The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental study was to explore the impact of targeted social and emotional learning (SEL) strategies on academic achievement at the middle school level, specifically in the area of mathematics. Three middle schools in a large Southern California K-12 school district were used in this study. This study…

Budget constraints and limited supplies of local tutors have caused many K-12 school districts to pivot from individual tutoring in-person toward small-group tutoring online to expand access to personalized instruction. We conduct a field experiment to explore the effect of increasing student-tutor ratios on middle school students' math…

Researchers intending to identify the unique characteristics of dyscalculia rely upon the problematic and imprecise proxy of low mathematics achievement. Although detailed case studies of adults with dyscalculia have offered insight into its characteristics, we do not yet know if these characteristics are unique to dyscalculia and could be used to…

The transition to online learning due to COVID-19 changed the nature of participation in class. Typically quiet middle grades girls who had struggled to participate in their in-person classes were provided many different avenues to contribute to class online. While prior research has examined the reasons students are quiet and the ways teachers…

Background: School-based COVID-19 testing is a potential strategy to limit COVID-19 transmission among youth in congregate settings such as schools, sports programs, and summer camps. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of frequent rapid antigen testing at a supervised distance-learning setting for elementary…

Youth development programs often provide young people with science learning experiences. We argue for reframing youth science learning from a focus on individual scientific literacy to an emphasis on collective scientific literacy--"community science"--to support young people in using science to address issues in their lives and…

Due in part to the challenges associated with learning a new language, English language learners (ELLs) typically begin school with lower achievement than their non-ELL peers, and those achievement gaps often close slowly if at all. A separate body of research shows that achievement is associated with social-emotional learning constructs like…

Electronic cigarette use has become epidemic among American youth. Little is known about the extent of use among d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/Dhh) youth or prevention programming for this population. In a qualitative study with d/Dhh youth and school staff and administrators serving them, four focus groups were conducted with middle school…

Trauma, including abandonment, neglect, poverty, or abuse, affects students. Because of this, a classroom community is vulnerable to the sheer unpredictability of behaviors. Students who have experienced trauma need support in order to create a classroom community where they can thrive and learn. This study examines a Whole-Child Approach…

Schools and districts have long grappled with race- and disability-based exclusionary discipline inequities. Research on the topic has uncovered a variety of systems that maintain such disparities, including school policies and practices that exacerbate the problem. Researchers and practitioners have increasingly considered school context and…

This article documents the design and implementation of a culturally responsive critical media literacies curriculum centered around media representations of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Students (grades 6-8) were invited to discuss media imagery relating to DAPL and to create memes reflecting their understandings. To situate this work, we…

In 2010, California adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for math and English. The new standards are part of a state effort to prepare students for college and careers in the 21st-century global economy and narrow longstanding achievement gaps. The state's implementation is complete, but because districts decide whether and when they…

Good teaching at the middle grades comes out of a deep understanding of the unique cognitive, physical, social, emotional, and moral needs of young adolescents. Specialized preparation therefore is necessary to help teacher candidates understand how to operationalize the intersection of young adolescent development and the effective pedagogy that…

This evaluation report describes a central professional learning strategy that the California NGSS Early Implementers Initiative used to help teachers effectively transition to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The Initiative's approach to lesson study, called a Teaching Learning Collaborative (TLC), brings together teams of teachers…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused schools to shift to virtual or hybrid instruction, thrusting young adolescents into a very different educational environment. Stage-environment fit theory outlines ways in which educational contexts may, or may not, meet the developmental needs of young adolescents. Yet little is known about how virtual environments…