This study aimed to examine the evolution of test anxiety during the transition to secondary school, a challenging period that includes a set of contextual factors that could potentially increase students' test anxiety. In addition, to further understand the contribution of different individual factors that might increase the susceptibility to…

This study examined the relations between the schoolwide prevalence of teasing and bullying (PTB) and schoolwide academic performance in a sample of 271 Virginia middle schools. In addition, the study examined the mediating effects of student engagement. A three-step sequence of path models investigated associations between schoolwide PTB and…

This study evaluated the relations between adolescents' school and career future time perspective and their academic-related outcomes (i.e. grades, learning problems, and task orientation) and whether mastery goals are mediators of these relations. Romanian adolescents (N = 229, 59% girls) completed questionnaires assessing future orientation,…

This study examined the cross-lagged relationships between students' autonomous motivations (intrinsic motivation and identified regulations) and approach goals (mastery and performance) in school. The sample included 449 students (52% girls) in Grades 7 and 8 (secondary 1 and 2). Results showed that intrinsic motivation (IM) positively predicted…

The purpose of this non-experimental, cross-sectional, correlational study was to examine the influence, if any, of mathematical-instructional minutes on academic achievement as measured by the 2014 New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK) 6, 7, and 8 mathematics scores. Additionally, the study accounted for other factors that…

The present paper (1) examined variables, which could predict traditional bullying, cyberbullying, traditional victimization and cybervictimization and (2) looked at persons to examine whether academic, socio-emotional and demographic characteristics differed between traditional, cyber and mixed bullies, victims and bully-victims. A sample of…

A growing number of educators concur that, in order to improve student academic performance, schools need to focus not only on students' academic needs but also on their social, emotional, and material needs (Piscatelli & Lee, 2011). As a result, school climate--the social, emotional, and physical characteristics of a school community (Cohen,…

This article reports on a study that investigated the problem of hope for the future and literacy achievement in a sample of impoverished South African primary school children. Data was collected through a quantitative survey that was administered to 160 learners from four classes of grades 5 to 7 at a school in Soweto township, Johannesburg,…

In 2012 a new education monitoring system called the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) began collecting information about the achievement of Year 4 and Year 8 students enrolled in English-medium schools. Over the last 5 years it has had contact with over 20,000 students from more than 1,000 schools. This Assessment News…

The Kauffman School is a public charter school that serves students from low-income neighborhoods in Kansas City, Missouri. This paper used a matched comparison group design to estimate the impacts of the Kauffman School on student achievement, attendance, and suspensions. We found that the Kauffman School had positive and statistically…

The authors have studied heterogeneity in reporting behavior and its impact on the analysis of self-reports about students' dishonest behavior in schools. Two hundred sixty-five randomly chosen, seventh-grade students (typically 12 years old) from lower secondary schools in Prague 6, a district in the capital of the Czech Republic, participated in…

To sustain its economic growth in the coming years, China will have to increase the country's supply of skilled labor by enabling its workforce to attain to higher levels of formal education. Unfortunately, when children in poor, rural areas today grow up, they may not be able to enjoy China's future economic prosperity because of their low levels…

Increasing numbers of children raised by grandparents are students in schools. Their substitute family structure and precursors to the emergence of this family structure have implications for the children's school performance. Research suggests teachers view these children as at risk for difficult school functioning. The aforementioned judgment is…

This study explored parents' (N = 351) educational optimism in terms of their trust in the possibilities of school to develop children's intelligence. It was found that educational optimism could be depicted as a bipolar factor with optimism and pessimism on the opposing ends of the same dimension. Optimistic parents indicated more satisfaction…

The present study investigates links between early adolescents' subjective experiences of stress associated with the middle school transition and their academic outcomes. Seventh and eighth grade students (N?=?774) were surveyed about their experiences during their transition to middle school. Students answered questions about stress…