School learning environments play important roles in students' lives. But when do these relationships form? Previous research on middle school students has identified a strong association between student socio-demographics, school characteristics, and achievement. Yet, few studies have investigated the origins of these associations. This study…

In a competition-driven meritocratic learning environment, academic achievement can have a direct effect on self-esteem and self-concept. As such, academic achievement can act as an antecedent to grit and self-esteem. This study examined the longitudinal reciprocal relationships of academic achievement, consistency of interest (CI), perseverance…

Academic self-concept plays a central role in successful learning and is substantially shaped by social comparisons. Research on the so-called Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect (BFLPE) has yielded a highly robust and generalizable pattern of negative effects of higher class/school average achievement on students' self-concept when controlling for…

This study was an action research analysis of a competitive, after-school robotics program in the Woodland Hills School District. A longitudinal quantitative analysis was used to measure the effects of the after-school program on academic achievement and student engagement in school. Grade Point Average was measured before the program began and…

Using register data and linked student-level sociometric survey data from the Netherlands, this study examines whether the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on schooling outcomes (track recommendation and track enrollment in the seventh and ninth grades) is conditional on students' academic and social embeddedness in the school setting. We estimated…

School sense of belonging is critical for students' academic achievement and emotional well-being. The development of a sense of school belonging is influenced by direct and indirect factors within the school environment. Categorization into low and high achievement groups based on academics is a process largely outside the direct control of a…

The transition period of a student from middle school to high school is of critical importance because students who can successfully navigate the first-year physical, academic, and social pressures of high school have the greatest chances for successfully completing high school in four years (Allensworth & Easton, 2005). Students who cannot…

Masculine ideology and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with student risk behaviors. With data from a sample of eighth-grade students, this study used hierarchical linear regression to examine the relationships between household ACEs, masculine ideology, and teacher-reported student risk behaviors. Results indicated that…

The shortage of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professionals worldwide calls for research to identify social forces that can foster student career interest in this domain. In this study, we examined the underlying structure of middle school student STEM career interest and the role of their parents' STEM-specific…

Computer simulations have become widely available to support geometric learning; however, the type and amount of guidance, as well as the freedom to engage in self-directed learning that should be allowed for children from differential socio-cultural backgrounds, have not yet been clarified. On the basis of the cognitive theory of multimedia…

The aim of this study is to determine the dropout risk levels of secondary school students and to contribute to the literature by making suggestions to researchers according to the results obtained. For this reason, the research was carried out using the mixed method. For this purpose, the School Dropout Risk Scale was prepared by quantitative…

Higher amounts of family involvement are often positively associated with children's academic skills. There are, however, myriad ways families could be involved in their children's education, which warrant exploration to better inform practice and policy. The purpose of this study was to use a person-centered approach--latent class analysis--to…

The purpose of this sequential mixed methods study was to examine the relationship between classroom climate and student achievement of middle school students. A purposeful sample of 428 middle school students (6th-8th grade) from a large southeastern Texas school district were administered the "Learning Environment Inventory" (LEI) to…

The unintended academic and social consequences for students experiencing the transition from elementary to middle school have been well documented. A mixed method study was conducted to examine the perceptions and attitudes of 6th grade students, parents, and teachers from four middle schools in a large suburban school district in Southeastern…

Educational expectations are a key predictor of educational attainment. Throughout adolescence, friends increasingly function as 'significant others' and, thus, can affect the development of these expectations. Although scholars often interpret the clustering of students with similar expectations within friendship networks as the outcome of peer…