This descriptive, non-experimental, quantitative study was designed to answer the broad question, "What do grades mean?" Core academic subject middle school teachers from one large, suburban school district in Virginia were administered an electronic survey that asked them to report on aspects of their grading practices and assessment…

Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) was used to elicit salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs of children without disabilities toward playing with a hypothetical peer with a disability in general physical education. Participants were 350 elementary and middle school students who completed two questionnaires. Questionnaires were…

Grafton Middle School in York County, Virginia has consistently met state accreditation criteria and has repeatedly met adequate yearly progress markers. Rather than abandoning previous work to improve curriculum and instruction by fully adopting the newest reform that improves student achievement, the authors decided to complement past efforts…

Objective: To examine correlates of perceived access to cigarettes at home, school, and the store among youth. Methods: Virginia middle school youth were surveyed before beginning tobacco prevention programs. Multivariate analyses examined household smoking, peer smoking, and perceived community tobacco use for their relationship to perceived…

The authors contend that service-learning courses at urban universities can and should play a vital role in the greening of higher education and the promotion of sustainable urban environments. They describe one model outreach program that provides continuing education for middle school teaches and several undergraduate-level courses from…

This study investigated the peer popularity of middle school students involved in bullying. Bullying was assessed by peer report using the School Climate Bullying Survey (SCBS) and popularity was assessed through peer nominations from a student roster. In a sample of 379 middle school students, bullies were among the most popular students in the…

Recent scores on state tests show that middle grades students have made some progress in meeting their state's academic standards over the last half-decade. Yet a closer look at state standards indicates that too many Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states have set them too low. Quite a few states have taken steps to improve their…

Intelligent tutors have become increasingly accurate at detecting whether a student knows a skill, or knowledge component (KC), at a given time. However, current student models do not tell us exactly at which point a KC is learned. In this paper, we present a machine-learned model that assesses the probability that a student learned a KC at a…

This article provides a brief description of a dance program at the Old Donation Center Dance Education Program in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The mission of DSI--Dance Scene Investigation--is to nurture the full development of each student's dance potential through intense involvement in every aspect of the art. The program provides differentiated…

Guided by a new framework, the NAEP science assessment was updated in 2009 to keep the content current with key developments in science, curriculum standards, assessments, and research. The 2009 framework organizes science content into three broad content areas. Physical science includes concepts related to properties and changes of matter, forms…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between Collective Teacher Efficacy and minority student achievement gap over and above that explained by socioeconomics, school size, and prior achievement gaps for Black and Hispanic students with White students. Forty-seven Virginia middle schools were selected to participate in the…

Sexual harassment is widely viewed as a form of bullying, but has received little attention in studies of middle school students. A survey of 109 6th grade students found that 29% of students reported at least one sexual harassment experience in the past 30 days, with 11% reporting harassment once per week or more. Although boys and girls reported…

The purpose of this study was to describe secondary teachers' formative assessment practices and to examine the relationship of these practices to student motivation. The sample included 3,242 students and 161 grade 6-12 teachers. Teachers and students completed self-report questionnaires that focused on both formative assessment and motivation…

Three years after calling for a reordering of elementary and middle school math curricula, the nation's largest group of math teachers is urging a new approach to high school instruction, one that aims to build students' ability to choose and apply the most effective problem-solving techniques, in the classroom and in life. Cultivating those…

"Taking Stock and Pushing Forward" (2014) reports states' progress toward the Challenge to Lead 2020 Goals for Education. State-specific documents report on student achievement as well as essential state policies to improve it. Among the many metrics: how states are improving achievement on NAEP, high school graduation rates, and access…