Hispanic students residing in the United States have historically been the lowest-achieving ethnic group in public schools and have a high dropout rate. A stark comparison to those statistics can be found within the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) charter schools in San Antonio, Texas, which have a majority Hispanic student population that is thriving academically and advancing to college. Using the Search Institute's positive youth development theory, the purpose of this study was to (a) quantitatively explore how school climate moderates the relationship between Hispanic student acquisition of developmental assets and academic success at KIPP charter schools from the perspective of both students and staff members and (b) identify the catalysts for growth and academic success. The Search Institute surveys, Creating a Great Place to Learn and the Developmental Assets Profile, were used to collect data from 78 students (Grades 6-8) and 45 staff members at KIPP Aspire and Camino. A series of multiple regression analyses were conducted using Andrew F. Hayes's PROCESS, a tool within SPSS, to explore moderation effects. School climate's organizational attributes dimension had a significant moderation interaction between developmental assets (empowerment, boundaries and expectations, constructive use of time, positive values, and social competencies) and academic success (GPA). School climate's relationships dimension significantly moderated (a) academic success and (b) social competencies, a developmental asset. Implications for positive social change include shaping future intervention programs and school initiatives to build positive school climates, increase academic and social well-being, and help Hispanic students achieve success in school.

abstract: The presence of police officers is not an assurance of safety for everyone. Yet, modern concerns for school safety suggest there is a need for more police officers in schools. Over the last 70 years of School Resource Officer (SRO) programs, the variations of SRO program implementation and the expectation of roles and responsibilities has produced conflicting research on benefits or harms of police in the school environment. The purpose of police in schools has shuffled from relationship-building ambassadors for the community, to educators on crime prevention and drug use, to law enforcement officers for punitive juvenile sanctions, to counselors and role models for legal socialization, and other roles for emergency management and crisis response. Plans to place more officers in schools for purposes of “school safety” requires an examination of the SROs’ roles within the school, their interactions with students, and how these roles and interactions contribute to safety. This study explores the roles of SROs to understand the variations of roles within a program and understand factors influencing the roles of SROs (e.g., school climate, initiation by others). To evaluate these roles and potential influences, cluster analysis and multinomial regression models were developed from one year of SRO-student interaction data (n=12, 466) collected daily from the Richland County (SC) Sheriff’s Department SRO Division located in South Carolina. These interactions were defined by the framework of counseling, educating, and law enforcing roles. Results indicate the variations of roles performed are largely influenced by the school type (e.g., elementary), SRO perceptions (e.g., counselor), and the engagement of SROs by school officials for specific roles. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Criminology and Criminal Justice 2019

Esta investigación describe, analiza y explica las percepciones de cinco directoras de instituciones educativas públicas de Lima sobre la evaluación del Clima escolar en la EDDir realizada el 2018. La EDDir tiene el objetivo de garantizar la calidad de la educación y los líderes de las instituciones educativas peruanas. Por ello, contempla la evaluación del Clima escolar, a través de encuestas que recogen las opiniones de la comunidad educativa en este aspecto. Esta medida ha provocado reacciones favorables y contrarias en base a las propias percepciones. Por ello, se realizó un estudio cualitativo con una orientación fenomenológica, centrada en la teoría de las percepciones que se orienta al cuestionamiento analítico de las concepciones y percepciones individuales y compartidas de las directoras frente a la EDDir en torno al clima institucional. / This research describes, analyzes and explains the perceptions of five principals from public schools of Lima, about the evaluation of the School Climate in the ‘EDDir’ carried out in 2018. The EDDir (in English, Principal´s Performance Evaluation) has the objective of guaranteeing the quality of education and the performance of the leaders of these peruvian educational institutions. In this way, it contemplates the evaluation of the School Climate, through surveys that gather the opinions of the educational community in this aspect. This measure has caused favorable and opposing reactions based on their perceptions. A qualitative study was conducted with a phenomenological orientation, focused on the theory of perceptions. / Trabajo de investigación

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Motivated by the growing body of research relating to the impact school climate has on student achievement, attendance, behavior, and mental well-being, many educators have implemented initiatives and programs aimed at school climate improvement. Jostens Renaissance is one such program and was the program of focus for this study. Though Jostens has numerous publications and media sources to facilitate the sharing of ideas, there is very little information available regarding the implementation of Renaissance. The primary purpose of this study was to identify factors that facilitated change in the process of implementing high school Jostens Renaissance programs in order to identify any common factors that may be transferable to other schools. A multiple case study approach was utilized to explore the strategies which facilitated the implementation of Renaissance at three southeastern high schools. Data were collected via qualitative interviews with teachers and administrators who were present at their respective schools prior to, during, and after the implementation of Jostens Renaissance. The three study schools selected for the study were identified by Jostens as having strong Renaissance programs. Seven main themes related to change factors were identified: need for change, supportive administration, dedicated faculty coordinator, student leadership and participation, faculty buy-in and participation, intentionality in building teacher climate, and perceived quality of the program. Surprisingly, none of the schools experienced any major barriers the implementation. Participants credited the lack of implementation barriers to a perceived need for change among the school community.

[pt] Tendo em vista a literatura que discute os desafios enfrentados pelos jovens ao longo da sua trajetória escolar e a influência de determinadas características instituicionais no enfrentamento dessas adversidades, o presente estudo busca conhecer quais as relações que os jovens de escolas públicas e privadas estabelecem com sua escola e com o seu processo de escolarização. Para isso, construímos um questionário com itens que buscavam mensurar a mobilização dos jovens em relação à escola e para a aprendizagem, as suas percepções sobre o clima escolar e a participação discente e, por fim, as suas crenças de autoeficácia acadêmica. O instrumento foi testado e aplicado a uma amostra de 224 jovens de 9 ano do Ensino Fundamental de duas escolas públicas e três escolas privadas localizadas em São Luís (MA) e no Rio de Janeiro (RJ). Posteriormente, o instrumento foi validado a partir da construção de índices que buscaram mensurar alguns aspectos da escola na visão dos jovens. Os resultados do estudo apontam que os alunos das escolas privadas presentes em nossa amostra percebem um clima mais positivo nas suas escolas em quase todas as dimensões analisadas e possuem níveis mais altos de autoeficácia. Por outro lado, os jovens das escolas públicas se sentem mais mobilizados para irem à escola pela aprendizagem e acreditam que participam mais das decisões da escola. Por fim, discute-se até que ponto essas diferenças de percepções encontradas podem interferir na trajetória escolar e de vida dos jovens pesquisados. / [en] Considering the literature that discusses about the challenges faced by adolescents throughout their school life and the influence of some institutional characteristics facing these adversities, this study seeks to understand which relations public and private school students have with their schools and their schooling process. Therefore, we developed a questionnaire with items that could measure the mobilization of youngsters in relation to the school and for learning, such as their perceptions about school climate, student participation and, finally, their beliefs of academic self-efficacy. The questionnaire was tested and applied to a sample of 224 students of the 9th year of schooling from São Luís (MA) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ) from public and private schools. Subsequently, the instrument was validated from the development of indexes that measured some school aspects from the students point of view. The results indicate that the private school students who participated in this study perceive a more positive school climate in almost all analyzed dimensions and have higher levels of self-efficacy. On the other hand, the public school students feel more motivated to go to school due to the learning process and believe they play a more important role in the school decisions. In conclusion, it is discussed how far these differences in perception can interfere in school trajectory and in personal life of the surveyed students.

This study aimed to determine the relationship between school culture and student achievement. Elementary school teachers (N=574) from 27 schools in suburban Seminole County, Florida completed the School Culture Triage Survey to generate a school culture score. The participating schools were ranked and placed in categories representing the top 33% (N=9), middle 33% (N=9), and bottom 33% (N=9) of the population based on their culture score. School culture data were analyzed and correlated with third grade student achievement data, as measured by the 2007 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) Reading to determine if there were any relationships between (a) school culture and student achievement; (b) the three key components of school culture (collaboration, collegiality, and self-determination/efficacy) and student achievement; and (c) principal tenure and school culture. Additional data analysis served to determine if there were any experiential or demographic differences among the teachers from the schools falling in the top, middle, and bottom 33% on the School Culture Triage Survey. To learn more about principal beliefs with regard to school culture and student achievement, principal interviews were conducted with some principals (N=8) from the participating schools. Through a review of the research results and related literature, the researcher concluded that a relationship between the overall school culture and student achievement did not exist. Further analysis revealed that there were no relationships between student achievement and collaboration, collegiality, and self-determination/efficacy, or between school culture and principal tenure for the schools participating in this study.

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