<p> This descriptive study attempts to increase understanding of relationships between school contextual factors and the fostering of student prosocial development and reduced at risk behaviors among adolescent populations. Using an ethnographic design, the researcher gathered data from six rural public middle schools in Pennsylvania. Three schools with the greatest number of infractions and three with the fewest infractions per 100 eighth grade students represented both ends of the misconduct range and served as the study&rsquo;s sample. Data were gathered through school site visits, primary documents, interviews of school personnel, and an on-line survey completed by each school faculty. All instruments were informed by subscale dimensions represented by the Alliance for the Study of School Climate (ASSC) School Climate Assessment Instrument (SCAI).</p><p> Cross-case analysis revealed shared patterns of behavior, beliefs, and language of middle school administrators, guidance counselors, and teachers concerning factors contributing to their respective school climates. Contextual similarities and differences among school groupings were investigated through subscale dimensions of (a) faculty relations, (b) leadership and decision making, (c) discipline and management environment, and (d) attitude and culture. A paired-samples <i>t</i>-test of survey data revealed statistically significant mean differences for (a) leadership and decision making and (b) attitude and culture, with these variances being particularly evident after removing one school that emerged as an outlier. Data gathered from the study&rsquo;s other instruments aligned with this school&rsquo;s incongruous nature to all other schools of the sample.</p>

<p> This multiple case study utilized a qualitative approach to research student engagement at the middle school level. Specifically, this project contributes to the understanding of how students at a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) magnet middle school and a traditional public middle school perceive student engagement in the classroom as classified into the categories of behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and agentic engagement (Lee &amp; Reeve, 2012; Reeve &amp; Tseng, 2011). Middle school students in this project participated in a classroom engagement unit of inquiry, produced photo-elicitation data depicting positive examples of classroom engagement, produced descriptions of those photos, and discussed engagement in photo-elicited focus group interviews that revealed their thoughts and beliefs about engagement in the classroom setting. Results revealed that middle school students at traditional and STEM sites have similar perceptions related to each of the categories of student engagement. However, two distinguishing characteristics were discovered from this research. First, students at the traditional middle school attributed student engagement as primarily an individual experience whereas students at the STEM middle school perceived student engagement as mainly collaborative for each category of engagement. Second, students at the traditional middle school identified a teacher-centered aspect to student engagement that was absent from the perceptions of students at the STEM school. Additional research on student engagement is warranted due to the changing landscape of middle school education.</p><p>

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 2001. / Chair: Peter B. Evans.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 393-404).

Thesis (M.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Theses (Faculty of Education) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. Journ.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 29-35).

Thesis (M.A.)--Kent State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jan. 12, 2010). Advisor: Dr. David A. Purcell. Keywords: School Social Capital; Social Capital; School-Level Data; Race; Problem Behavior; Disciplinary Problems. Includes bibliographical references (p. 41-52).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-159). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-169).