The well-known lyrics may be "The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You," but at Scott Morgan Johnson Middle School in McKinney, TX, it's definitely the "eye of the tiger" that sets the bar for Tiger PRIDE (perseverance, respect, integrity, determination, and excellence). This article describes how those ideals have been infused…

Since 2000 the population in McKinney, Texas, has almost tripled. Remarkably, the school system has kept apace, opening a new school building almost every year. As the population of this Dallas-Fort Worth area bedroom community has diversified in recent decades, so has the student body of McKinney Independent School District (ISD). Despite the…

Firearms in the home are associated with increased injury risk, especially when loaded and unlocked. In this study, 5,010 fifth-graders and their caregivers in three U.S. metropolitan areas participated in the 2004-2006 Healthy Passages study on adolescent health. Firearm ownership and storage patterns were examined by four self-reported…

"The Rewards of Perseverance" tells the story of a district with a clear vision, stable leadership, and deliberate evolution in response to change. Located just north of Houston, AISD has faced daunting challenges since the 1990s--including a significant increase in high-need students, and more rigorous state tests. At the same time, the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between superintendent job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Surveys were sent electronically to superintendents (N = 470) of Texas mid-size schools to collect data to test for relationships of variables and constructs associated with job satisfaction and components of…

The purpose of this mixed-method case study was to explore the institutional practices that may influence persistence for Hispanic undergraduate students at a four-year public research university in Texas. Data were gathered from 255 students using an on-line survey and follow-up interviews with ten students and three administrators. The combined…

The current study used a mixed design ANOVA to compare the I-Ready reading comprehension scores of 76 students enrolled in an elementary school in South Texas. A previously untested intervention, a literacy-related social skills group, derived from the constructs of emotional intelligence, was compared to the more orthodox interventions of a…

Student perspectives reflect school climate. The study examined perspectives among deaf and hard of hearing students in residential and large day schools regarding bullying, and compared these perspectives with those of a national database of hearing students. The participants were 812 deaf and hard of hearing students in 11 U.S. schools. Data…

While there is little doubt that engaging in musical or mathematical activities stimulates brain activity at high levels and that increased student involvement fosters a greater learning environment, questions remain about whether musical ability and mathematics performance are related. This study took a qualitative approach that allowed 24 high…

The Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative has spent 14 years working with young people with foster care experience, engaging them to help identify what they need to transition successfully to adulthood. Consistently, young people have emphasized that their foster care experiences are far from normal. What they need--but too often do not…

Because eligibility for Title I funding is dependent on the financial needs of schools' populations, many Title I schools face significant barriers to student achievement. Decades of research have shown that poverty has a strong negative impact on student academic performance (Herbers et al., 2012), and Title I schools frequently serve students…

This report describes characteristics of the 11 model SEL schools in AISD and compares them to nonmodel SEL schools.

This project analyzes the organizational behavior of the University of Texas System. The University of Texas System is comprised of nine academic and six health institutions. The University of Texas System has over 85,000 employees; the student enrollment is 202,240 with a budget of $2.25 billion dollars. This project has a total of four parts and…

Using state-representative teacher surveys in three states--Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky--we examine teachers' implementation of college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards. What do teachers report about the specificity, authority, consistency, power, and stability of their standards environment? How does their policy environment predict…

Using state-representative teacher surveys in three states--Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky--we examine teachers' implementation of college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards. What do teachers report about the specificity, authority, consistency, power, and stability of their standards environment? How does their policy environment predict…