This study examines the effects of the Students of Promise (SOP), USA school-based planned mentoring program on African-American high school students' academic performance, behavior, and attendance. One of the primary goals of SOP, serving middle through high school students, is to provide academic support and behavioral guidance to youth…

Chronic absenteeism negatively affects millions of U.S. students each year, and there has been little improvement in the past 2 decades despite the efforts of educational organizations nationwide. The purpose of this qualitative project study was to examine the perceptions of different stakeholders regarding how the factors that contribute to…

College readiness and completion has been at the forefront of national and state education initiatives. As a result of these initiatives, many states are utilizing dual-enrollment programs to enhance their educational offerings. A qualitative study was conducted to understand dual-enrollment program experiences from the perspective of high school…

One proactive approach to increasing student engagement in schools is implementing Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) strategies. PBIS focuses on prevention and concentrates on quality-of-life issues that include improved academic achievement, enhanced social competence, and safe learning and teaching environments. This study is a…

This article identifies seven specific attitudes, behaviors, and skills among academically successful urban Black students and explores the relationship to their achievement. This study examines the academic achievement of 157 Black students and finds that when specific "Successful Learner Characteristics" are present, above-average…

Supporting students' mental health needs is critical in high-poverty urban school districts where many students are at risk for mental health problems. Although teacher-student relationships are at the core of student mental health promotion in the classroom, many teacher preparation programmes do not adequately prepare pre-service teachers…

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of early preparation for postsecondary education and explore the effectiveness of Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP). This comparative case study included 836 students from two cohorts (GEAR UP and Non GEAR UP). We compared high school attendance,…

A number of U.S. higher education institutions are converting from quarter-to semester-based academic calendars; in fall 2012, seventeen Ohio institutions did so. Over a two-year time period, college student samples were recruited from a large, public, urban, Midwestern university that was undergoing a transition from a quarter-based to a…

The local Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEARUP) partnership serves 11 K-8 schools with the lowest achievement scores and the highest poverty rates in a large Midwestern urban district. Recently, GEARUP launched a specially designed teaching program, Mathematics Enhancement Group (MEG), for underachievers in…

This dissertation examines the efficacy of a bottom-up comprehensive school reform (CSR) program by evaluating its impact on student achievement, attendance, and behavior outcomes through an explanatory mixed methods design. The CSR program (Gear Up) was implemented in an urban junior high school over the course of seven years allowing for…

The problem of student discipline disproportionately affects urban schools with large numbers of low income and ethnic minority students. Research over the past 35 years however has consistently shown that discipline policies that are understood and accepted by teachers, students, and parents and consistently enforced by school officials,…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the implementation of a mandatory uniform policy in urban public high schools improved school performance measures at the building level for rates of attendance, graduation, academic proficiency, and student conduct as measured by rates of suspensions and expulsions. Sixty-four secondary…