While the transition from middle school to high school symbolized the coming of age, it is a time in a young person's life that can create feelings of isolation, disconnect, and an immeasurable sense of loneliness (DeJong & Locker, 2006). The organizational structure found in most public high schools presented problems for many ninth graders…

Linking teacher treatment to student impact is not as straightforward as it may seem initially. The difficulties in measuring the impact on students are illustrated in this discussion of the Ohio Statewide Systemic Initiative (SSI). Since the inception of the SSI, the external evaluators had planned to use data from the state's proficiency tests…