Building upon previous research on the importance of students' motivation for their learning and academic success, this study sought to examine how students' motivation in the classroom may impact the way their teachers' treat them. Specifically, data from 423 middle school students and their 21 teachers were used to examine the extent to which student engagement and disaffection (individually and in combination) in the fall predicted changes in teachers' provision of motivational support from fall to spring of the same school year. The study also examined whether these relationships might differ by student grade or gender, and whether the effects of each component of motivation can be buffered or boosted by the level of the other component. Overall, results provided partial support for study hypotheses. As expected, engagement and disaffection (as reported both by students and by teachers) individually predicted changes in teacher motivational support over the school year, such that engaged students were more likely to gain teacher support across the school year whereas disaffected students were more likely to lose teacher support. Assessing the unique effects of engagement and disaffection suggested partial support for their combined predictive utility, although less support was found for teacher-reports than student-reports. Across time, student-reported disaffection demonstrated unique effects on changes in teacher support but student-reported engagement did not. For teacher-reports of engagement and disaffection, neither component of motivation predicted changes in teacher support above and beyond the other component. Across reporters, mean-level gender differences in the constructs of interest were consistent with expectations based on previous research suggesting that girls tend to be more motivated than boys in school; however, despite these significant differences in mean-levels, there were few gender differences in the strength of the reciprocal effects of student motivation on teacher support. Of the 12 tests for gender differences in the links between student motivation and teacher support, only two were found, and both cases demonstrated significant gender effects of the same form, such that engagement and disaffection demonstrated significant reciprocal effects for both genders; however, the effects were significantly stronger for boys. As expected, examination of mean-level differences in engagement and disaffection as a function of grade suggested that student motivation and teacher support decline as students progress through middle school. In general, significant reciprocal effects of student motivation on teacher support across time were found for students of all grades for both student- and teacher reports; however there were some grade-level differences in the strength of those associations. Results indicated that engagement and disaffection were more important predictors of changes in teacher support over the school year for older students (8th graders) than for younger students (6th or 7th graders). Finally, the expected interaction between engagement and disaffection was only partially supported and only for teacher-reports. Specifically, as predicted, the relationship between teacher-reported engagement and teacher support was stronger for students who were low in disaffection, suggesting low disaffection boosted the positive effects of engagement. At the same time, and contrary to expectations, instead of the relationship between disaffection and teacher support being weaker for students perceived as highly engaged, these relations were actually stronger such that disaffection was a stronger predictor of losses in teacher support for highly engaged students than for their equally disaffected but less engaged peers. Implications for educational interventions and daily classroom practices are discussed. This study, by utilizing a two time-point design, a diverse at-risk student population, and measures from both student and teacher perspectives, attempted to make a contribution to the sparse but potentially important research literature on how student's motivation can shape their experiences with teachers in the classroom.

Students, educators, and schools across the country have been presented with challenges as a result of rigorous standards and high-complexity tests. The problem addressed in this case study was that teachers in a rural middle school in a southeastern state were preparing students to take a new high-stakes state-mandated assessment in English language arts with very little information about what should be done to best prepare students to perform well. Danielson's work on instructional leaders, Webb's work on alignment of standards and assessments, and Tankersley's research on alignment of instruction and assessment provided the frameworks for the study. The participants were 6 teachers and 2 administrators at a local rural middle school who either taught English language arts or supervised those teachers before the first administrations of the new test. The research questions were designed to gather through interviews, local educators' descriptions of their test preparation methods, activities, the information and training provided to them prior to the new tests, and their views about what was needed to better prepare students. Interview data were coded and analyzed for common themes. Findings were that participants felt they had limited prior information about the tests, that their previous instructional methods were ineffective, and that local teachers needed training in order to design and implement effective reading instruction aligned with test objectives to better prepare students for more rigorous academic tasks. This study and the resulting professional development project for teachers have the potential to affect positive social change at the local level by helping teachers improve literacy instruction aligned with standards and assessments. Consequently, students will be better prepared to access the increased rigor of the standards and the assessments.

Middle and high school general education teachers in the school district in this bounded case study were facing challenges with meeting the needs of students who have autism in the current inclusion program. The purpose of this study was to understand teachers' challenges with components of the inclusion program and serving students with autism in the general education classroom. The conceptual framework was Villa and Thousand's 5 system-level best practices for successful inclusive education. A purposeful sampling procedure was used to select 4 general education teachers who were teaching autistic students in an inclusive setting; this sample included 2 middle school level and 2 high school level teachers from 2 schools in the small rural district. The data collected through classroom observations and semi structured interviews were coded based on Villa and Thousand's best practices of leadership, redefined roles, collaboration, adult support, and promotion as each related to inclusion of autistic students. Results were used to identify challenges teachers were facing that prevented the 5 system-level best practices from being implemented. Key challenges were collaboration between general and special education teachers and lack of professional development for all teachers on inclusion. Findings were used to provide recommendations for how to address challenges in middle and high school inclusion programs and for conducting future studies in different settings. The results of this study could be used by school leaders and other stakeholders to make informed decisions about system level implementation of inclusion program components and for enhancing the learning of students who have autism in the inclusive setting.

The implementation of effective reading programs for special education students is paramount for school success due to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the reauthorization of Individual with Disabilities Education Act. One local school implemented the Science Research Associates Corrective Reading Program (SRACRP) because their special education students did not meet the required proficient or advanced reading scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). The purpose of this quantitative within-group study was to determine if special and regular education students demonstrated growth in reading comprehension after the implementation of the SRACRP. The theoretical foundation for this study was Piaget's stages of development, which is consistent with the SRACRP instructional design of assimilating words through repetition. The research question examined whether the SRACRP impacted the reading levels of 200 randomly selected 3rd to 8th grade special and regular education students as measured by archived PSSA scores. Archived PSSA scores were collected from the year before and the year after the program's implementation. Repeated-measures ANOVA indicated that special and regular education students' mean scores increased significantly after the implementation of the SRACRP. The results of this study may inform school principals and policy makers to critically evaluate reading intervention programs prior to implementation. The results may also lead policy makers to use the SRACRP as a method to increase students' reading comprehension scores and eventually meet the requirements of the NCLB.

This study examined the implementation of the State of Georgia's School Instructional Extension Program (SIEP) at one middle school in a rural school district. SIEP was adopted in this district in an effort to improve outcomes for students who demonstrate deficiencies in core-academic subjects. For the past 2 years, SIEP has been used at this study site to address low academic performance in the area of mathematics. However, to date, school leaders have not developed a system to evaluate the efficacy of the program. The purpose of this project study was to conduct a comprehensive program evaluation that addressed the program's strengths and weaknesses in terms of student achievement. Bandura's self-efficacy theory was used as a theoretical framework. The formative component of the evaluation used a concurrent, mixed-methods design to analyze data from program stakeholders through student surveys (n = 36), teacher surveys (n = 8), and a teacher focus group (n = 5). The summative component used 2 years' scores for the mathematics Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (GCRCT) to conduct 2-way ANOVAs that compared the SIEP students' mean gains scores to the mean gains score of low-performing students who qualified for SIEP but did not participate in the program. Summative findings indicated that the program did not significantly impact students' mathematics GCRCT gains scores. Moreover, formative data revealed suggestions for the program's insignificant impact including lack of teacher preparation time and program schedule time. Implications for positive social change that should follow program reform include: (a) improving student achievement in mathematics, (b) making evidence-based decisions regarding best practices for teachers, and (c) using data to implement effective academic programs.

Students are referred to alternative schools such as the Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (DAEP) for violations against the student code of conduct. Students who are referred and attend DAEPs are more likely to make failing grades and drop out of school permanently. However, a lack of understanding existed about why some students repeatedly receive referrals to the DAEP.The purpose of this case study was to gain an understanding about why some students are repeatedly being sent to the DAEP in a school district in north central Texas. The conceptual framework was based on Catalano and Hawkins' social development theory which posited that through consistent socialization, children learn prosocial or antisocial behavior patterns from the social units to which they are bonded. In this study, 14 purposefully selected classroom teachers participated in one-on-one conversational interviews to explore teachers' perceptions about why some students are repeatedly sent to the DAEP. Inductive analysis was used for coding and identifying emerging concepts, themes, and events. Six major themes emerged from analysis of the data: school structure, classroom/behavior management, class size, student labeling, extracurricular activities, and teacher-student relationships. The results illustrate the need for changes to disciplinary policies, new transition procedures, and improved staff training. This study may contribute to positive social change by suggesting strategies that schools could use to decrease the number of referrals to the DAEP. In turn, by decreasing the number of referrals school failure and dropout rates would decrease and as a result enable youth to eventually become productive members of society.

Bullying has become a serious concern in many American public middle schools in recent years. Inadequate professional development (PD) in bullying prevention and response strategies has compounded this problem. The overarching purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the growing problem of school bullying. Bronfenbrenner's socioecological theory, which states that environment and relationships influence student behavior, served as the conceptual framework for this qualitative study. Guiding research questions, grounded in socioecological theory, were used to examine middle school teachers' views of PD and their perceived skills in responding to or preventing bullying. Through purposeful sampling, 8 middle school teachers in a community in rural Alabama were interviewed over a 3-week period. Each had at least 1 year of teaching experience in the local rural setting. To authenticate study findings, discipline referrals and state incident reports spanning the 2 previous years were assessed for teacher management of bullying. Data were analyzed using open coding to identify and categorize the patterns and themes that emerged. Results indicated that the teachers perceived that PD would give them the strategies to recognize and manage incidents of school bullying. These results supported and informed the PD project for middle school teachers. This study contributes to social change by providing professional development that will help teachers to either prevent or manage school bullying appropriately, a benefit to children and communities.

Many curricular innovations, including cross-curricular teaching, are started in schools without adequate teacher preparation and support, reducing the effectiveness of the interventions in supporting student learning. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe the implementation of the cross-curricular connections teaching technique in middle schools. Research questions focused on how middle school teachers experienced implementation of cross-curricular teaching at the incident level and how teachers perceived cross-curricular teaching and its long-term value. Myers-Briggs personality type theory informed the study, supporting the postulation that teachers are more comfortable teaching from their personality types. Data from 10 middle school teachers from 3 urban and semirural parochial schools in the northeastern United States were collected through interviews, focus group sessions, journals, and documents such as lesson plans and classroom materials. Open coding was used within progressive and comparative analyses. Primary themes included teacher comfort with cross-curricular connections; various applications of the teaching technique; cross-curricular connections within lessons; time constraints in planning, preparation, and implementation; and creative enhancement of lessons. Recommendations included enhanced professional development, more planning time for teacher teams, and more research about the technique. Positive social change implications include sustaining teachers' adoption and implementation of cross-curricular instruction in support of student achievement.

Schools that support collaboration between teachers and school library media specialists (SLMS) outperform those that do not. Teachers at a rural Georgia middle school were not using the library media program or being trained on how to collaborate with the SLMS to promote student achievement. Guided by Bruner's socioconstructivist theory of learning, the purpose of this descriptive case study was to investigate teachers' experiences with integrating technology and information literacy into the curriculum and to examine the collaborative services the SLMS could provide to enhance integration. Eight teachers in Grades 6th through 8th comprised the sample. Data sources included teacher lesson plans and interviews. Data analysis included line-by-line coding of interviews and lesson plans to generate themes. According to study results, teachers were limiting the integration of technology and information literacy into the curriculum because of their lack of awareness of the SLMS's role as an instructional partner, students' lack of information literacy skills, fear, and time constraints. The resulting project was a series of professional development sessions to increase awareness among teachers of the role of the SLMS as an instructional partner in promoting technology use and information literacy among students. This project may facilitate social change by promoting a collaborative culture as teachers and SLMS work together to expose students to information literacy and technology, ultimately creating students who are skillful researchers and critical thinkers, better prepared for lifelong learning.

Syftet med denna studie är att med hjälp av Bourdieus kapitalbegrepp synliggöra hur nyanlända elever upplever de hinder och möjligheter som uppstår när eleverna arbetar med det koncept som Ung Företagsamhet har utformat samtidigt som de studerar på Språkintroduktionen. Genom semistrukturerade intervjuer har elevernas berättelser tolkats med hjälp av Bourdieus begrepp med fokus på kulturellt kapital, utbildningskapital, språkligt kapital och habitus. Studien har visat att nyanlända elever arbetar hårt med att finna sin nya identitet (habitus) eftersom de upplever att de har mycket att lära sig i sitt nya land oavsett om det handlar om det kulturella kapitalet, utbildningskapitalet eller språkliga kapitalet. Eleverna beskriver arbetet med Ung Företagsamhet med positiva termer då eleverna upplever att deras tidigare tillgångar blir användbara men också att de får en bättre inblick i det svenska samhället. / The aim of this study is, by using Bourdieu's capitalconcept, visible how newly arrived students experiencing the obstacle and opportunities that arise when the students work with the concept that Junior Achievment Program has designed while they study at the program languageintroduction. Through semi-structured interviews the students stories have been interpreted by using Bourdieu's concept with focus on cultural capital, educational capital, linguistic capital and habitus. The study has shown that newly arrived students are working hard to find their new identity (habitus) because they feel like they have a lot to learn in their new country whether it is about culture capital, educational capital or linguistic capital. Students describe their work with Junior Achievment Program only in positive terms because they feel like their previous skills become useful but also that they learn more about the Swedish country.