To help personalize schooling for adolescents and provide the nurturing environment often lacking at home, teachers at a Bowie, Maryland, middle school began a mentoring project focusing on social exchange, sense of belonging, symbolic interaction, life skills enrichment, self-image, self-efficacy, resource development, and role models. Students…

Young African American males' role models are those in the entertainment and sports arenas. Few see themselves as scholars, contributing to the common good. To counteract teachers' low expectations of black males' performance, educators at Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, Maryland, established African-American Achievers, a program that…

In response to adolescent girls' concerns about teen violence, rumors, grooming, careers, and equity, four women teachers and a woman administrator at a Maryland middle school developed the Delta Program. The program provides positive learning experiences, teaches social skills and conflict management techniques, empowers girls through mentoring…

This report details the latest findings from the biennial Maryland Adolescent Survey of the extent and trends in alcohol, tobacco, and drug use among students. To permit comparisons with national findings and trends, the form and content of survey items parallel those of the annual national study "Monitoring the Future," conducted by the…

This volume consists of reports on the status and function of lower secondary comprehensive school systems in four countries with contrasting cultures and educational traditions: Denmark, France, the United Kingdom as represented by Scotland, and the United States as represented by Maryland and Minnesota. The volume begins with an analysis by…