Bullying has been recognized as a significant social issue and research has shown that bullying behaviors tend to increase during the middle school years. Research trends indicate that current attention given to bullying has been influenced by public outcry against a growing number of tragic school and community-based events involving youth, many…

New York City's elite public specialized high schools have a long history of offering a rigorous college preparatory education to the City's most academically talented students. Though immensely popular and highly selective, their policy of admitting students on the basis of a single entrance exam has been heavily criticized. Many argue, for…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), in partnership with the National Assessment Governing Board and the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS), created the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) in 2002 to support the improvement of student achievement in the nation's large urban districts. NAEP TUDA results in mathematics…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), in partnership with the National Assessment Governing Board and the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS), created the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) in 2002 to support the improvement of student achievement in the nation's large urban districts. NAEP TUDA results in mathematics…

Amistad Academy is a bright shining star in public school reform. Founded in 1999 in a renovated warehouse in a blighted New Haven, Connecticut, neighborhood by a group of Yale law school students, the 289-student charter school has won the praise of the last two federal education secretaries. Educators throughout the country have traveled to the…

Although the transition from elementary school to middle school can be an exciting time for students, it can also be vexing and traumatic. Often, when parents drop off their children at middle school on the first day of school, the scene is reminiscent of the first day of school for kindergarteners and their parents. At Albert Leonard Middle…

This article describes the experiences of seventh-grade students living in high poverty areas of New York City who participated in the "Choice, Control and Change" (C3) science curriculum. Data were collected from eight case study students in the form of individual interviews, classroom observations, and student artifacts. Analysis of…

In 2003, Dr. Freddie Thomas Middle School in Rochester, New York, was in serious trouble. In 2000, it had been labeled a "school under registration review" by the New York State Education Department and was under a directive to make significant progress or face serious consequences. Three years later in 2003, only 3% of eighth-grade…

Out-of-school time (OST) science programs, such as the Lang Science Program, play an important role in influencing the trajectory of science learning for many young people. OST programs are especially important for students from groups underrepresented in science, who, more often than not, attend schools with inadequate science education…

In the fall of 2005 the principal and teachers at Knickerbacker Middle School (KMS) were worried. KMS was a "School in Good Standing" but had not hit federal or state benchmarks because of low subgroup scores on the English Language Arts (ELA) test--especially scores received by economically disadvantaged students, about half of this…

Research strongly supports the use of mentoring programs and induction practices for assisting and retaining quality teachers and easing beginning teachers' transition into their full time roles as professional educators. Much evidence and research have proven that mentoring new teachers is good practice with regard to retention within the field…

To stem the tide of students dropping out, many schools and districts are turning to early warning systems (EWS) that signal whether a student is at risk of not graduating from high school. While some research exists about establishing these systems, there is little information about the actual implementation strategies that are being used across…

This study contributes knowledge about how a digital badge system integrated into an online, subject-matter-specific, and competency-based professional development (PD) program affected teachers' experiences with and perceptions of the program activities. The report presents findings from a one-year exploratory study of an online PD program, and…

This study describes key challenges and necessary supports related to implementation of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) identified by rural math educators in the Northeast. The research team interviewed state and district math coordinators and surveyed teachers in Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont, to assess their…

Informal science education institutions have been identified as critical participants in helping students succeed in science by working in collaboration with school systems across the country. The results of one such collaboration, the Urban Advantage (UA) program found that participation in UA improved student achievement, on average, by 0.6…