders from alternative school settings to the mainstream school environment presents significant challenges. Students are frequently unsuccessful when they return to home districts. Most researchers address the problem in a variable-centric manner, and explore specific student, teacher,…

The current study is an investigation of early adolescents' perceptions of social support from parents, teachers, classmates, and close friends, and how that support is related to measures of students' adjustment on a range of behavioral indices. Data were collected on a sample of 246 students in Grades 6 through 8 using the Child and Adolescent…

This study addresses the questions that arise when collecting, describing, and analyzing information from multiple informants regarding attributes of individual students. Using data from the Fast Track study, we evaluate alternative measurement strategies for using multiple teacher ratings of student adjustment to middle school among a sample of…

The present study used an ecological framework to examine the relationships among adolescents' perceptions of school climate, social competence, and behavioral and psychological adjustment in the middle school years. This study improved upon prior studies by using "structural equation modeling" to investigate the hypothesized mediating…

Research demonstrates a host of negative student outcomes associated with the transition to middle school. As school personnel seek to connect students to the new school, extracurricular participation, in particular, has the potential to influence student belonging and promote positive academic and psychosocial outcomes. Data from this…

This is a comparison study of 244 early adolescents attending sixth grade at either an urban elementary school or an urban middle school. Utilizing four data collection instruments, it compares the adolescent groups' degrees of loneliness, levels of positive self-concept, academic competence, problem behaviors, and social skills. Results indicate…