Recent evidence on the large variance in teacher effectiveness has spurred interest in teacher labor markets. Research documents that better qualified teachers typically work in more advantaged schools but cannot determine the relative importance of supply versus demand. To isolate teacher preferences, we document which schools prospective…

The Ontario Ministry of Education announced the Parent Engagement Policy for Ontario Schools in 2010. This policy aims to support parent engagement and provides a vision of its implementation at schools, boards, and the ministry. This mixed methods case study sheds light on its implementation and thus its implication by exploring the parent…

This study investigates whether monitoring and positive parenting moderate the relationship between community violence exposure (CVE) and youth substance use. Analyses utilized a subsample (N = 2197) of a cross-sectional, ethnically diverse, urban school district sample. Dependent variables were any past year alcohol or drug use (AOD) and binge…

This article provides information about aspects of the school environment students perceive to influence the occurrence of school violence. Concept mapping, a mixed-methods methodology, was used with two groups of urban, primarily African American high school students (N = 27) to create conceptual frameworks of their understanding of the school…

The diversity of contemporary democratic nations challenges scholars and educators to develop forms of education that would both recognize difference and develop a shared foundation for a functioning democracy. In this essay Sigal Ben-Porath develops the concept of shared fate as a theoretical and practical response to this challenge. Shared fate…

This study compared PISA 2009 student reading literacy scores with principal perceptions across three countries with varying levels of student performance: Korea, Mexico, and the United States. Seventy-five countries participated in PISA 2009, which measured 15-year-old children's reading achievement and principal perceptions. The study explored…

The intention of this study is to examine how early childhood education (ECE) teachers can promote children's language learning and the construction of knowledge about their environment in everyday conversations. Young children primarily learn through interactions with adults and peers, with conversations representing important arenas for language…

Many university-based principal preparation programs prepare individuals for employment in local K-12 school districts. Programs recruit students and shape aspects of curriculum and ongoing professional development in light of local school districts and community characteristics. Utilizing Indiana state licensure and employment data sets for all…

This study investigates the sense of community and interethnic relations in two different metropolitan areas that vary in ethnic heterogeneity. The study was conducted in Milan, Italy using a sample of 318 participants living in different city districts that vary in ethnic heterogeneity (low vs. high). The participants completed a questionnaire…

This descriptive study was a special project for the National FFA [Future Farmers of America] Organization to determine the demographic makeup of rural, suburban, urban, and randomly selected at-large FFA chapters from the four national FFA regions. Summary data for this study revealed that gender in selected FFA chapters was 55% male and 45%…

In the 1980s and 1990s, community policing was viewed by many as a radical innovation in the field of policing, with the vast majority of police agencies reporting to have adopted the approach. Despite its overwhelming popularity, most police agencies did not adopt the central elements of community policing. This study examines patterns of…

Adolescent risk behavior remains prevalent and contributes to numerous social problems and growing health care costs. Contrary to popular perception, adolescents in rural areas engage in risky behaviors at least as much as youth from urban or suburban settings. Little research, however, focuses on risk behavior prevention in the rural context.…

Context is important in facilitating healthy youth development. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between adult perception of neighborhood and youth engagement in organized activities. This study is a secondary data analysis of 64,076 parents and guardians of school-age youth and adolescents (6-17 years), participating in…

Understanding the links between resource dependence and socio-economic wellbeing has long been a subject of interest amongst social scientists in North America. By contrast, relatively few Australian studies exist on this topic. This is despite the significant role of resource industries in shaping Australia's economic and social geography. Where…

The family stress model posits that contextual stressors, such as neighborhood danger, negatively influence youth adjustment, including internalizing symptoms, via disruptions in parenting and family processes. The current study examined a culturally and contextually modified family stress model in a diverse sample of Mexican-origin fathers and…