<p> The problem of middle school disengagement has intrigued and bewildered educators and researchers for years, revealing various contributing factors and possible theories (Eccles, Lord, &amp; Roeser, 1996; Eccles &amp; Midgley, 1989; Pintrich &amp; De Groot, 1990; R. M. Ryan &amp; Deci, 2002). Despite numerous research studies and various recommendations, disengagement still persists. A gap in the literature exists regarding the inclusion of student voice aimed at surfacing contributing factors. This qualitative co-inquiry study addresses this gap by examining adolescent academic disengagement and engagement as voiced by, and investigated with, middle school students. Through co-operative inquiry research this study examines the lived experiences of middle school students to understand the circumstances of their disengagement, reveal contributing factors, and identify potential solutions. Additionally, this study examines how students&rsquo; involvement in the co-inquiry process contributes to their own development. </p><p> Ten seventh and eighth grade participants engaged with the initiating-investigator, their middle school principal, in a research study utilizing the co-operative inquiry methodology. During a 9-week period of time these students immersed themselves in the co-inquiry process: they posed questions to investigate, participated in the inquiry cycle, shared and reflected on the collective findings, and generated additional questions for further examination. Data were gathered through student-participant journals, artifacts and transcriptions from the weekly sessions, and exit-interviews. </p><p> The findings of this study indicate the power co-inquiry with students has to reveal schooling experiences that promote or inhibit their engagement. The student-researchers surfaced important findings regarding the powerful impact the classroom environment, relationships, and instruction have on student engagement and learning. Their voices reveal circumstances educators need to examine in support of modifications to current practice. Additionally, this study reveals the importance of engaging with students in co-inquiry and the profound affect it has on them as learners and individuals. </p><p> The inclusion of these important stakeholders?the middle school students themselves&mdash;cannot be underscored.</p>

<p> The purpose of this quantitative study is to identify the impact of principal leadership behaviors on the efficacy of new and experienced teachers in California STW-TCS middle schools. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)</p>

<p>While many educators viewed transition as a one-time event, it often proved to be more of a process than simply an occasion (Cohen &amp; Smerdon, 2009). The researcher observed through the role as a school counselor that students with high anxiety tended to exhibit low resilience during times of transition. In order to assist students as they moved from eighth to ninth grade, the school of study implemented the Overcoming Obstacles Life Skills Program (OOLSP) using student mentors. This study explored student perception of anxiety and resilience in relation to participating in this program. The researcher utilized the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and Spence Children&rsquo;s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) as pre- and post-tests, and conducted a <i>z</i>-test for difference in means analysis. Attendance rates were studied, due to the high correlation found in research between attendance and achievement, using a Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis. Perception questionnaires were completed in December and May by 287 freshmen, 45 mentor students, 16 teachers, and 315 parents. Interviews were conducted with 10 freshmen, nine student mentors, and six teachers. </p><p> Results from the surveys and perception questionnaires proved inconsistent. The SCAS scores indicated a significant change in student anxiety levels, especially on the generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic disorder subscales. Interestingly, students&rsquo; perceived anxiety decreased based on questionnaire responses. Results from the CD-RISC suggested students&rsquo; resilience did not change, while responses from the questionnaire showed a significant increase in students&rsquo; perceived resilience. Attendance rates had a moderately strong relationship, indicating a correlation between eighth and ninth grade attendance. Perceptions from freshmen, student mentors, teachers, and parents suggested that the relationships formed during the program implementation had more influence than the program itself. </p><p> Based on the inconsistent results, the researcher recommended discontinuing the use of the OOLSP, as it was implemented in this study. The researcher recommended maintaining the mentoring program and improving upon pre-existing structures. Future researchers were encouraged to conduct further exploration on the OOLSP using more traditional implementations, as well as investigating student-perceived anxiety and resilience in comparison to documented experiences of anxiety and resilience. </p>

<p> There is a developing body of research suggesting low job satisfaction among teachers can lead to potential consequences for educators, students, and school districts (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Ladebo, 2005; Sarnek, Musser, Caskey, Olsen &amp; Green, 2006; Wu &amp; Short, 1996). There is also a growing concern about the number of teachers who are going to be retire soon; this loss of experienced teachers may impact student learning. Recent research (NYSED, 2010; NCTAF, 2003) supports an assumption that job satisfaction is a major factor to increase retention of teachers; however, there is a need for more research in this area. As school districts experience teacher shortages, there is an increased need to recruit, hire, and retain highly effective teachers because of either teachers leaving the profession early or because of retirement. The purpose of this study was to examine the level of job satisfaction among middle school teachers employed at 13 middle schools in an urban school district, as well as to identify factors associated with teacher job satisfaction. The study considered workforce and policy issues which may be leading to highly effective teachers leaving the profession early, therefore impacting student achievement. Data were gathered utilizing the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), created by Dr. Paul Spector (1985). The JSS assesses job satisfaction in nine subscales that include pay, promotion, supervision, nature of work, operating conditions, coworkers, communication, fringe benefits, and contingent rewards. These nine subscales are classified as either extrinsic or intrinsic factors of job satisfaction. Additional survey questions provided demographic data in categories including age, gender, highest level of education, subject matter taught, years to retirement, salary, total years of teaching experiences and the number of schools in which the teacher had been employed. </p><p> Overall results suggest that differences among the various teacher groups were associated with extrinsic motivation rather than intrinsic motivation. For example, the youngest group of teachers scored higher on extrinsic motivation than did the oldest group of teachers. When significant group differences were found, these differences tended to be associated with the variables Fringe Benefits, Promotion, and Total Extrinsic Motivation. In addition, the group of teachers with the most experience scored lower on Extrinsic Motivation than did the group of teacher with less experience. For many of the various groupings of teachers, the comparisons were not significant. That is, the characteristics of the groups were not associated with differences in measures of motivation. In many instances, there were not significant differences across groups based on the overall Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Motivation; however, differences were apparent on the individual subscales of the JSS. In general, the Extrinsic constructs were more important to younger teachers than were these same constructs were to more veteran teachers. </p><p> A comparison of the responses of the teachers in this study to the response published by Spector was conducted for each subscale and for total assessment score. Thus, a total of ten comparisons between the results for the study sample and the teacher norms provided by Spector were conducted. Seven of these comparisons were significant: Pay, Promotion, Supervision, Working Conditions, Coworkers, Communication, and Total Score. In six of these comparisons of the means, the sample means were higher than the norm means; only Working Conditions were less important to the sample than to the comparison group. That is, for teachers in the study sample, these measures from the JSS were more important than for the teachers in the comparison group. </p><p> The open-ended responses provided meaningful insight into teacher motivation with specific respect to &ldquo;compelling reasons to stay in a school.&rdquo; Compensation was a significant theme that surfaced during the analysis; however, issues related to compensation are part of negotiations between the teachers&rsquo; union and the school district. Therefore, this area is mostly beyond the control of a building level school administrator. The other significant themes were Teachers Value Support, Character of My Work, Importance of Students, and Need for Respect. These themes are not independent but each of these themes is subject to influence from within the school. </p><p> The parallel studies conducted by both Cui-Callahan (2012) and Bumgartner (2013), mirrored the results found in this study. Specifically, all three studies showed teacher respondents scored higher in Intrinsic job satisfaction than Extrinsic job satisfaction. </p><p> Finally, using the results from this research will help to inform other districts with information on what job satisfaction factors are important to teachers. It is notable that overall teachers scored higher at all levels with intrinsic motivational factors, but that younger, less experienced teachers rated extrinsic motivational factors higher. This will help school boards, district level administration, and building principals to be better informed as to demographics of teachers and how to best target job satisfaction type incentives to better recruit and retain teachers. In this era of teacher shortages, it can only benefit districts to have as much information and data as possible to attract teachers and to reduce teacher turnover costs.</p>

<p> The development and implementation of academic optimism and parent involvement were studied. The purpose of this study was to fill in the gaps in the literature regarding how academic optimism and parent involvement is formed in secondary schools, specifically middle school, and examine the connection between teacher academic optimism, parent trust, and parent involvement in one middle school in Northeast Alabama. The participants in the study included teachers currently employed at the school and parents of currently enrolled seventh and eighth grade students in the school. The Teacher Academic Optimism Scale (Fahy, Wu, &amp; Hoy, 2010), the Parent Trust in Schools Scale (Forsyth &amp; Adams, 2004), and the Parental Involvement Scale along with teacher and parent focus group interviews were utilized to collect data. </p><p> Through a qualitative method of research, the researcher conducted an analysis of the data. The surveys were used to determine levels of academic optimism among teachers in the school, parent trust, and parental involvement in the school. Survey results revealed that even though teacher academic optimism in the school was average and parent involvement was somewhat low, parent trust was high. Focus group interviews were used to collect data on teacher and parent perceptions of academic optimism, parent trust, and parent involvement. From these data, three important themes emerged: the importance of communication and trust, the importance of supportive environments, and the importance of relationships. The findings in this study determined that there is a connection between academic optimism and parent involvement. It also offers implications for development and implementation of academic optimism and parent involvement in a middle school.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of a self-monitoring practice in a middle school setting. A total of three participants who received special education services utilized this self-monitoring practice to evaluate their individual behaviors. This investigation took place in an inclusive classroom setting where the participants received instruction from a certified teacher alongside their non-disabled peers. A multiple baseline ABAB design was employed to determine the effectiveness of a cuing procedure on two specific measures; 1.) staying on task and 2.) following directions. The participants recorded data on their individual intervention sheets during the intervention phases. Each of the participants made improvements toward the two specified measures. This investigation revealed that self-monitoring practices can be used to manage students&rsquo; behaviors and to assist teachers with classroom management.</p>

<p> Esta investigaci&oacute;n estudi&oacute; las estrategias de soluci&oacute;n de problemas y estrategias sociales que utilizan estudiantes de nivel elemental cuando resuelven problemas matem&aacute;ticos. Adem&aacute;s, se analiz&oacute; el proceso que siguen los estudiantes al resolver problemas de matem&aacute;ticas. En el estudio participaron seis estudiantes de la Escuela Elemental de la Universidad de Puerto Rico. Cada estudiante resolvi&oacute; cuatro problemas; dos de manera individual y dos en pareja. Se utilizaron tres diferentes fuentes de recopilaci&oacute;n de informaci&oacute;n: los trabajos escritos por los estudiantes, las observaciones directas del investigador y entrevistas a los estudiantes inmediatamente despu&eacute;s de la soluci&oacute;n de los problemas. Algunos de los hallazgos m&aacute;s importantes son: (1) los ni&ntilde;os vieron diferentes estrategias de soluci&oacute;n de problemas y al no encontrar soluci&oacute;n con una cambiaban r&aacute;pidamente a otra, en esto muestran diferencia con los adultos, quienes insiste en la estrategia seleccionada. (2) Las estrategias que m&aacute;s utilizaron los estudiantes al resolver los problemas fueron el uso de operaciones b&aacute;sicas y la asociaci&oacute;n con problemas previos. Se observ&oacute; que frecuentemente los estudiantes integran ambas estrategias para desarrollar un proceso de soluci&oacute;n que le permita obtener la respuesta. La operaci&oacute;n b&aacute;sica que m&aacute;s utilizaron fue la suma, en la modalidad de sumas repetidas. Otras estrategias que utilizaron los estudiantes para resolver problemas fueron: an&aacute;lisis, c&oacute;mputo mental, tanteo y error, representaciones ic&oacute;nicas, patrones, uso de modelos concretos y uso de representaciones visuales. Otros hallazgos fueron: (3) Los estudiantes tienen la capacidad de establecer asociaciones de estrategias que les permiten resolver problemas at&iacute;picos de diferentes formas. (4) Los estudiantes utilizan diversas estrategias sociales al resolver en pareja problemas de matem&aacute;ticas. (5) El proceso t&iacute;pico que sigue el estudiante al resolver problemas es el siguiente: (a) lee y comprende el problema formulado, (b) pone a prueba alguna de las estrategias de soluci&oacute;n que conoce, (c) verifica si el resultado obtenido concuerda con el contexto del problema, (d) si le parece razonable, acepta su resultado, de lo contrario lo rechaza y pone a prueba otra de las estrategias que conoce. A la luz de estos hallazgos se sugiere invertir el proceso de ense&ntilde;anza de forma que el maestro comience la clase con la presentaci&oacute;n de un problema que contenga subyacente los contenidos que se pretenden estudiar. De esta manera el ni&ntilde;o tiene la posibilidad de reflexionar sobre su propio conocimiento y cuando descubra la soluci&oacute;n podr&aacute; hacer, de una manera m&aacute;s sencilla, las conexiones esperadas.</p>

<p> This explanatory case study seeks to understand the nature of middle school educators&rsquo; self-efficacy in an urban public school district during an era of accountability. The study was conducted in a progressive school district, known as OakRidge Pubic Schools. A sequential mixed methods design with a participant-selection model variation was employed. The study identified teachers&rsquo; level of self-efficacy via the Teacher&rsquo;s Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran &amp; Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), a quantitative survey used to determine high and low self-efficacy focus groups. During these subsequent focus group interviews, the competing objectives of fulfilling responsibilities levied from accountability mandates and initiatives, as well as meeting the dynamic needs of students during the years of adolescence, were each explored as influences on the educators&rsquo; general teaching efficacy. </p><p> Quantitative findings revealed that middle school educators in the OakRidge district had a high sense of self-efficacy overall. Of the three composite variables measured&mdash;instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement&mdash;middle school OakRidge educators reported the lowest sense of self-efficacy in terms of their ability to engage students. Consistent with other quantitative studies (Ross, 1994), female educators had a significantly higher sense of efficacy than their male counterparts. No other categorical data point measured&mdash;years&rsquo; experience, degree type, degree level, content area, current grade level taught, or historical grade level taught&mdash;revealed any significance in terms of the survey overall or any of the three composite variables. </p><p> Qualitatively, both groups of educators (high and low) expressed frustration with the impact of standardized testing. However, the higher group displayed resiliency in the face of this adversity. Both the high and low educator groups highlighted the complex dynamic of working with adolescents, identifying empathy as a crucial practice in middle grades education. Finally, educators in the high efficacy group revealed an ability to seamlessly embed &ldquo;life lessons&rdquo; in order to simultaneously meet the dual academic and holistic objectives of being a middle grades educator. Low efficacy group members presented these objectives as more of a binary, expressing frustration in meeting both. Findings from this case study can serve to inform professional development for middle grades educators.</p>

<p> Process-based approaches to writing tend to overlook the self-regulatory skills and motivational beliefs required for proficient writing (Harris, Santangelo, &amp; Graham, 2008) and do not provide the support many students need to develop into effective writers (Graham, Harris, &amp; Mason, 2005; Harris, Graham, &amp; Mason, 2006). Additionally, restricted writing opportunities preclude the sustained deliberate practice students need to develop expertise in writing (Kellogg &amp; Whiteford, 2009). This study examined an intervention that incorporated the self-regulated strategy development model (SRSD, Graham &amp; Harris, 1993) with the automated writing evaluation (AWE) program NC Write. An embedded quasi-experimental mixed methods design was used to determine the impact of the intervention on students&rsquo; argumentative writing performance, knowledge, and self-efficacy. Middle school students (<i>N</i>=829) participated in one of three conditions: NC Write + traditional writing instruction, NC Write + SRSD instruction, or a comparison condition.</p><p> Results of multi-level models that controlled for pretest performance and predicted posttest performance averaging across students and within teachers showed that students in the NC Write + SRSD instruction condition produced posttest essays that were of a higher quality, longer, and included more basic elements of argumentative essays than students in the other two conditions. Students in the NC Write + traditional writing instruction condition produced higher-quality essays than students in the comparison condition at posttest. Students in the NC Write + SRSD instruction condition identified more essay elements at posttest, though there were no between-condition differences in writing knowledge of substantive processes or in students&rsquo; writing self-efficacy at posttest. </p><p> Additional multi-level models were specified to include all essays written by treatment condition students and examine the shape of growth in writing performance. Results showed that students&rsquo; growth in writing quality, essay length, and essay elements was best represented by a quadratic growth model. On average, students&rsquo; growth in writing performance reached a plateau following the fourth essay written during the intervention. Differences in rates of change and deceleration in writing quality, essay length, and essay elements were not significantly different between the two treatment conditions.</p><p> Survey results showed students and teachers held generally favorable opinions of NC Write. Interview results determined that NC Write as well as the overall writing intervention had acceptable social validity. Qualitative data analysis revealed that NC Write provided a framework for deliberate writing practice. In this framework students&rsquo; growth in writing performance is supported by a cycle of learning, practice, and feedback. NC Write enabled deliberate practice by affording writing quality feedback, efficiency, and evidence of growth, and supporting teachers&rsquo; writing instruction and students&rsquo; intrinsic motivation. Limitations of the framework included some aspects of feedback, limited lesson data, and lack of a plagiarism scanner in NC Write. Implications from these findings support integrating SRSD instruction with an AWE program to support teacher implementation of the SRSD model and more efficiently provide students with the strategy instruction, practice opportunities, and feedback needed to develop proficiency in writing. Recommendations are provided for AWE programs to better support students&rsquo; maintenance of writing quality growth.</p>

<p> This study investigated the relationship between the political efficacy and expected civic engagement of eighth grade students in the Ferguson-Florissant School District, Missouri and demographic factors, reading ability, and parental attitudes. Data on students&rsquo; attitudes on topics such as citizenship, trust in institutions, opportunities, political efficacy, school efficacy, and political engagement were analyzed. The 180 students who completed the questionnaire demonstrated lower trust and assessment of access to opportunities and higher youth political engagement than the participants in the 1999 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IAE) Civic Education (CIVED) study. Tests to determine the impact of student variables on political attitudes revealed differences by gender, race, reading ability, and the proximity of students to two Ferguson protests areas in 2014. The few discrepancies between boys and girls refuted previous research on the gender gap in political efficacy and political engagement. Black participants had lower external political efficacy and trust, but were more likely to engage at the community level through participation in youth groups and volunteering. Lower reading ability negatively impacted internal efficacy and expected adult engagement. Close proximity to protest areas affected students&rsquo; political views, and increased some elements of internal efficacy and youth engagement. Questionnaire results revealed a positive relationship between parental and adolescent political attitudes, and qualitative data supported the essential role of parents and other adults in political socialization. Focus group and interview findings suggested that young people were politically engaged in a variety of ways, and students expressed a strong desire to have their voices heard through political discussion and action. It is recommended that educators and community leaders offer opportunities for increased exposure and participation in political activities while students are in middle school, and continue this through high school.</p>