The purpose of this paper is to highlight the important role that gender plays in organizing and affecting the quality of the classroom climate. We review research showing how students' peer relationships tend to be segregated by gender and discuss the consequences of children spending much of their time almost exclusively with same-gender peers,…

The current study explored the experiences and activities of school resource officers (SROs) in an urban school district. Twenty-eight SROs completed a survey assessing their roles in schools and a focus group explored how the SROs build relationships with students and the types of student concerns they help resolve. Themes from the focus group…

Research Findings: The present study examined the extent to which instructional practices, including curriculum, in pre-K through third grade are vertically aligned. Attention was directed to teachers' grouping practices, academic content, and pedagogical methods given their importance for students' learning. Variable- and person-centered analyses…

The institutional environment of US school systems has changed considerably over a quarter century as standards and test-based accountability became central ideas in both policy texts and discourses about improving education. We explore how US school systems are managing in this changed environment by focusing on school system leaders'…

Shifts in the visibility and recognition of LGBTQ+ identity have been accompanied by an evolution in understanding how educational policies, curricula, and environments impact well-being, health, and academic success. Since 2015, landmark decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court recognizing same-sex marriage and expansively defining sex under…

The transition into kindergarten often serves as the basis for long-term disparities in educational attainment because initially small differences in early learning widen throughout the K-12 educational system. Given the long-standing disparities in their academic achievement related to being of low socioeconomic status and a racial/ethnic…

A recent study evaluated the level of guidance provided by states on their Department of Education websites regarding school-based social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) screening. The purpose of this follow-up study was to interview a small sample of state-level stakeholders to supplement the findings from the website evaluation study.…

Schools have a considerable influence on children's development, both through proximal factors such as teachers and curriculum, but also through indirect effects of school policies. While some policies and programs have the potential to increase stress and burden on students, educators, as well as the broader educational context, several programs…

This review examines four books that may offer some insight into what the discussion about educational policy, reform, and performance may look like after the era of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Collectively, "The Allure of Order: High Hopes, Dashed Expectations, and the Troubled Quest to Remake American Schooling" by Jal Mehta,…

Growing up in poverty increases youth risk for developing aggressive behavior problems which, in turn, are associated with a host of problematic outcomes, including school drop-out, substance use, mental health problems, and delinquency. In part, this may be due to exposure to adverse school contexts that create socialization influences supporting…

Findings from the fields of cognitive science and cognitive development propose a variety of evidence-based principles for improving learning. One such recommendation is that instead of having students practice solving long strings of problems on their own after a lesson, worked-out examples of problem solutions should be incorporated into…

Charter schools have seen a nearly tripling in students, with approximately 3.1 million students enrolled in 2016-2017. As of 2017, 1 in 8 African American students attended a charter school in the United States. This article provides a conceptual introduction to a special issue on equity issues within the charter school movement, with a…