<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 study examined whether teaching character competencies of growth mindset and grit in advisory to middle school students increases motivation in the classroom. The problem being addressed is the perceptions of teachers that student motivation has decreased over time, and the significance is benefits derived from the ability to increase motivation. A mixed methods approach with an action research design is used for collecting data before, during, and after delivery of the lessons/interventions, from self-reports, surveys, and journals, and the qualitative data augments findings of quantitative data. The qualitative findings allude to the possibility that the concepts of growth mindset and grit can be taught, but quantitative data do not support this conclusion. Mean scores for growth mindset, grit, and motivation are charted from pretest to posttest, and significance of observed differences of experimental and control group means were tested with a <i>t</i>-test. Teacher growth mindset means showed statistical significance and a moderate to large effect size, but that was not true for student growth mindset means and student or teacher data for grit or motivation. Multiple linear regression analyses did not prove any causal relationship between growth mindset and motivation, or grit and motivation, but the effect of grit was much greater than the effect of growth mindset on motivation. </p><p> <i><b>Keywords:</b></i> motivation, character competencies, growth mindset, grit, middle school students, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, persistence</p>

<p> The inclusion of social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools is becoming a pertinent topic in the field of education. Teachers and administrators are recognizing a need to support students&rsquo; social and emotional growth alongside their academics. Young adolescents in grades 6 &ndash; 8 are in a developmental stage during which the acquisition of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills could be particularly beneficial and supportive to their ability to lead healthy lives. In this project-based thesis, the author based her research on the question; how are North Carolina (NC) public schools supporting the social and emotional development of their middle school students? This question was formulated in order to support the project of this thesis, the creation of a development plan for a public charter middle school in NC that focuses on social and emotional learning. The research method utilized in this study was grounded theory as developed by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (1967). Data was collected through a survey sent to public middle schools across NC and through interviews conducted with school administrators. Constant comparative analysis was the process through which all of the data was analyzed. Results of this research found that 80% of the surveyed schools implement SEL programming and the majority of those schools believe SEL to positively affect many facets of their school including academic success of the students, physical and emotional safety, and the relationship between the students and teachers. Strategies the participating schools used to implement SEL programming were also discovered in this study. These consist of having distinct lessons on SEL topics and skills, integrating parts of SEL throughout the entire school, use of mentoring, inclusion of aspects of SEL in student discipline, having programming meet the unique needs of the school, and evaluating the students&rsquo; progression in SEL. Results of this study also indicated several design elements of SEL programming, which include having SEL be a united effort of all faculty and administration, providing teachers with support, sharing responsibility for the programming with the students, and allocating sufficient time to SEL programming. The findings of this study have been used by the author to inform the creation of the school development plan included in this thesis. By adding to the discussion of how to provide SEL to middle school students in NC, this study can be a resource to any educator in the process of developing SEL programming for their students.</p>

<p>The purpose of the study was to develop and implement a new reading intervention with fifth grade struggling readers that included reading across multiple texts, constructing arguments from the texts, engaging in oral argumentation, and writing argumentative essays. A Convergent Mixed Methods design incorporated both quantitative and qualitative data to determine if teacher collaboration influenced the implementation of the new intervention and its subsequent effect on students&rsquo; reading and writing outcomes. The intervention focused on a 10-week argumentative unit based on the American Revolution War. Group 1 teacher implemented the intervention in a whole-class setting, plus collaborated with the researcher on implementation issues; Group 2 teacher implemented the intervention in a small pullout group, but did not collaborate with the researcher; and Control Group teacher did not implement the intervention. All student groups took a pre and post reading comprehension assessment, and Groups 1 and 2 students took a pre and post essay writing assessment. The reading comprehension scores showed no significant improvement for any group. The pre and post essay writing scores for Groups 1 and 2 showed significant improvement (<i>p</i> = .000), yet there was no significant difference between the two intervention groups (<i>p</i> =.66). The qualitative results indicate student achievement in the intervention groups may have been affected by five implementation factors: (1) implementation fidelity, (2) short duration, (3) size of group, (4) task complexity, and (5) aligned assessments. </p>

<p> Many culturally responsive theorists support culturally responsive pedagogy for closing the achievement gap in the rapidly changing demographics of America&rsquo;s education system. The purpose of this case study was to examine stakeholders&rsquo; perceptions and practice of culturally responsive pedagogy in St. Andrew Academy (pseudonym), a Catholic NativityMiguel school located in a Midwest metropolitan area. The goals were: (a) to examine middle school teachers&rsquo; and the principal&rsquo;s perceptions of culturally responsive pedagogy and extent of culturally responsive teaching implemented in the school, (b) to examine how parents perceived culturally responsive caring relationships with teachers and the principal, and (c) to examine the degree to which St. Andrew Academy demonstrated culturally responsiveness in staff meetings, professional development training, parent-teacher conferences, and school social events.</p><p> The results of this study revealed that middle school teachers and the school principal were unanimous in their lack of comprehension and practice of culturally responsive pedagogy. The teachers in their response indicated that they did not receive adequate professional development or training consistent with culturally responsive teaching. The principal in his response indicated that he was in fact a culturally responsive leader but argued that his staff did not understand culturally responsive pedagogical procedures. The survey results indicated that parents were unanimous in their perception that the teachers and the principal of St Andrew Academy provided a positive caring school environment. The results also suggested that the parents at St. Andrew Academy had a passive versus collaborative role in participating and making decisions about their children&rsquo;s education. The results of the study showed that staff at St. Andrew Academy lacked the ability to communicate verbally with most parents because of their inability to speak the Spanish language.</p><p> This study offered a number of recommendations. The results showed that St. Andrew Academy could make the following improvements: (a) challenging social inequalities by examining their own bias and prejudice (b) undergoing a process of learning about and embracing all the cultures represented in their school, (c) providing true academic diversity in their teaching strategies and school environment, (d) implementing well-designed culturally responsive professional development training and (e) taking the initiative to improve the practice of culturally responsive pedagogy through partnership with parents, the school staff and culturally responsive stakeholders. It is the administrator&rsquo;s responsibility to challenge all school staff to embrace culturally responsive pedagogy in order to enrich academic success for every student.</p>

<p> Advancements in technology often make life easier, make processes easier, and increase efficiency. While this is true as much in the public school system as it is in other aspects of life, technology integration initiatives often struggle in K-12 schools. In its first year of implementation, one statewide technology initiative targeting personalized learning for mathematics resulted in significantly improved proficiency in mathematics for students with high technology usage, but over 90% of students had low usage. This year, which is year two of the initiative, I went into some of the classrooms in the Junior High with the highest technology usage to better understand what facilitates successful technology integration. Data were collected from six teachers and one administrator through interviews and observations. I also looked at factors such as change management, learning environment, and student motivation in order to understand the relationship of these factors to teacher perceptions of factors that influence technology integration. Though many influential factors emerged that all seemed highly interrelated, the most common theme that emerged across all factors was that letting teachers show each other how to use the technology to make life easier and improve learning for students may result in higher levels of technology integration.</p>

<p> This exploratory study seeks to investigate how a mathematical education game, <i>DragonBox12</i>+, effects students&rsquo; learning about algebra. Data for this research was collected from middle school 7^th grade students in the Northeast region of the United States of America. The interviews and classroom observations were recorded on videotape. The research results showed that the video game <i>DragonBox 12</i>+ affects students&rsquo; attitude of mathematics and learning of mathematics by the help of using game mechanics to teaching algebraic rules. </p>

<p> This qualitative research study explored the influence of collaborative analysis of student work (CASW) as professional development on teacher practice, specifically during lessons and on written teacher feedback on student work. Additionally, teachers&rsquo; perceptions about the influence of CASW sessions and three 2-week instructional cycles on student writing, including the professional development sessions, lessons, and teacher written feedback, were investigated. Qualitative data were collected including teacher interviews, CASW observations, classroom observations, and document analysis. Findings indicated that teachers felt that CASW influenced their increased awareness of teaching and student learning, and implications for future teaching for the whole group as well as ideas for next steps for individual students emerged. Teachers supported CASW being job-embedded and practical to daily work; they voiced concerns over the time and scheduling facilitating the professional development required. Teachers responded that they felt that CASW helped them question their assessment of student writing, consistency within and across grade levels and subjects, and the appropriate level of difficulty of their curriculum. Teachers expressed their desire to be able to meet with students more regularly to go over their teacher written feedback and felt that CASW may possibly influence student work over time. Two teachers felt that the CASW professional development could have influenced their written feedback; four teachers felt that it did not. Implications for professional development, public policy, and further research are given.</p>

<p> Technology should play an important role in K-12 education, according to most educators and policymakers (Hastings, 2009). However, despite numerous classroom technology initiatives, supplemental funding, increased availability, encouragement by stakeholders, and urgency to develop 21st-century skills needed for the technology age, students and teachers are not making use of technology effectively in classrooms (Hastings, 2009). In this qualitative study, the researcher detailed how perceptions of technology coaches and teachers in sixth- through eighth-grade southwest Missouri classrooms related to the best model for implementing a technology coach. The duties and qualifications perceived to be important for the position of technology coach were reviewed. Eight technology coaches and eight classroom teachers were interviewed to learn how the position of technology coach has impacted the participants and their schools. Common perceptions were found after data were reviewed. Teachers noted advantages to having a technology coach in the building included the following: troubleshooting support, professional development, research of new programs, support with incorporating technology into curriculum, and an accessible person when there is a technology need. Technology coaches reported the importance of teachers having support in classrooms as an advantage to the position. Teachers and coaches both supported the concept of a coach in the classroom modeling technology integration and working directly with teachers. Professional development was also noted as an important part of a coach&rsquo;s job duties. Conclusions from this study may help school leaders better address the job responsibilities of a technology coach.</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>