The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is an epidemiologic surveillance system that was established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help monitor the prevalence of behaviors that not only influence youth health, but also put youth at risk for the most significant health and social problems that can occur during…

For many students, the summer is a time for family vacations, new friendships, new adventures in camps and summer learning programs, or taking summer classes to catch up or get ahead in school. For some families, affordable summer programs and camps can be a lifeline, while other families who may not be able to afford summer programs or activities…

In recent years, the use of social networking sites has grown tremendously especially among the teens and high school students. However, very little is known about the scale of use, the purpose, how students use these sites and, more specifically, whether these sites help or hurt their academic progress. This study investigates how high school…

This report presents selected findings from the Public School Principal Status and Private School Principal Status Data Files of the 2012-13 Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS). The PFS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools in the 50 states and District of Columbia and was initiated to inform discussions and…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Duncan Outlines Obama's Education Budget Before House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees; (2) National High…

This mixed methods study focuses on communication between teachers and parents in primary and secondary schools in northeast Texas. Based on data from surveys in 11 districts, received from 230 teachers and 171 parents, this study found statistically significant differences between teachers' and parents' perceptions of the classroom teacher's…

The paper reports on parent survey comments to raise awareness of teachers of children with disabilities and facilitate the parent-teacher collaborative experience. The Life Management Survey (LMS) was designed (Scorgie, Wilgosh, & McDonald, 1997) to corroborate nine themes (Scorgie, Wilgosh, & McDonald, 1996) identified through in-depth…

The authors examined factors influencing the return rates for attempting to collect active parental consent forms from 21,123 students in the 7th through 10th grades in 41 middle and high schools. Overall return rates from middle schools were higher than from high schools. Schools that offered high levels of staff support for collecting consent…

Work-based education (WBE), including traditional vocational education and other career-focused programs, was an important curricular component in American schools for most of the 20th century. The 1990s was a period of substantial change for work-based education (WBE). Spurred on by a concern about the international competitiveness of the…