Students with disabilities are at an increased risk of experiencing poorer quality peer relationships than those without disabilities. Previous school-based efforts to promote positive peer interactions among students with and without disabilities have included individual skill development and broader initiatives such as inclusive school…

The level of engagement of students in schooling has long been associated with the type of educational outcomes achieved. This relationship is very apparent during early adolescence. It is during this developmental period that young people navigate the transition between primary and secondary school and may disengage from schooling. The Imagined…

Dialogic talk affords students opportunities to share ideas and co-construct knowledge while developing various literacy skills such as perspective taking, text comprehension, and argumentative reasoning. In this study, we examine how seventh- and eighth-grade students in four classrooms discuss a controversial topic about changing a National…

Background: Very few studies have properly identified how peer victimization is associated with lower achievement in middle or high school. In this context, this study examined how peer victimization at the beginning of middle school is linked with subsequent student achievement. Specifically, it assessed if the behavioral, affective, and…

Background: Transitioning into adolescence while simultaneously facing greater academic demands as the level of education increases often entails both academic challenges and general declines in students' school-related well-being. Still, however, relatively little is known about the causal relationship between students' academic well-being (i.e.,…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how teachers who teach 6th, 7th, or 8th grade English language arts in a virtual charter school environment describe the gamification process to support student engagement in the classroom. The overarching research question was: How do teachers who teach 6th, 7th, or 8th grade…

In an era where digital technologies penetrate every aspect of education and a growing body of research examining various aspects of digital safety, there exists a significant research gap concerning the overarching (holistic) influence of digital activities on the schooling of 10 to 13 year olds. This paper presents a comprehensive review that…

The current study was a retrospective mixed-methods quasi-experimental design (QED) study to determine the effects of Progress Learning on Grades 6-8 mathematics and ELA achievement by comparison growth on the Georgia Milestones Mathematics and ELA assessments of students who received Progress Learning services, in relation to students that did…

Psychological Capital (PsyCap) has received much attention in industrial-organizational research because it is linked to a broad spectrum of adaptive work-related outcomes. However, few studies have been conducted on PsyCap in non-Western school contexts, especially in the ethnic minority areas of Mainland China. The present study aims to validate…

Shifting to an inquiry-based practice can be challenging. How should teachers get started? How many times should teachers plan for inquiry? What do teachers do when students struggle with inquiry? How long does it take for students to buy in to the inquiry process? These kinds of questions, and the concerns that underlie them, can create an…

Students need to be actively engaged to learn--intellectually curious, physically active, and emotionally involved in collaborative work that builds their capacity for empathy. What can teachers do to instill these elements in the classroom? "Active Learning: 40 Teaching Methods to Engage Students in Every Class and Every Subject" is the…

This study examined the impact of sense of belonging on student engagement in math and science classrooms at an all-girls middle school. The sample was comprised of 129 seventh and eighth-grade students in three math classrooms and three science classrooms in an independent, urban all-girls middle and high school. My research design applied…

Within the secondary level of education covering students in grades 6-12, reading comprehension continues to be an area of concern for traditional public-school educators. Because students lack the foundations of reading upon entering middle and high school, on average across the United States, many students struggle to meet high school graduation…

E-learning platforms have become increasingly popular in K--8 education to promote student learning and enhance classroom teaching. Student interactions with these platforms produce trace data, which are digital records of learning processes. Although trace data have been effective in identifying learners' engagement profiles in higher education…

A growing number of studies have shown the benefits of K-12 integrated science and engineering education. With this study, we add to the literature by documenting the relationship between STEM learning and engagement, and the demographic characteristics that impact achievement in STEM. This longitudinal study followed a diverse group of 245 middle…