The purpose of this study was to explore technology as a tool for increasing student achievement within the middle school science classroom and specifically to support the learning of special needs students.Utilizing field-test curriculum from the Lawrence Hall of Science's Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) Space Science Curriculum Sequence, software modules were designed to mediate instruction in specific problem areas which special needs students, especially those with learning disabilities, face in learning science.Participants in this research were middle school students who were classified as receiving special education services, but were enrolled in regular education science classes. Students in the control classrooms participated in an activity-oriented field-test curriculum which was common to all students within a particular class. Students in the modified treatment group received modified instructional activities which were mediated by a computer and utilized best practices.Regular education students using unmodified curriculum showed an 8% average gain from pre- to post-test whereas special education students showed a 7% decrease. On the other hand, regular education students using the modified curriculum averaged a 9% gain in their pre- post-test scores whereas special education students averaged a 7% gain.Gains in students' pretest to posttest scores were notably higher for the special education students who used computer-mediated instructional approaches designed utilizing best practices. In addition, the proportion of special needs students who provided more scientifically accurate and extended responses was much greater among those who used the modified materials. Most importantly, special needs students in this study who used the modified materials demonstrated more conceptual growth than did the special education students in using the unmodified materials. The major finding of this work is that most special education students demonstrated substantial gains in learning the content using the modified curriculum. Moreover, students using modified curriculum not only increased in the frequency of their responses, but also increased in the quality of their responses to a particular prompt. In addition, responses from special education students in the modified curriculum group were consistently within the range of responses found among the general education population, who also increased.

<p> The purpose of this project was to create a 6-week nutrition education and culinary skill curriculum for use by educators of middle-school adolescents in conjunction with use of an existing school-based educational garden and kitchen facility. Specifically, this project provides guidelines for delivering education regarding an overall healthy lifestyle during the adolescent years, optimal nutrition, food safety, meal plans, and kitchen skills, two times per season for each of the major seasons (fall, winter, spring) coinciding with the typical Pacific Northwest school calendar.</p><p> The curriculum was designed to provide educators with age appropriate lessons based on scientifically-founded information. The curriculum was reviewed by an expert panel and modifications were made based on their recommendations. The final curriculum was not pilot tested.</p>

<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> This quantitative method, quasi-experimental design study examined the possible effect of foreign language study in Tennessee middle schools on mathematics achievement. The population was 1,708 historical student test scores of a single cohort spanning 6^th through 8^th Grades from the same schools within a large urban public school district. NCLB demographics included race, gender, socio-economic status, and ELL status. The quasi-experimental design followed methods described by Shadish, Cook, &amp; Campbell, including independent control and treatment groups, pre-test/post-test, stratification, and matching. The instrument was the mathematics portion of the revised (2008-2009) Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) standardized tests. The TCAP was revised with increased critical thinking skills according to the Webb taxonomy and normalized to national standards. The study indicated that the foreign language treatment group performed significantly better than the control group, <i>t</i>_2&ndash;samp (&infin;) = 4.87, <i>a</i> &lt; .05, on their 8^th Grade TCAP mathematics test. The problem was that foreign language programs had been reduced or eliminated under NCLB-related academic and financial pressures. Political and educational leadership lacked evidence linking foreign language study to mathematics achievement in middle schools. This study was situated within an intuitionist mathematics philosophy, brain-based research, and social cognitive learning theory. Implications included an age-appropriate curriculum development model, curricular integration, support for foreign language study in middle schools, and the possible detrimental effects of cancelling foreign language programs.</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> The purpose of this holistic single-case study was to identify and to understand the child, the family, and the school interactions that influence the development of Brazilian students&rsquo; English fluency. The general research question was: What perceived influences act within and on the students&rsquo; language acquisition to acquire English fluency? A purposeful sample of seventeen participants evidenced the factors that influenced the seventh and the eighth grade Brazilian students&rsquo; English fluency. Data were collected through 17 interviews, tape-recordings, interview transcriptions, document analysis, and 17 member-check interviews. Data were coded and analyzed through the NVivo 10.0 for Mac Beta. The seven themes of external influences that emerged from the data of the factors that influenced Brazilian students&rsquo; English fluency included: English Lessons are Priority in Extracurricular Activities, Technology Use is Fundamental in English Fluency, Parents Participate in the Learning Experience, Contact with Culture and Native Speakers Advances English, Parents Set High Standards, the Curriculum, and Teachers&rsquo; Competency Influences English Fluency. One sub-theme resulted: Parents&rsquo; Motivate through Example. The two internal themes included: (1) Students are Naturally Interested in English, and (2) Students Enjoy Learning. The findings of this study supported the literature that ecological factors influence students&rsquo; learning, specifically the family, the school, and the community. Identifying and understanding the positive interactions that influenced the students&rsquo; learning of English in this case may benefit teachers and families, to improve the students&rsquo; learning a foreign language for success in the Brazilian context.</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>

This autobiographical narrative inquiry explores the teaching, learning and leadership experiences of a middle school teacher in Manitoba. My early experiences as a classroom teacher reflect my uncertainty and unpreparedness of a teacher who struggled to meet the needs of the English as an Additional Language (EAL) students who entered my classroom. As the EAL student population increased within my middle school, I began the journey of a Masters program to seek knowledge in order to support my EAL students and to help guide my colleagues towards an inclusive environment. As I explored how my experiences as a graduate student had influenced my classroom practices, and then how my experiences as an EAL specialist and school leader had influenced the school community, five main themes emerged: The use of the iPad in a mainstream classroom, the use of effective instructional strategies, the role of culture in the classroom, co-teaching practices and collaboration in a Middle School setting. Through narrative inquiry I investigated these themes and discovered new pathways to support EAL students and guide my colleagues while moving toward a more inclusive classroom and school environment.