This dissertation examines the efficacy of a bottom-up comprehensive school reform (CSR) program by evaluating its impact on student achievement, attendance, and behavior outcomes through an explanatory mixed methods design. The CSR program (Gear Up) was implemented in an urban junior high school over the course of seven years allowing for…

An account of one teacher's experiences with eighth graders. (PD)

Investigates the effects of pleasant fragrances on student behavior in two eighth-grade science classrooms. Suggests that students in a scented environment required fewer redirections of their behavior from the teacher. (SR)

Among 151 seventh and eighth graders, self-reports of occurrence of behaviors were significantly but moderately correlated with subjects' distress about behaviors. Adolescents rated externalizing behaviors as more distressing to parents than to adolescents; internalizing behaviors as more distressing to self than to parents. Ratings of subjective…

An account is given by an eighth-grade English teacher of the ultimately unsuccessful efforts to manage a problem student. Lessons learned from the experience include the realization that classroom teachers can't "fix" every child. (IAH)

Research studies investigating group differences in academic achievement consistently document lower scores for blacks than for whites, who typically score about one standard deviation above their black counterparts. Many controversial explanations for black achievement deficits have been advanced, ranging from cultural deprivation to inferior…

A teacher tells how she withstood physical threats by a 16- year-old student and verbal abuse from his parents. Another teacher and a school principal present their views on how she handled the situation, suggesting that teachers not overreact, avoid power struggles, and react calmly to students' bids for attention. (SM)

THE APPLICATION OF GROUP COUNSELING WAS INVESTIGATED WITH RESPECT TO ITS EFFECT ON UNDERACHIEVING, ACTING-OUT, JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL BOYS. IN ADDITION, TWO OTHER EFFECTS WERE STUDIED--(1) THAT OF INVOLVING TEACHERS IN DISCUSSION GROUPS AND (2) THAT OF THESE DISCUSSIONS GROUPS ON TEACHER ATTITUDES. THREE COUNSELORS FROM DIFFERENT SCHOOLS IN SIMILAR…

The behavior of students in an 8th grade class was interfering with interpersonal relationships, disrupting the classroom environment, and adversely affecting student academic performance. A lack of social skills was identified as the probable cause which was brought on by the family environment, a lack of parent participation, and economic…

This study explored student perspectives on their work and play at school and examined why they engage in work and play. Nineteen eighth grade students, who were predominantly white, and of the middle or upper middle class, were the subjects. The students were asked to conduct an interviewer on a grand tour and then various mini-tours of their…

The purpose of this study was to validate the Teacher's Assessment of Students' Aptitudes Form (TASAF), an instrument devised to guide teachers assessment of students' aptitudes through the observation of their classroom behaviors, i.e., to what extent were teachers able to detect levels of differential aptitudes in their students through guided…

The effectiveness of a behavior management procedure--the response cost raffle--was studied with three male eighth graders and one female ninth grader in special education with mild to moderate behavior problems. Results indicate that the response cost raffle can be an effective and a practical classroom technique for increasing appropriate…

An action research report described a program for enhancing students' ability to focus on instructional processes and oral directions. The targeted population was comprised of 4th-, 5th-, and 8th-grade students from 3 different metropolitan schools in southwest Cook County, Illinois. The problem of off-task behavior, including distractible…

Survey recommends a treatment model that fosters latitude and allows for individual initiative within a framework. Group counseling in conjunction with an educational performance contract is advocated for serious behavior problems. (Author)

This study investigated the prediction of the self-reported occurrence of 14 violent events among ethnically diverse eighth graders from psychosocial variables measured in the same youths in seventh grade (tobacco and alcohol use, and demographic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal variables). Data analysis provided support for an extension of…