Utilizing Social Control Theory, this study explores the role of participation in After School Programs, mentoring relationships, and commitment to school in reducing adolescent delinquency. This study uses local survey data of 556 youth attending Boys and Girls Clubs collected from 2010-2012. The negative binomial regression results indicate that increased club attendance is associated with reduced delinquency. This effect is mediated by the presence of a mentor and by the youths' commitment to school.

There is a gap in the academic achievement of African American males when compared to their peers, this gap has been maintained for many years. The purpose of this study is to conduct a quantitative non-experimental secondary analysis utilizing a national data set focusing on African American male students from the 4th through the 6th grade. To test the hypothesis that, all things being equal, social skills positively affect academics in African American boys and that social information processing, school commitment, and work habits mediate this effect. In total, 60 African American male students in 4th through 6th grades who participated in the NICHD study were included in the data set. None of the proposed mediators mediated the effects of social skills on academic achievement while controlling for socioeconomic status, classroom climate, school resources, and previous school performance. To better understand the relation between social skills and achievement, it is recommended that future research associated with the variables identified in this research focus on one academic year opposed to a three-year gap.

For many years, educators, psychologists and parents have expressed concern about the apparent deterioration of pupil motivation and performance after children move to secondary school. This study used a longitudinal design to examine the transfer process from the perspective of a group of 393 children (195 boys, 198 girls) as they moved from 19 primary schools to four secondary schools in Fife. Children’s self-perceptions of school commitment, school belonging, school participation, self-esteem and global wellbeing were evaluated four times over a 13 month period, twice before transfer in the final year of primary school and twice after transfer in the first year of secondary school. Information was also collected about family and home life, emotions, lifestyle and school on each occasion. The data was analysed using multilevel modelling in order to examine how each of the five outcome variables changed over the time of the study, and how they related to a series of independent variables. It was anticipated that changes in these outcomes may have occurred immediately after the move to secondary school, perhaps followed by an improvement six months later after they had adapted to changes and settled in to their new schools. The results showed that, contrary to expectations, all outcomes except school participation recorded an improvement at wave 3, immediately after the transfer to secondary school. However, there was some evidence that after an initial ‘honeymoon period’, children perceived certain aspects of school in a less positive light and by wave 4 there was a decline in all outcomes except for the perception of self-esteem, which continued to improve. Since wave 4 was only a few months after transition, a significant change in children’s views is seen quite quickly after transfer. It is not clear whether this represents a return to a more realistic level or if this signals the beginning of a more prolonged negative attitude towards school and education in general. The general conclusion is that the process of transfer to secondary schools is well managed, but it might be helpful for induction programmes to prepare children for the changes in teaching and learning methods that might be encountered, and perhaps other types of programme might be beneficial during the first year.

Am Anfang und am Ende des Schuljahres 2000/2001 wurden die Werteprioritäten der Schüler/innen und Lehrer/innen an acht verschiedenen Schulen gemessen. Mit dieser Studie wurde das theoretische Modell einer universellen Struktur menschlicher Werteprioritäten (Schwartz, 1992) erneut bestätigt. Zu beiden Messzeitpunkten ergaben sich gleiche Geschlechtseffekte wie auch ähnlich hohe positive Zusammenhänge zwischen Religiosität und Schulbindung. Die Schüler/innen der nicht-religiösen Schulen gaben Hedonism als höchsten, und Tradition als niedrigsten Wert an. In den religiösen Schulen waren Benevolence und Self-Direction die meist geschätzten Werte, während Power die niedrigste Priorität besaß. Die Veränderung der Werte Conformity, Hedonism und Universalism ließ sich sowohl durch die Religiosität der Schüler/innen wie auch durch deren Schulzugehörigkeit vorhersagen. Die Veränderung von Power, Tradition, Benevolence und Achievement hingegen wurde primär durch Religiosität vorhergesagt. In drei der vier Schulen korrelierte die Ähnlichkeit der Schüler und Lehrer positiv mit der Schulbindung der Schüler/innen. Die Schüler-Lehrer Ähnlichkeit korrelierte über alle Schulen positiv mit Schulleistung. / The value priorities of students and teachers were measured at eight different schools at the beginning and the end of the school year 2000/2001. This study once again confirmed the theoretical model of a universal structure of human values (Schwartz, 1992). At both measurement times, similar gender differences, as well as positive correlations between religiosity and school commitment were found. The students from the non-religious schools determined Hedonism as their highest, and Tradition as their lowest value priority. In the religious schools, Benevolence and Self-Direction were the highest values, whereas Power was found to be the lowest value priority. The change of the values Conformity, Hedonism, and Universalism was predicted both through the students′ religiosity and their type of school. The change of the values Power, Tradition, Benevolence, and Achievement, however, was mainly predicted through their religiosity. In three out of four schools the student-teacher similarity correlated positively with the school commitment of the students. Across all schools student-teacher similarity correlated positively with academic achievement.