Background: The Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) is administered biennially to adolescents; it covers knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about risk and protective factors. Purpose: This study explored 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students' attitudes and beliefs about current trends regarding drugs, alcohol, and mental health. Methods: We asked…

Argumentation is an important component of scientific education (Osborne, 2010). However, how students create and evaluate competing arguments in scientific investigations is a complex construct, which presents significant challenges for assessment. We engaged 349 middle and high school students in a virtual scientific investigation based on an…

When beginning music teachers enter a new classroom for the first time, they start a journey toward understanding a new context and community. Place consciousness develops as they become embedded in their community and begin to recognize how its culture and environment interact with their teaching practices. By mapping the objects, people, and…

Employing descriptive and interpretive analyses of classroom videos and focus group data, this study details how the provision of choice was enacted in instruction, and the subsequent messages students perceived. Participants included six teachers (fourth to eighth grade) and 114 students (age X-bar = 11.28 years, 60% African American). Survey…

Youth organizing work benefits young people in myriad ways, equipping them with the skills and dispositions to organize around the systemic inequities and policy decisions that threaten their communities. The findings from this life histories study in the Philadelphia Student Union (PSU) reveal that the organization's collectivist leadership model…

The central focus of this multilayered educational action research project was three-fold: (1) to provide opportunities for public school student leadership activities grounded in participatory and youth participatory action research; (2) to support a group of teacher-researchers in practicing and innovating in participatory action research…

This study looks deeply inside 17 schools that stand at the vanguard of the current revolution in teaching. This new National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL) report reveals the substantive ways in which these schools are providing their teachers with more time to reflect on, develop, and hone their craft, by very explicitly leveraging an…

This mixed methods research study explored advisory programs in three middle schools located in Southeastern Pennsylvania. An advisory program is a fundamental component of an exemplary middle school yet there are often difficulties in implementing it successfully. Research indicates that a middle school advisory program cannot be successful if…

Schools must be learning organizations, but learning does not happen automatically. Visiting classrooms, reviewing student work, collecting artifacts, and analyzing achievement data is essential to the health of a school and its ability to educate students. One of the key ways the school administrators of Pottsgrove Middle School in Pottstown,…

Every fall, 8th graders in the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) have the opportunity to apply to five district-managed high schools other than their own neighborhood school. One of the goals of Philadelphia's tiered system of neighborhood, citywide, and special admission high schools--many with specific curricular programs--is that students…

The second edition of this essential handbook provides a comprehensive, updated overview of the science that informs best practices for the implementation of response to intervention (RTI) processes within Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to facilitate the academic success of all students. The volume includes insights from leading scholars…

Every fall, eighth graders in the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) have the opportunity to apply to up to five district-managed high schools. The high school application system presents students and families with choices, but taking full advantage of the system requires understanding the high school admission criteria, the various programs…

One question frequently arises in the work of the Regional Comprehensive Centers: "What are states, districts, and schools doing about RTI?" This document addresses that question, with particular focus on instruction and the implementation of effective practices. It uses a frequently asked questions (FAQs) format, with answers based on…

Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI) is a competency-based approach to intervening with adolescents, particularly within the schools, who are experiencing emotional pain, psychological distress, or behavioral disruption in their personal lives. LSCI is used to help classroom teachers, guidance counselors, administrators, and other school staff to…