This study explored teacher and student perspectives on mandated school uniforms. Debate exists over the appropriateness of uniforms, with some stakeholders suggesting positive outcomes while others bemoan limits on student expression. This study sought to fill a gap in research specific to middle school uniform use by exploring teachers' and…

As a reviewer of middle level schools, their programs, policies, curricula, mission statements, instructional behaviors, assessment processes, and student-oriented community the author offers observations that can promote better student equity. He suggests: (1) "Producing Equity Belief Statements." Mission, Equity, or Inclusion…

Dropout remains a persistent challenge within high school education. In this paper, we present a case study on automatically detecting whether a student is at-risk of dropout within a diverse school district in Texas. We predict whether a student will drop out in a future school year from data on students' discipline, attendance, course-taking,…

Analysis of two recent federal court cases in which principals violated student speech rights offers guidance to middle school administrators as they attempt to address student expression. Characteristics of a successful school from the Association for Middle Level Education provide a framework for analyzing these cases in order to prevent…

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the impact of uniform dress codes on a school's climate for student behavior and learning in four middle schools in North Carolina. The research will compare the perceptions of parents, teachers, and administrators in schools with uniform dress codes against schools without uniform dress codes. This…

Teachers were once held to a professional dress code. This code has become lax, resulting in teachers dressing in more casual attire. A local middle school in rural Georgia was experiencing complaints about teachers' unprofessional attire from other teachers, administrators, and parents. Teachers play an integral role in modeling cultural and…

School disciplinary processes are an important mechanism of inequality in education. Most prior research in this area focuses on the significantly higher rates of punishment among African American boys, but in this article, we turn our attention to the discipline of African American girls. Using advanced multilevel models and a longitudinal data…

Purpose: Physical activity participation in physical education is compromised when students nonsuit. We investigated: (a) reasons for nonsuiting/support of policy change and whether they differed by gender, ethnicity, or grade; and (b) the likelihood of nonsuiting based on the same demographics. Method: Participants ("N" = 627) were 6th…

In this first of a kind breakdown of data from over 26,000 U.S. middle and high schools, the authors estimate that well over two million students were suspended during the 2009-2010 academic year. This means that one out of every nine secondary school students was suspended at least once during that year. As other studies demonstrate, the vast…

Background: Physical education teacher behaviour has been a subject of study in physical education including physical education teacher education for 30 years. However, the research on teacher behaviour has tended to focus on direct teaching behaviour (DTB) to demonstrate the benefits of effective teaching, centred on a technical understanding of…

This study investigated public middle school students' opinions on the benefits of wearing a school uniform. A review of related literature is provided along with results of the opinions obtained from 604 seventh- and eighth-grade middle school students attending a public school in Nevada that had recently initiated a school uniform policy.…

In this first of a kind breakdown of data from over 26,000 U.S. middle and high schools, the authors estimate that well over two million students were suspended during the 2009-2010 academic year. This means that one out of every nine secondary school students was suspended at least once during that year. As other studies demonstrate, the vast…

This article reports on the effectiveness of school uniform policies. At Stephen Decatur Middle School, it is the school's policy that all students wear the standard school attire consisting of khaki pants with polo shirts in white, burgundy, or navy blue. Some of the shirts also sport an embroidered Decatur eagle, an optional embellishment.…

Success in today's K-12 environment often hinges on improved test scores. But success should be defined more broadly to recognize the overall learning environment that is created by students, teachers, staff members, administrators, and parents. As a middle level principal, the author has learned that to create long-lasting change and to foster a…