<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>

<p> This autoethnography of my lived experiences as a middle-school service-learning course teacher has helped me solve a personal mystery and present an important perspective for the K-12 service-learning field. With an eye on revealing a unique service-learning classroom concept to educational leaders, enhancing middle level teacher education, and hopes of providing greater opportunities for advancing research on service learning in K-12 education, this study has also aided me in understanding my professional self and my subjective educational theory through a personal interpretive framework (Kelchtermans, 1993, 1999, 2009). Using autoethnography (Ellis, 2004; Ellis &amp; Bochner, 2006) as a method to explore my own experiences as a middle school service-learning teacher and the perceptions of critical friends&mdash;colleagues, family members, and friends&mdash;who have been significant in my experiences, I am able to present an evocative personal narrative on what it means to be a service-learning teacher. Overarching findings from this study reveal that a middle grades service-learning teacher is a self-authored individual (Baxter Magolda, 1999, 2009; Kegan, 1994) who is committed to community-engaged education (Dewey, 1900, 1933), possesses a strong &ldquo;I must&rdquo; (Noddings, 2002b, p. 20) perspective on relational care, and are for development in servant leadership (Greenleaf, 1977; Sergiovanni, 1992; Bowman, 2005)</p>

<p> This research study examined the academic impact of extracurricular activities on middle school students. This study investigated a possible relationship between the amount of hours that students spent participating in extracurricular activities and their academic achievement, as well as the amount of hours that students spent participating in in-school extracurricular activities and their academic achievement. This study used a combination of quantitative and qualitative data to reach its results. The quantitative data ultimately did not show a statistically significant correlation between the hours that students spent in extracurricular activities in general or in in-school activities and academic achievement. However, there was an upward trend in the data for hours that students spent in extracurricular activities in general and their academic achievement. The qualitative component drew upon the prior research on traits that contribute to the success of middle school students academically, and found a pattern consistent with the evidence of these traits through the results of a survey and interviews. Therefore, the qualitative component showed that through connecting these answers to and relying on the prior research, middle school students most likely benefitted academically from being involved in extracurricular activities, especially in-school activities that met these needs. The researcher also reflected on the study and made several recommendations for future research on the topic, ranging from survey and sampling augmentations to suggestions of sub-topics worthy of further exploration.</p>

<p> In this qualitative case study, I investigated eighth-grade honors students&rsquo; and their language arts teacher&rsquo;s perceptions of the support provided in writing groups, the climate in writing groups, and student and teacher support that enhanced students&rsquo; motivation to write in writing groups. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)</p>

<p> This dissertation is a mixed-methods study that critically looked at peer-reviewed articles and empirical research findings about goal setting for middle school students and the possible effects that goal setting had on achievement. This project synthesized the information from articles about goal setting in general and, more specifically, the student-informed goal-setting processes. The study spawned from the literature review and critically assessed one teacher&rsquo;s use of the informed goal setting process to affect the achievement of her Midwestern middle school students. Students in the treatment group completed pre and post-questionnaires that assessed their understanding of goal setting and achievement. The researcher used students&rsquo; assessment data reports to instruct and coach students on their use of data to establish SMART goals for fall conferences, during the winter and spring R-CBM and MAZE testing, and quantitatively compared the treatment groups&rsquo; data to that of a peer-like control group. The researcher analyzed focus group responses for perception trends about the goal setting process. The results of the qualitative information and quantitative data indicated an attitudinal and behavioral shift in the use of the SMART goal setting process; however, the researcher found no statistically significant difference between the treatment and control groups. Goal setting did not have adverse effects on either student performance or behavior; so, with proper feedback, conferencing, and follow-through, goal setting should continue to be part of routine habit-building instruction. Further study is needed to determine the effect that the &lsquo;informed&rsquo; aspect had on student attitudes and achievement and to explore parental influences on goal setting and attainment.</p>

<p>Starting with the Ancient Greeks, Pilgrims, Puritans and Quakers and now all school districts across the United States of America are faced with continually increasing challenges of developing students who are well-rounded human beings capable of making moral and ethical decisions in an ever-increasing immoral and unethical world (Lickona, 1996; Riley, 2001). The purpose of this program evaluation is to examine how association between student-to-student and student-to-teacher, which includes fighting and bullying, disrespect and insubordination, have been affected from the inception of a school-wide character education program to a national character education program recognition. A Pearson&rsquo;s Chi-square test of association was utilized because it is one of the most commonly used statistical approaches to repeated measures designs. </p><p> The scope of the program evaluation involved a cohort of students in a junior high school is St. Louis County from the inception of a character education program to the National School of Character recognition three years later. Discipline referrals were collected involving aggression, including fighting and bullying, disrespect and insubordination to determine the effect the character education program was having on student-to-student and student-to-teacher relationships. The result of the findings is there was no significant association between these reported behaviors, indicating the variables are independent of each other. </p><p> This program study indicates there is no significant limitation in the relationship involving discipline referrals from the inception of the character education to the national recognition. This leads to a conclusion that the national recognition may be less concerned about reduction in discipline referrals, and may put more weight on practice, procedures and policy. </p>

<p> The overarching goal of this study was to obtain the perceptions of 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th grade English Language Arts teachers of their students&rsquo; reading skills, specifically comprehension and fluency, and those students&rsquo; readiness for high school English. The study proposed a comprehensive conceptual model of effective strategies reading teachers use and what prepared middle school students have in order to matriculate into high school. This research advanced the discussion of basic skills students need to matriculate into high school ELA and what hinders their matriculation. A mixed methods study with a threefold purpose was conducted. First, the study explored and described the perceptions of teachers of middle school students&rsquo; reading skills specifically those skills associated with comprehension and fluency. Second, it explored and discussed if middle school students exhibited sufficient basic skills associated with comprehension and fluency in ELA to matriculate into high school courses and succeed. Third, the study explored and described teachers&rsquo; perceptions of essential skills needed to transfer into high school ELA. Student readiness was explored in six focus groups with 25 teacher participants and three district supervisor interviews. Teachers and supervisors provided data on student readiness and skill deficiencies and proficiencies in comprehension and fluency. Data collection methods included teacher survey and district supervisor and teacher interviews. Findings indicated that student readiness for high school ELA is average; students&rsquo; basic skills in comprehension and fluency is also average; and students&rsquo; are lacking in basic skills needed to succeed in high school ELA courses. Narrative and descriptive statistics detailed students&rsquo; preparation, students&rsquo; reading skills, and students&rsquo; comprehension and fluency.</p>