This study explored potential patterns of association among the demographic characteristics, identification practices, educational interventions, and educational outcomes for students with serious emotional disturbance (SED) as well as specifically investigated the impact of age at identification with SED and the presence of co-occurring disabilities. Data was gathered from the educational records of students with SED in seven rural to semi-rural districts in Texas. Demographic information included gender, ethnicity, age at identification with SED, and identification with co-occurring disabilities. Identification variables that were investigated include the five federal qualifying criteria for SED, IQ score, and BASC and/or CBCL scores. Intervention variables that were explored included placement setting, restrictiveness of placement setting, type of related services provided, parental attendance at multidisciplinary team meetings, number of multidisciplinary team meetings, and total time spent in special education as a student with SED. Outcome variables that were examined included achievement levels in reading and math, attendance, special education status, and grade retention. Results suggested that earlier identification with SED is related to placement in less restrictive settings, achievement within two years of grade level in reading, and lower average number of absences. The presence of co-occurring disabilities in addition to SED is associated with placement in more restrictive settings and with achievement that is two or more years below grade level in reading and math. Additional findings and implications for future research as well as for current practice are discussed.

I skolverkets rapporter framkommer att ca 15-20 % av eleverna inte klarar nationella proven i grundskolan. Varje år går även alltför många elever ut grundskolan utan behörighet till något av de nationella gymnasieprogrammen. Det finns ett behov av mer kunskap om vilka elever som riskerar att inte nå målen för att underlätta tidig identifiering. Läsförmåga och språkförståelse är några av de faktorer som i tidigare studier visat sig påverka utfallet i skolresultat. I den här studien undersöks hur lässvårigheter i tidiga skolår relaterar till språkförståelse, samt hur lässvårigheter och variationer i språkförståelsen påverkar skolresultaten i nationella proven i åk 3. I studien deltog 44 elever med positivt utfall i en screening av läsförståelse, avkodning och stavning i åk 2. Svag läsförståelse i åk 2 innebar en större risk för språkförståelsesvårigheter i åk 3. Elever med enbart avkodnings- eller stavningssvårigheter i åk 2 hade däremot en god språkförståelse i åk 3. Språkförståelsen visade i sin tur signifikanta samband med utfallet i läsförståelse i ämnesprovet i svenska och med 5 av 6 delprov i matematik i nationella proven i åk 3. En viktig implikation blir att inkludera även språkförståelse i arbetet med elever som har läsförståelsesvårigheter. Studiens resultat indikerar att det inte räcker med en bättre avkodningsförmåga för att uppnå en god läsförståelse. Det krävs även insatser för att främja ordförråd, grammatisk kompetens och förståelsestrategier på diskursnivå. En hög andel av eleverna som inte fick godkänt i delproven i svenska respektive matematik i åk 3 var identifierade i screeningen redan i åk 2. Det här indikerar att det är möjligt att använda en screening av läsförmågan i åk 2 för att identifiera vilka elever som riskerar att inte klara läroplanens mål. Samtidigt var det många elever med svag läs- och stavningsförmåga i åk 2 som ändå klarade nationella proven. Den här studiens resultat indikerar att det framförallt är eleverna med läsförståelsesvårigheter som riskerar att inte klara nationella proven, medan eleverna med enbart avkodnings- eller stavningssvårigheter klarar nationella proven betydligt bättre. Det behövs däremot fortsatta longitudinella studier för att klargöra i vilken mån de elever som klarade de nationella proven i åk 3 trots lässvårigheter även kommer att klara nationella prov och läroplanens mål på längre sikt. / Every year about 20% of the students in primary and secondary school do not reach the goals of the Swedish National Curriculum. A greater understanding of how reading difficulties relate to oral language skills, and how both reading and oral language skills contribute to educational outcome in the Swedish context is needed to improve early identification and intervention for students at risk of not achieving the goals of the Swedish national curriculum. This dissertation investigates how reading difficulties and oral language comprehension affect educational outcome in the year 3 Swedish national tests, and how reading difficulties in early primary school relate to phonological processing skills and oral language comprehension. The Simple View of Reading model was used to describe the participants’ reading difficulties. All year 2 students (N = 214) in two municipalities participated in an examination of reading comprehension, word-decoding and spelling. Sixty-six students with reading comprehension (z < –0.83), word-decoding skills (z < –0.71) and/or spelling skills (z < –0.58) in the lower end of the normal distribution were identified. Forty-four students agreed to participate in the study. Oral language skills, phonological processing, verbal memory, word-decoding, reading comprehension and non-verbal ability were examined in year 3. Forty-six to 66 per cent of the students with reading comprehension difficulties in year 2 were identified with difficulties in oral language comprehension (z ≤ –1.0) in year 3. None of the students with specific word-decoding difficulties had difficulties in oral language comprehension. Oral language comprehension was significantly correlated to the results in the year 3 Swedish national tests for the two tasks in reading comprehension (p < .01) in Swedish, and with five of six tasks in Mathematics (p < .01 in four tasks and p < .05 in one task). Rapid naming of visual objects also correlated significantly with four out of six tasks in Mathematics (p < .01). Non-verbal ability, word-decoding and reading comprehension in year 3 showed no significant relationship with outcome in the Swedish national tests. This dissertation shows the centrality of oral language comprehension skills for both reading comprehension and outcome in the Swedish national tests, and the importance of considering oral language comprehension both in assessment and in intervention when students show poor reading comprehension skills in early primary school.

More and more schools worldwide provide their students with an individual digital tool, investments called 1:1 programs. However, there is still limited knowledge about the causal effects of such programs on students’ education outcomes, especially for high-income countries. This paper examines how the implementation of 1:1 programs affects pupils’ average academic performance in primary school (grade 3) in Sweden between 2014/2015-2018/2019. The data is collected from the Swedish National Agency for Education and the Institute for evaluation of labour market and education policy (IFAU) on school level. I use a difference-in-difference design to estimate the effect of 1:1 programs on pupils’ academic performances. The main results in this study indicate that 1:1 initiatives have a small positive effect on student's academic performances in Swedish and mathematics on average, although the effect varies depending on the subtests investigated.

Introduction: The overall aim for public health practice is to promote good health and reduce public health inequalities. The determinants of health are largely influential. Through policy directives and local strategies, the unit Safe in Norrtäljemunicipality (TiNk) tackles public health issues through cooperation between the municipality, region, the voluntary sector and the private sector.  Aim: To investigate the changes over time in adolescents life style factors (the use of alcohol, narcotics, performance-enhancing substances, tobacco and problematic gambling (ANDTS)), mental health, feeling of safety and educational attainment. Sub-group analyses will be conducted for sex and school zones with different social challenges (SC).  Method: A quantitative cross-sectional study based on a high school survey from four occasions between years 2013-2019. The survey population consists of all students in grade seven and nine from upper secondary school and second grade in high school, a total of 4,600 students. Descriptive analyses and Pearson Chi2 -test (p<0,05) for comparison of different groups were performed with the help of the statistical program SPSS.  Result: The usage of ANDTS has been reduced among boys in grade nine and fewer students were exposed to threat or sex without consent. Mental health problems have not changed over time, nor the occurrence of different kinds of crimes or high school eligibility. The differences between sex and schools with different SC are marginal.  Conclusion: The trends for ANDTS-usage, mental health, safety and high school eligibility among the adolescents of Norrtälje municipality showed varying results from year 2013 to 2019. However, differences between subgroups were marginal. / Bakgrund: Det övergripande målet för folkhälsoarbetet är att minska de påverkbara hälsoklyftorna och skapa samhälleliga förutsättningar för en god och jämlik hälsa i befolkningen. Hälsans bestämningsfaktorer är till stor del påverkningsbara. Genom policys på flera nivåer ökar möjligheten till framgång, något som folkhälsoenheten Trygg i Norrtälje kommun (TiNk) bedriver genom samverkan mellan kommun, föreningsliv och näringsliv. Syfte: Att undersöka förändringar över tid för ungdomars levnadsvanor (användning av alkohol, narkotika, dopningsmedel och tobak och problematiskt spelande (ANTDS)), deras psykiska hälsa och deras känsla av trygghet och gymnasiebehörighet. För samtliga variabler undersöks om skillnader finns för subgrupperna kön och skolområden med olika nivåer av sociala utmaningar (SU). Metod: En kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie baserad på en skolundersökning från fyra tillfällen mellan 2013–2019. Undersökningspopulationen utgjordes av samtliga elever i årskurs sju, nio och årskurs två i gymnasiet, 4600 elever totalt. Deskriptiva analyser och Pearson Chi2-test (p <0,05) för jämförelse mellan olika grupper genomfördes med hjälp av statistikprogrammet SPSS. Resultat: ANDTS-bruk minskade bland pojkar i årkurs nio och färre elever utsattes för hot och sex utan samtycke. Förekomst av psykisk ohälsa har inte förändrats över tid, inte heller förekomst av olika typer av brott eller gymnasiebehörighet. Skillnaderna för kön och skolor med olika SU var marginella. Slutsats: Under 2013–2019 visade trenderna för ANDTS-bruk, psykisk hälsa, trygghet och gymnasiebehörighet bland Norrtälje kommuns ungdomar varierande resultat. Utveckling för olika subgrupperna var relativt jämlik.

本研究旨在探討學校設施品質與教育成果之關係，以臺灣區公立普通高級中學共計127所學校為研究對象，並依各縣（市）行政區的國立和縣（市）立校數比例，分層抽取74所學校作為研究樣本。 本研究的自變項為學校設施品質。依變項為教育成果，包括教師態度、教師異動行為、學生態度、學生偏差行為和學生學業成就。控制變項為學生基礎學力和社經地位。為蒐集相關資料，本研究自編「學校設施品質與師生態度問卷」，以教師為問卷填答對象，總共發出問卷888份，回收772份，回收率為86.94%。另編製「教師異動情形、學生家庭經濟狀況及學生紀律行為調查表」，以校長為調查對象，總共發出調查表74份，回收67份，回收率為90.54%。學生學業成就係以各校參加大考中心辦理之學科能力測驗平均成績的原始級分，轉換為20級參照等級作為代表。 本研究主要目的在了解臺灣區公立普通高級中學學校設施品質現況，以及學校設施品質與教師組織承諾、教師異動行為、學生學習態度、學生偏差行為和學生學業成就的關係，並試圖建立學校設施品質與教育成果關係模式。研究者使用SPSS for Windows 18.0版和LISREL 8.52版，進行描述性統計、相關分析、變異數分析和因果路徑分析等統計分析，獲得結論如下： 一、臺灣區公立普通高中的學校設施品質屬於中高程度，校際之間有落差。 二、「學校類型」、「學校轄屬」、「學生性別偏向」、「學校規模」和「學校密度」等背景變項，對於學校設施品質有所影響。「學校密度」最能反映學校設施品質。 三、學校設施品質與教師的組織承諾呈中度正相關。「舒適的教室環境」、「充足的E化設備」和「完善的建築機能」等學校設施品質因素能有效預測教師的組織承諾。 四、學校設施品質與學生的學習態度呈中度正相關。「舒適的教室環境」、「良好的設施維護」和「完善的建築機能」等學校設施品質因素，能有效預測學生的學習態度。 五、學校設施品質與學生偏差行為呈低度負相關。學校在「完善的建築機能」表現愈好，學生偏差行為就愈少。 六、學校設施品質與學生學業成就呈低度正相關，「多元的學習空間」能有效預測學生學業成就。 七、在學生學業成就上，學校設施品質對於基礎學力低的學校比基礎學力高者，有更大的正面影響力。 八、學校設施品質對於學生學業成就的影響來自間接效果，由「教師態度」、「學生態度」和「學生偏差行為」扮演中介的角色。 九、學校設施品質與教育成果關係的實證模式經驗證確立，學校背景變項影響學校設施品質，學校設施品質直接影響教師態度和學生態度，並以間接方式影響學生行為和學生學業成就。 最後，依據研究結論提出建議，供作學校設施規劃設計、教育決策者政策制定及未來研究之參考。 / The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the quality of school facilities and educational outcomes. The quality of school facilities is measured using five elements, viz. comfortable classroom, facilities maintenance, IT equipment, multiple learning spaces, and architecture functions. The population of this study was 127 public senior high schools in Taiwan, and 74 schools in the population was stratified chosen as samples. Six major data components were used to complete this study. The first component is the quality of school facilities, the second component is the attitude of the teachers, and the third component is the attitude of the students. To obtain this information, 888 teachers were invited to complete the Assessment of School Facilities Quality and the Attitude of Teachers and Students Questionnaire, where 772 questionnaires were returned. The return rate was 86.94%. The fourth and the fifth components are the turnover rate of the teachers and demerit rate of the students of each school which were obtained from principle survey. The sixth component is the score rank from the General Scholastic Ability Test for each senior high school in Taiwan. A series of statistical methods such as descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation, ANOVA, multiple regression analysis, and structural equation model, were conducted to analyze the collected data. It is found that school facilities quality is related to educational outcomes. Students performed better in schools with good quality of school facilities. The conclusions of this study can be illustrated as followed: 1. The averaged quality of school facilities is moderate-high level for public senior high schools in Taiwan; however the quality differences among schools do exist. 2. School context variables, viz. school type, school objection, student sex, school size, and school density will all affect the quality of school facilities. 3. Quality of school facilities is positively correlated to teacher organizational commitment, student learning attitude, and student academic achievement. Nonetheless, quality of school facilities is negatively correlated to student rule-violating behavior and teacher turnover rate, whereas the latter is not significant. 4. In terms of student academic achievement, quality of school facilities has more significant influence on schools with students having lower academic performance than those with higher academic performance. 5. Quality of school facilities directly affects teacher organizational commitment and student learning attitude. Meanwhile, quality of school facilities indirectly affects student academic achievement and student rule-violating behavior. In this study, relationships between quality of school facilities and several educational outcomes were examined. Some significant results were observed and suggestions on possible adjustments were made. Hopefully these results and suggestions can be useful to school planners and related government officials for future reference.