Targeted school violence (TSV) in the United States is increasing, causing a loss of innocent lives and challenges for teachers and students in building rapport. In addition, TSV increases levels of anxiety and makes it difficult for parents and community members to believe students are safe while at school. Several studies have highlighted the fact that age may be a factor in school shootings, calling for future research to determine if age is indeed influential. The problem is to date age has not been established as a predictive factor, even though the extant research is beginning to identify possible variances. Guided by general strain theory and ceremonial violence, this study determined statistical significance between age and select variables in the personal, event, and ecological categories. This information could be illuminating to educators, mental health professionals, and law enforcement for threat assessment purposes. The information was gathered on all TSV members within the United States from 1966 to 2015 through archival data, and the data were analyzed using logistic regression, Pearson's correlation, and Spearman's correlation. Results indicated that, as age increases, the offenders are more likely to have a higher social status, have a mental health and criminal history, carry out their act in the afternoon, and choose a knife as a weapon. In addition, older offenders are less likely to be students and less likely to have been bullied. Implications for social change include modifications to current threat assessment protocol regarding weapon choice and previous mental health or criminal history, which could be utilized to change public policy for mandatory reporting of students identified as at risk. Also, younger offenders are being bullied more often than older offenders and this could add more awareness to antibullying program procedure and earlier mental health intervention.

For the last forty years, since the end of the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has been committed to renewal. In Queensland, Catholic schools have responded to this commitment by undertaking cyclical renewal processes since the early 1980s. The focus of this research was the process of Catholic School Renewal in the Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. The review of the literature focused on literature relating to school effectiveness and school improvement internationally and nationally, as well as Catholic School Renewal in Queensland generally and the Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton specifically. The following research questions focused the research design: 1. How is the process of Catholic School Renewal a source of potential growth? 2. How does the process of Catholic School Renewal ensure quality Catholic education? 3. How is the process of Catholic School Renewal a useful quality assurance tool? The epistemological stance adopted for the research was constructionism. The research paradigm adopted was interpretivism with social interactionism as the selected orientation. As case study is congruent with an interpretivist tradition of research it was adopted as a useful way of gaining insight into the perspectives of the participants. The case was comprised of some staff members who worked in one of four Catholic primary schools situated in three of the four regions of the Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton. Data collection took the form of semi-structured interviews and a survey questionnaire with the data being analysed using the constant comparative method. The study concluded that the process of Catholic School Renewal in the Diocese of Rockhampton is a useful quality assurance tool which helps to ensure quality Catholic education. Whether or not the process is a source of growth is dependent on a number of factors, paramount among which is the approach and ability of the Regional Supervisor of Schools. There were six major recommendations arising out of the research. These related to: 1. Ensuring the Regional Supervisor of Schools has certain attributes and knowledge. 2. Inservicing school staff on the purpose and nature of Catholic School Renewal. 3. Providing External Validation Team members with adequate inservice. 4. Permitting more involvement of the school principal in the process. 5. Initiating a review of the process of Catholic School Renewal in the Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton. 6. Rockhampton Catholic Education continuing to use the process.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (April 25, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The purposes of this study was to investigate the junior high school students¡¦ perceptions of ¡uQuality Senior High School Program¡v and the factors of selecting senior high schools for further study. 1,112 8th and 9th graders of Pingtung County junior high schools were sampled to complete a 37 ¡V items questionnaire. Based on reliability and validity analyses, the 37 ¡V items were divided into 6 dimensions as follows: school and teachers¡¦ performances, recommendation from relatives or friends, school propaganda, personal selection factor, school activity, and the distance between home and school. The descriptive analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Logistic Regression were conducted to come to the following findings: 1. Most of the countries in the world adopt school district, in high school education and their students enroll nearby schools mostly. 2. The main purpose of promoting the Quality Senior High School Program is to make the students who have good achievements remain in local schools, and develop the school characterization. 3. The students in the north district of Pingtung County have highly approval towards Quality Senior High School Program. 4. The top three factors that influenced junior high students selecting which senior high to study are individual factors, the reputation of school and the faculties, and the transportation convenience. 5. The eighth grades and students from remote areas have higher recognition of the Quality Senior High School Program. 6. Students from different background are wide varied while making school choice. 7. Over 50% of junior high students are willing to enroll senior high schools nearby. 8. Individual factors, school activities, and distance between home and school will effectively predict the students¡¦ willingness to select neighboring senior high schools. According to the results stated above, the researcher offers several suggestions for the educational authorities, senior high schools and junior high schools in the north district of Pingtung County, hoping to be of referential value as far as related research and practice are concerned.

Because bilingual programs provide a secure environment likely to promote school belonging, it was hypothesized that Hispanic students in a bilingual program would experience higher belonging than those in regular education and that they would experience a steeper drop in belonging at the transition to middle school. Participants were 277 Hispanic and White elementary and middle school students who were followed longitudinally from grade 4 to 6. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to compare the mean levels of school belonging across groups and measure the change in school belonging at the transition. Results suggested that Hispanic students both in bilingual and in regular education had higher belonging than White students and that groups did not differ in their change in belonging at the transition to middle school.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-174).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-94). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-125). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-125). Also available on the Internet.