This appendix accompanies "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades: Why Some Schools Do Better. A Large-Scale Study of Middle Grades Practices and Student Outcomes. Initial Research Report." This appendix focuses on the findings and domain comparisons of the study. This appendix contains the following: (1) Decision Rules; (2) Full Set of…

This handbook presents policies and procedures that affect three schools operated by the Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services to serve students with disabilities: the Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education-Roosevelt, Illinois School for the Deaf, and the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired. The handbook includes…

A state-mandated survey was conducted of 255 special education administrators in California concerning support for students receiving special education services who engage in severe problem behaviors in school settings. A student with severe behavior problems was defined as a student with mild, moderate, severe, or profound intellectual…

A survey of public high school principals asked which policies, programs, and practices designed to improve learning were currently in operation at their schools, and whether these policies were instituted or substantially strengthened in the past 5 years. These policies reflect the school-level recommendations for education reform made in "A…

This report profiles two Milwaukee, Wisconsin, public schools that are providing students with safe and orderly classrooms while using suspension only as a last resort. It places the successful schools' experiences in the context of research that defines effective school discipline practices and explains how suspensions can harm students.…

Members of the Pacific Coast College Health Association were asked about their policies for evaluating and restricting the attendance of severely disturbed students who will not cooperate with mental health intervention measures. Policies show little conformity; the need for clearer procedures is stressed. (Authors/PP)

Compulsory attendance policies have been instituted in higher education with the expectation that academic achievement will improve, but empirical research on this relationship is equivocal. One theory of motivation posits that students' motivational beliefs, classroom context, and student behaviors are important variables in academic achievement.…

Examination of discipline policies and practices in five large Scottish schools led to the development of a model of a schoolwide behavior support system. Elements include school discipline policy, classroom techniques and strategies, referrals, behavior monitoring, support groups, joint assessment teams, and mechanisms for student suspension and…

School rules in Japan are consequential in prescribing socially accepted patterns of students' lifestyles both within and outside schools. This article discusses how school rules were interpreted as a social problem in the 1980s and the 1990s. Social constructionist perspectives of social problems call for sensitivity to the plurality of people's…

In the early 1990s, the University of Rhode Island (URI) had a reputation as the number one party school in America, and data showed that the number of URI students engaging in binge drinking was significantly higher than the national average. In order to salvage its reputation and the health of its students, administrators undertook a campus…

Concern with school violence and efforts to reduce gang visibility at school have led to controversy about students' constitutional rights to freedom of expression. This document outlines legal precedents and offers guidelines for developing a sound school policy on dress codes. It answers the following questions: (1) Are gang clothing and symbols…

This volume describes basic concepts and strategies for thinking about instructional classroom management and reviews general strategies for rethinking and reorganizing a classroom to reflect an instructional classroom management approach. Instructional classroom management approaches student behavior based on the premise that strategies for…

Issues relevant to the formation and implementation of clearly defined and enforceable discipline policies to maintain a secure school environment are discussed in this paper. One area of tension exists between the development of stricter discipline policies for student standards of conduct and students' constitutional rights. Conclusions are that…

Directed to the Multnomah County (Oregon) sixth grade students participating in the Outdoor School program, the handbook serves as an introduction to the week-long, resident outdoor education experience which focuses on four natural resources: soil, water, plants, and animal life. Information is provided on the Outdoor School site and staff;…

A questionnaire was mailed to 100 high school principals in Michigan in order to determine their strategic planning of administrative policies governing extracurricular speech activities. The survey questions were limited to 10 major items covering six key liability issues: (1) compatibility of school policies with state association rules and…