Researchers have found that middle school students undergo developmental changes that require unique educational structures and support. As a result, experts have suggested a number of specific strategies for organizing middle schools in order to best meet students' needs. This Information Capsule summarizes middle school redesign initiatives that…

Problem based learning has more recently become a common term in public education. There is much positive potential when implementing problem based learning at the high school level. Here I review positives while not completely ignoring some of the negatives associated with implementing a problem based learning model at the high school level. More…

Complexities of essential aspects of the teacher-student relationship were identified in a group of German adolescents and their teachers through participant observation. It is already known that the determinants of the teacher-student relationship cannot be simply categorized and analyzed as univariate features. Using Clifford Geertz?s concept of…

This study focuses on the experience of designing and implementing an action research-based curriculum in a secondary science classroom. By systematically examining ourselves and our practices, we brought to light beliefs and values that were realized through this process, came to a deeper understanding of our own learning, and developed new…

This study builds on existing research on school-community partnerships in middle and secondary schools by examining the roles of the students and the impact of social influences on their school-community liaising practices. Documents, observations, and 20 interviews with students, school leaders, teachers, and support staff from one urban,…

The effects of teacher learning that transitions into pedagogical knowledge and practice remains an under-investigated area in the literature. This longitudinal study extended one teacher's professional learning into her inner-city secondary school, where she created a mother-daughter after-school book club that began when 12 Black girls,…

The Literacy Intervention Toolkit (LIT) programme aims to improve the reading ability of children in Year 7 who scored below Level 4 at the end of primary school using a method known as reciprocal teaching. Reciprocal teaching methods encourage children to 'become the teacher'. They are taught how to apply four comprehension strategies:…

The purpose of this study is to answer the question: How do pilot users of the Danielson Evaluation System perceive this model in two mid-south high schools? The study describes the perceptions of teachers and administrators who implemented the Danielson Teacher Evaluation Model. The primary focus was on teachers and administrators experience with…

In order to be successful in problem-or project-based learning (PBL), students must take responsibility for the learning process by setting goals, monitoring, reflecting, and sustaining their motivation from the beginning of the project until the end. However, for many students, these processes do not occur naturally or easily. Therefore, the…

For more than a decade, the professional development literature has shown that most teachers are not adequately prepared to teach English learners (ELs)--that holds true for both specialist and mainstream teachers (see, for example, August & Hakuta, 1997; Beykont, 2002). Research that focuses on professional development for teachers of ELs,…

School bullying is a worldwide worrisome phenomenon that occurs within a broad context in which pupils and teachers can either reinforce or undermine violent behavior through interaction. Based on a nationally representative sample of students in Israel, this study examined patterns in student perceptions of student and teacher responses to school…

This study investigates attributional beliefs of Singapore secondary students in their English study and how they can be predicted by self-construal, competence and achievement goals. A total of 1,496 students were administered surveys on seven attributions, independent and interdependent self-construals, previous achievement, self-efficacy,…

This study evaluates a model of social capital where support from parents, peers, teachers, and mentors (SOS) was hypothesized to mediate the link between students' abilities to mobilize support (MOS) and four school-related outcomes: academic, behavioral, emotional, and career outcome expectations. Survey data from 206 high school students with…

Curricular reform efforts are underway in many countries, focused on adopting inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning. Therefore, it is increasingly important to understand what outcomes students attain in inquiry environments. Derived from a literature review, a 23-item, criterion-referenced inventory is presented for theoretically…

Drawing on individual interviews with 62 students from three secondary schools, the authors of this study investigate how Singapore students from different educational tracks understand their role as citizens in a democracy. In contrast to most countries, the constitutionally democratic state of Singapore explicitly assigns separate citizenship…