Many students in rural schools have negative school safety perceptions. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological research study was to investigate the school safety perceptions of students in rural elementary, middle, and high schools in a public school district in South Carolina. The school safety perceptions of students in grades three…

The purpose of this article is to address how important a teacher's enthusiasm and the words they use can be. This is funneled through future professionals' teaching experiences, both peer to peer in the college classroom and teaching experiences in a middle school class.

The purpose of this action research was to implement a digital game development project and describe its effects on the performance and attitudes of eighth-grade students in a required computer science course at South Carolina School District Alpha. The following research questions were explored: (1) How does the game development project impact…

Survey research frequently involves the collection of data from multiple informants. Results, however, are usually analyzed by informant group, potentially ignoring important relationships across groups. When the same construct(s) are measured, integrative data analysis (IDA) allows pooling of data from multiple sources into one data set to…

Over the past few years of teaching at a school district in a southeastern state, the researcher noticed that her students had become increasingly interested in various global topics. Students wanted to talk about world events and cultures around the world, but they had a limited understanding of their own roles as world citizens. The purpose of…

The academic achievement gap between male and female students set in motion a flurry of initiatives to help address male underachievement. The amendments made to Title IX allowed single-gender education to become a viable option for addressing those gaps in achievement. After the adjustments made to Title IX, South Carolina led the nation in the…

Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands (STSM) is a non-profit organization located in South Carolina focused on providing services for survivors of sexual assault, as well as community education to identify and prevent sexual violence. One of these programs, the Building Health Communities Curriculum (BHCC) (previously known as the Youth Violence…

There is an overrepresentation of African American males at an increased risk for facing punitive actions that eliminate them from a school's instructional environment (Darensbourg, Perez, & Blake, 2010). Out-of-school suspension should allow students to reflect upon their actions; however, in some instances the suspension causes students to…

According to O'Brien, Aguinaga, Hines, and Hartsborne (2011), "Delivery of course content via various distance education technologies (e.g., interactive video, asynchronous and/or synchronous online delivery) is becoming an accepted and expected component of many teacher preparation programs" (p. 3). With the infusion of technology in…

This article describes original research to determine reasons graduate students do not complete requirements for a Master's (M.Ed.) in Middle Level Education degree at the Southeastern University. Since the program's initial cohort the graduation rate has decreased. Program faculty was concerned about the increasing difference between the number…

Background: Increasing children's active travel to school may be 1 strategy for addressing the growing prevalence of obesity among school age children. Using the School Travel Survey, we examined South Carolina school district leaders' perceptions of factors that influence elementary and middle school students walking to school. Methods: Frequency…

Participation in after school programs is associated with increases in academic achievement and improved behavior in students at risk. Process evaluation data from participants and key stakeholders was used to gauge implementation, satisfaction, and program attendance of an after school arts program. Lack of scheduling flexibility resulted in low…

The current study examined associations between physical education (PE) class enjoyment and sociodemographic, personal, and perceived school environment factors among early adolescent girls. Participants included 1,511 sixth-grade girls who completed baseline assessments for the Trial of Activity in Adolescent Girls, with 50% indicating they…

Social isolation and the harassment of students with disabilities are closely related problems that occur in schools throughout the country. Often, both problems begin in middle school. Social isolation and harassment can feed each other--without meaningful interaction with students with disabilities, other students are more likely to make hurtful…

In a South Carolina rural middle school with four school-based service programs, 30 seventh graders, their families, and teachers were surveyed. Students and parents felt the services increased school safety and reduced substance abuse and other problems. Teachers were especially positive about the violence prevention program. (SK)