Background: Optimism and pessimism are positive and negative expectations linked with well-being in adults. Research on the importance of optimism and pessimism in children is limited by the lack of a developmentally appropriate measure of children's expectations. Method: Based upon the Life Orientation Test-Revised (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges,…

This pilot study investigated the effects of allowing sixth-grade students in a rural south Georgia school to use stress balls during direct instruction and independent practice. Data from learning style inventories, surveys, journals, teacher observations, and formal assessments were collected for 29 sixth-grade students in a language arts class.…

This paper examines the influence of community context on the attitudes of rural and nonrural adolescents toward their own future geographic and social mobility. Part of a national sample in a longitudinal study of career development, the 1,060 subjects were public school students in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 from 3 contrasting Illinois communities.…

The Home-School-Community Agent (HSCA) Project of the Columbus (Ohio) Public Schools was established in the 1990-91 school year to help disruptive students make a positive adjustment to elements in their lives that interfere with success in school. The project was implemented through 21 HSCAs in nine high schools and 12 middle schools. Each agent…

The purpose of this study was to determine the status of middle and junior high school agricultural education and FFA (Future Farmers of America) programs. In spring 1991. questionnaires were sent to all state FFA Executive Secretaries (n=53); 52 returned questionnaires. Three teachers in each of 9 states identified as having middle or junior high…

This paper discusses the principles and describes the planning and development of a student teaching program model for Northeastern Illinois University students. The program is in its fourth year and was collaboratively designed by faculty from the university and a local middle school. The model is based on the importance of communication,…

A summative evaluation is presented of the 3 years of implementation of the Central Foreign Language Magnet School in Kansas City, Missouri. Two types of instruction are featured: language-only instruction and partial immersion instruction. All students in the program had daily language classes. The language-only students had their core courses…

The development of the Mathematics Assessment Questionnaire (MAQ), a survey of thoughts and feelings, for students in grades 7 through 9 is described. The adaptation of the MAQ to an on-line, computer-based administration is also described. This adaptation included the development of a teacher program disk to facilitate teacher access to student…

The fifth year of a 5-year, federally funded project of middle school bilingual education is evaluated and related materials are presented. The program targeted students with Chinese, Korean, and Japanese as their native languages. Evaluation involved visits to six school sites, structured and unstructured interviews, review of documents and…

This report presents a first year evaluation of the Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI)/ Cooperative Learning Project, a 3-year collaborative effort by two Pennsylvania school districts--the Pittston Area School District and the Hatboro-Horsham School District--and Research for Better Schools (RBS). The project proposed to integrate advanced…

Opinions of middle school students, called "transescents," were studied in an effort to provide feedback to adminstrators, parents, and teachers involved in program development in a school district with a K-5, 6-8, and 9-12 grade level configuration. Participants were 200 students from a school district in east central Michigan. A…

Girls and boys start off equal in mathematics and science performance and interest in school. They appear to do equally well in both subjects in elementary school. Once courses become optional in secondary school, the down hill spiral in enrollment of female students in mathematics and physical science begins, accompanied by decreases in…

An intensive study of one desegregated school, located in a large northeastern industrial city, specifically sought to investigate peer interactions among sixth- and seventh-grade students in a racially mixed school. The basic data-gathering strategy involved observations conducted in classrooms, hallways, playgrounds, and the cafeteria. Observers…

A study analyzed current perceptions of selected school board members, superintendents, principals, counselors, teachers, preservice teachers, students, and parents, in three areas of Texas representing urban, suburban, and rural areas (N=190), toward topics related to discipline, classroom management, drugs, absenteeism, and behavioral…

This paper discusses the modern American junior high and middle school from the perspectives of an interested observer, the educational researcher, and the students themselves. Discussed briefly are three factors that place junior high/middle school education in a unique context--the developmental stage of the students who are served, the…