<p> Treatment integrity of school-based interventions is discussed within the dropout prevention and the Check &amp; Connect (C&amp;C) mentoring program framework. Treatment integrity factors and increasing and measuring it are explored. The psychometric properties of the C&amp;C Survey, an online administered self-report treatment integrity measure, used 2010/2011 data from 24 mentors and middle school mentees. Estimation of the C&amp;C Survey's criterion and content validity through mixed methods included data across multiple factors of treatment integrity and mentee outcomes. Aspects of the C&amp;C Survey correlate to improved mentee attendance and, less so, to decreased mentee GPA. Qualitative data showed mentors with higher C&amp;C Survey scores have more comprehensive knowledge of C&amp;C interventions. Experienced mentors found the C&amp;C Survey accurately reflected their activities. The C&amp;C Survey was deemed to have adequate psychometric properties. The frequent use of online administered treatment integrity measures for school-based interventions is proposed and further investigation posited.</p>

<p> Immigrant and refugee students who have been entering the United States have a pressing challenge and that challenge is the learning and comprehension of the English language. School administration and faculty have struggled to meet the needs of immigrant and refugee students in urban schools. The purpose of the quantitative correlational study was to test the hypothesis that sixth, seventh, and eighth grade immigrant and refugee band students scored higher on the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) test than did junior high immigrant and refugee non-band students in the reading and comprehension of the English language, as assessed by the 2010 and 2011 reading and 2011 writing test scores of the AIMS. The target population consisted of the immigrant and refugee student population in three junior high schools in the A1 district, a Title 1 district in Phoenix, Arizona. The federal government created and developed Title 1 schools in the United States for students who were living at or near poverty and who may have been at risk of failure. The data clerks, faculty, and administrative members collected the reading and writing scores of the band and non-band sixth, seventh, and eighth graders of the three junior high schools from the Microsoft Excel&reg; program of the A1 District and the data were input into the Microsoft Excel program, then into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences&reg; (SPSS) program and analyzed. Two-tailed <i>t</i>-tests were conducted to analyze differences in the reading and writing scores between the band and non-band students in three junior high schools in Central Phoenix. A statistically significant difference in reading and writing scores was found between those students who were band participants and those who were not.</p>

<p> Using action research design and methodology, the goal of this project was to reduce and prevent bullying at a rural middle school in South Dakota through the implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP). This project was rooted in replication of Dr. Dan Olweus' seminal work on bullying prevention, the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. N = 521 students participated in the project. The OBPP Implementation Flowchart and OBPP Scope and Sequence guided implementation. Despite a high degree of fidelity of implementation on the OBPP Readiness Assessment, OBPP Classroom Implementation Checklist, and OBPP First Year Checklist, the results on the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire (OBQ) were mixed with some key indicators showing an increase in bullying behaviors. However, the results are limited due to the OBPP's propensity to bring about increased recognition and reporting of bullying behaviors in the first year as a result of skills and strategies learned through class meetings. Additional time and study are recommended in order to draw definitive conclusions regarding the overall effectiveness of the OBPP. Other recommendations for further study include: improved fidelity of implementation and the addition of a prosocial skills/character education component to support the tenets of the OBPP.</p>

<p> This quasi-experimental research study examined the cognitive effects of background music used with middle school students during mathematics classes and mathematics testing. Eight schools, nine teachers, 23 classes, and 302 students participated in the project. A series of five compact discs of Mozart selections, a specifically selected composite of 12 CD albums, was used over a period of 10 class days and one testing day. The tests were teacher-designed for use during the regular regimen of testing for their specific classes. The conditions of music and no-music were reversed so students were their own controls. Results showed a nonstatistical gain overall; however, sixth grade females had a net music gain that superseded all other male and female groupings. In addition, an incremental gain was found with those who had played instruments. Other gains/losses were noted for these conditions: if students liked or did not like background music during classes and testing, if they liked or did not like listening to music while doing homework, if they liked singing or not, and whether they felt that the music was a help or hindrance to their attention, concentration, and/or distraction. The students' perspectives concerning the quasi-experiment were reported as supplemental qualitative data which included impressions about the experiment, opinions about the experience they had, and suggestions for future experiments.</p>

<p>Almost one-third of the students attending public high schools in the United States dropout of school each year with Hispanic students being a significant percentage of the students failing to graduate. While, this is a national problem, there is a variation in the rates in which specific ethnic/racial groups are dropping out of school with Hispanics (36.5%) dropping out at a higher rate than Asian (8.6%) and White (19%) students. This study analyzes the group difference between Latino students' educational aspirations and academic achievement during eighth and 10^th grade, as well as gender difference in aspiration level. </p><p> The findings of this study assessing the relationship of educational aspirations and academic achievement of Latino students who are participants of GEAR UP yielded varying results. The educational aspirations of the GEAR UP Latino students during eighth and 10^th grade showed a growth in the variable over time. Further, the educational aspirations and the academic achievement of the student participants produced relationships of significance during the students' eighth grade year, but not during their 10^th grade year. It was found during eighth grade, participants with educational aspirations of a bachelor's or master's degree had better academic outcomes, based on California Standard Test (CST) performance, than student participants with higher educational aspirations of a professional degree (i.e., medical, law). This was not the case for 10^th grade findings, which yielded non-significant results between academic achievement and educational aspiration after the transition to high school. Next, when analyzing aspiration level based on gender, there was no significant relationship, which may be attributed to the programming of GEAR UP. Lastly, a regression analysis to assess the predictability of 10^th grade GPA was reviewed using the independent variables eighth grade GPA, CST performance, and educational aspiration. The analysis showed eighth grade GPA had the strongest relationship to 10^th GPA. </p><p> These findings suggest there are factors beyond educational aspirations contributing to student persistence and academic achievement in high school, with eighth grade GPA having the strongest relationship to 10^th grade GPA. Based on this, the perception students have about their possible education attainment level may be developed based upon educational experiences from middle school. Therefore, student's relationships, self-efficacy beliefs, and academic performance in this period of the educational pipeline are critical for educational attainment levels beyond high school. </p>

<p> Even with the controversial history of tracking students by ability and its possible differential, socially reproductive effects on student outcomes, tracking remains a common practice in public secondary schools. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between students' performance on state standardized tests and the type of classroom assignment practice employed. Specifically, students were tracked by ability for English Language Arts (ELA) two consecutive years. Their average performance was compared to the next year's result when, at the same school, the same students were instructed in mixed ability ELA classrooms. With persistent achievement and resource gaps, continued pressures of high stakes testing, and the recent advent of including student performance data in educator evaluations, it was both timely and relevant to re-examine student to classroom assignment practices and their relationship with student achievement. </p><p> Taking advantage of a unique site in which most students experienced both "treatments" of tracked and mixed ELA instruction, changes in student performance were more attributable to time-varying factors, such as the type of classroom assignment, as opposed to time-invariant characteristics, like race, gender, or ability. Multilevel modeling accounted for the nesting of students within classrooms, while other factors such as teacher sequence, race, sex, and initial ability were also included in the model. Overall, non-advanced students who were mixed by ability with advanced students had the most significant achievement gains. Other groups also had gains, though not to a statistically significant level. This finding, with replication, offers promise for the narrowing of the achievement gap between advanced and non-advanced students. As this gap mirrors racial and socioeconomic lines, also seen in this study, mixed ability classrooms may lead to more equitable outcomes, thereby also affecting future life conditions. Educational leaders must be cognizant of how and why student to classroom decisions are being made, paying attention to both results and antecedents. Similarly, as teachers play a critical role in student achievement progress, also supported by this study, leaders must develop and support teachers so they can best meet the varying needs of students. </p>

<p> This study sought to fill the gap in the literature concerning gifted students and academic motivation by examining the academic motivation in 126 non-gifted (<i>n</i> = 66) and intellectually gifted (<i>n </i> = 60) middle and high school students. The study used archival data to answer the following questions: What is the relationship between motivational variables, test anxiety, and student GPA for both non-gifted and gifted students? Are there differences in motivation across student group and across gender? And does a unique profile of motivation exist for intellectually gifted students? Study results revealed positive relationships between certain aspects of motivation and academic performance within the non-gifted students and the gifted students. Findings indicated that intellectually gifted middle and high school students tend to be more motivated than their non-gifted peers and experience significantly less test anxiety than their non-gifted peers. Gender differences in motivation were found only within the gifted group on intrinsic goal orientation, with gifted female students reporting more intrinsic goal orientation than their male counterparts. While a unique profile of motivation did not arise for intellectually gifted students, the gifted students were more likely to fall within cluster groups with high motivation, high sense of control over academic outcomes and high perception of their ability to successfully complete academic tasks. These students tended to have a higher GPA and experience very little test anxiety when compared to students with low motivation.</p>

<p> The United States must provide quality science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education in order to maintain a leading role in the global economy. Numerous initiatives have been established across the United States that promote and encourage STEM education within the middle school curriculum. Integrating active learning pedagogy into instructors' lesson plans will prepare the students to think critically - a necessary skill for the twenty first century. </p><p> This study integrated a three-week long Near Space Balloon project into six eighth grade Earth Science classes from Valley Middle School in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was hypothesized that after the students designed, constructed, launched, and analyzed their payload experiments, they would have an increased affinity for high school science and math classes. </p><p> A pre- and post-survey was distributed to the students (n=124), before and after the project to analyze how effective this engineering and space mission was regarding high school STEM interests. The surveys were statistically analyzed, comparing means by the Student's t-Test, specifically the Welch-Satterthwaite test. Female students displayed a 57.1% increase in math and a 63.6% increase in science; male students displayed a 46.6% increase in science and 0% increase in math. Most Likert-scale survey questions experienced no statistically significant change, supporting the null hypothesis. The only survey question that supported the hypothesis was, "I Think Engineers Work Alone," which experienced a 0.24% decrease in student understanding. </p><p> The results suggest that integrating a three-week long Near Space Balloon project into middle school curricula will not directly influence the students' excitement to pursue STEM subjects and careers. An extensive, yearlong ballooning mission is recommended so that it can be integrated with multiple core subjects. Using such an innovative pedagogy method as with this balloon launch will help students master the scientific process and experience real team collaboration, as they did in this successful mission.</p>

<p> This study examined the efficacy of peer tutoring, specifically Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS), as supplemental instruction for middle school students with reading difficulties. A multiple baseline across individuals design was used to demonstrate changes in oral reading fluency and reading comprehension. The results of this study suggest that students who participated in PALS did not substantially increase reading fluency or comprehension when analyzed on the basis of non-overlapping data points. Nonetheless, two of the three underperforming students improved their reading skills such that they were no longer in the at-risk range by the end of the study. The third lower-performing student did make important gains over the course of the study. Notably, the lower-performing participants perceived themselves as having made gains in reading and they attributed these gains to working with a partner. The limitations and implications of future research are discussed. </p>

The purpose of this study was to contribute research literature for readers interested in the exemplary curricular content and processes found in the beginning string classes of selected Indiana middle/junior high schools. Roots for this descriptive study were: (1) principles of Discipline-Based Music Education (DBME), (2) related literature written by expert music education theorists, (3) research data contributed by general education theorists, (4) data gathered from the business world supporting quality endeavors and (5) views of randomly- selected Indiana string education practitioners regarding their frequencies-of-use of the DBME components (in the Indiana 1994 Music Curriculum Guide) to guide students in attaining the eighteen proficiencies ( in the Indiana 1987 Music Curriculum Guide).The sample for the study consisted of sixty Indiana teachers of beginning middle/junior high school string classes (grades five through eight). Thirty-nine educators responded to the survey. The writer developed an original questionnaire to find which curriculum guide(s) the teachers had and how frequently they used the DBME components-criticism, history, aesthetics and production-to guide their students to attain the eighteen proficiencies listed in the 1987 Indiana curriculum guide.Circumstances proved favorable for the writer to formally visit and observe eight teachers working with classes at their schools. Qualitative observations controlled by three objective documents provided criteria to describe the processes apparent during the visits.This study indicated the following favored perspectives for teaching the eighteen proficiencies-in order: production, criticism, aesthetics and history. An in-service to describe the purpose and extensions of the plan might ease any apprehension of this new framework for teaching music as a core subject. The data suggested that fifty-four percent of the sample may be using the components of the DBME paradigm.Proficiency guidance was noted as lacking in attention regarding horizontal and vertical form, instrumental family sounds, basic interpretive skills, improvisation, composing and arranging, conducting, evaluation and developing an understanding of the role of music as an avocation and career. Perhaps, an approach stimulated by the framework of DBME will allow a stretch into these proficiencies and ignite new understandings. / School of Music