Gender differences in teacher ratings of academic performance, social skills, and externalizing behavior were examined from fourth through seventh grade in a group of 1,023 students from 65 primary schools. Cohen's "d" and "t" tests and were used to report the magnitude of gender differences, and structural equation modeling…

As an important part of adolescents' social capital, teacher-student relationship (TSR) and parental involvement (PI) are important for student learning. However, we know little about how PI works with TSR in relation to adolescents' learning outcomes. The present study aimed to examine the association between TSR and adolescents' learning…

Although the Every Student Succeeds Act sets the parameters for parents and families to be involved in their children's education, there are no specified guidelines on how that involvement should be designed to best impact student achievement. The purpose of this study was to compare Grade 3-5 students' mean Milestones test scores in English…

Based on expectancy-value theory, this longitudinal study was designed to test the relations between two achievement task values (i.e., attainment value and utility value) as well as their respective influences on academic achievement and depressive symptoms. This study incorporated a sample of 897 (M[subscript age] = 10.36 years, 55.8% male) and…

Students' perceptions of the learning environment play an important role in their academic achievement and social lives. While most measures of school environment have been developed for middle- and high-school students, they also have been used for younger students, such as 4th and 5th graders. What is unclear is whether these measures are…

It is well-documented that academic achievement is associated with students' self-perceptions of their academic abilities, that is, their academic self-concepts. However, low-achieving students may apply self-protective strategies to maintain a favorable academic self-concept when evaluating their academic abilities. Consequently, the relation…

Principals (policy makers) have debated the progress in U.S. student performance for a half century or more. Informing these conversations, survey agents have administered seven million psychometrically linked tests in math and reading in 160 waves to national probability samples of selected cohorts born between 1954 and 2007. This study is the…

This report looks at student achievement levels in Arkansas school districts disaggregated by district poverty and by the district's performance relative to other districts. We estimated district performance statistics by subject and grade level (4, 8, and 11-12) for longitudinal student cohorts, using statistical models that adjusted for district…

The Actiotope Model of Giftedness (AMG) focuses on person-environment interactions instead of on the personality traits associated with actions. Motivation is a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic forces that are fundamental to the production of actions. Therefore, the resources provided by the environment or person are important for the…

Values are conceptualized as the standards individuals use to determine the status of events and actions and are considered to influence individuals' behaviours, reasoning, and perceptions. Based on a synthesis of six school-based student values enhancement programs, this paper reports on the development of the Children's Values Questionnaire…

A comparison of Chicago public school students' standardized test scores in 2009-2014 with those of public students across the U.S. reveals two striking patterns. First, Chicago students' scores improved dramatically more, on average, between third and eighth grade than those of the average student in the U.S. This is true for students of all…

Children experience good and bad days in their performance. Although this phenomenon is well-known to teachers, parents, and students it has not been investigated empirically. We examined whether children's working memory performance varies systematically from day to day and to which extent fluctuations at faster timescales (i.e., occasions,…

This evaluation study provides information about the implementation and outcomes of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program in West Virginia, from September 2015 through May 2016, in which 12,388 students participated overall. The report draws on information from online surveys of directors of thirty six 21st CCLC programs…

School climate has increasingly been recognized as an essential component of school improvement owing to the established associations between a positive school climate and academic outcomes for students. Our study examines associations among a brief measure of school climate assessing elementary student perceptions and the College and Career Ready…

Mentoring programs that provide guidance and support for disadvantaged youth have expanded rapidly during the past decade in the United States. Research suggests that students with teenage mentors exhibit positive youth development, including enhanced academic self-esteem and connectedness. By contrast, some studies showed that programs that offer…