Middle grades teachers want early adolescents to take responsibility for their own learning and success in school. One way to encourage this is with "interactive homework," which enables students to lead conversations with a parent or family partner about something interesting they are learning in class. An exploratory study tested…

Background: Youth with ADHD are at risk of academic impairments, dropping out of high school, and dysfunction in young adulthood. Interventions delivered early in high school could prevent these harmful outcomes, yet few high school students with ADHD receive treatment due to limited access to intervention providers. This study will test a…

Background: Student-teacher relationships are associated with the social and emotional climate of a school, a key domain of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model. Few interventions target student-teacher relationships during the critical transition to high school, or incorporate strategies for enhancing equitable relationships. We…

Although high school graduation rates are improving, a large number of students are still not successful. Research has documented that 9th grade is a pivotal year in determining whether a student will graduate or drop out. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to assess the effects of a Tier 1 intervention model (Freshmen Success)…

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with academic failure in high school; however the underpinnings of these difficulties are insufficiently understood. This study examined deficits in self-regulated learning in a sample of high school students with ADHD (n=32) compared to demographically similar classmates without ADHD…

Student-teacher relationships that improve over time may help slow or prevent declines in student motivation. In a diverse sample of 1,274 middle and high school students from three schools, this mixed-methods study found that those who improved in developmental relationships with teachers reported greater academic motivation, and more positive…

An extensive theoretical and qualitative literature stresses the promise of instructional practices and content aligned with minority students' experiences. Ethnic studies courses provide an example of such "culturally relevant pedagogy" (CRP). Despite theoretical support, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of these courses is…

In two studies (ns = 312 and 1149) with 9-12 grade students in pre-International Baccalaureate (IB) and IB Diploma programs, we evaluated the reliability, factor structure, measurement invariance, and criterion-related validity of the scores from the School Attitude Assessment Survey-Revised (SAAS-R; McCoach & Siegle, 2003a). Reliabilities of…

Building Assets Reducing Risks (BARR) is a social emotional model that achieves academic outcomes through combining use of real-time student data with proven relationship-building strategies and intensive teacher collaboration to prevent course failure. BARR is a recipient of US Department of Education "Investing in Innovation (i3)"…

The Building Assets Reducing Risks (BARR) Model BARR is a comprehensive model that addresses the challenges that are part of the 9th grade transition year. BARR employs eight different school-wide and individual strategies that are built on positive relationships and ongoing monitoring of student data. In 2010, BARR received an Investing in…