The focus of this piece is on exploring questions regarding school organizational structures and cultures and their unintentional encouragement of teenage absenteeism. The organizational structure and culture of a school setting contributes to how students experience the system. School characteristics and culture can influence student absenteeism…

This study examined the reasons that four high school students who had previously refused to attend school willingly attended an alternative K-12 school for students with special needs. The two research questions that framed this study were (a) why do students who refused to attend their regular schools willingly attend Brookfield Park? and (b) in…

The purpose of this study was to examine factors related to the academic success of urban, African American youth. Participants were 118 African American male and female ninth graders from a large urban high school in the Midwest. A majority of students at the school receive free or reduced lunch. Factors studied were social support from five…

A mixed method, longitudinal design was used to assess student and stakeholder perceptions of the transition to high school. Comparisons between parent and student perceptions revealed few differences and both groups were generally optimistic about entering the Freshmen Center. Following the transition, student perceptions exhibited important…

Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) applications meet many of the software needs of high school science classrooms. In spite of the availability and quality of FOSS tools, they remain unknown to many teachers and utilized by fewer still. In a world where most software has restrictions on copying and use, FOSS is an anomaly, free to use and to…

The purpose of the present review of literature and research is to examine the benefits the arts provide as enhancements for teaching and learning provided for both educators and students in PK-12 school settings. The relationship between exposure to the arts and student achievement within the academic disciplines such as mathematics,…

Reading and Writing for Adolescence and Adulthood is a course for teacher candidates that introduces them to arts-based literacy instruction. The purpose is to train teachers to enhance reading and writing skills in adolescents. The pre-service teachers were encouraged to study theory and perform practical exercises using the arts so that they…

The ultimate goal of high school mathematics teachers is to create a meaningful learning environment that is conducive to teaching students the necessary concepts for academic achievement. Unfortunately, evidence suggests that many secondary educators still teach in a rote lecture style that focuses on the teacher providing information to passive,…

The classroom teacher plays a pivotal role in any formal educational environment. More specifically, how this individual is involved and how s/he structures activities and discussions about a topic depends on the preferred learning style, personal demeanor, and educational philosophy of the teacher. For teachers that employ service-learning…

Through analyses of counselor interview data, the authors highlight the challenges to and opportunities of college counseling in a recently-chartered college preparatory high school. The findings suggest that the charter school framework provides counselors with innovative organizational structures to foster college counseling and student…

This study used qualitative methods to investigate the teaching of high school mathematics teachers teaching in tracked schools. A comparison between two tracked classes, one honors class and one regular class, was done for each of two participants. The study addressed the following research questions: (1) How do the teachers construct the two…

Understanding the post-storm landscape of education in New Orleans and the metro area requires a grasp of some of the pre-storm realities of New Orleans public schools. This article will provide a brief overview of three arenas important to understanding the educational landscape of New Orleans--parish governance, desegregation and private…

The New Orleans Public Schools is a struggling district of 63,000 students. The district's student population has been decreasing over the past decade. Most of the city's white families have retreated to neighboring parishes or put their children in private schools. Middle-class and professional African-American families rely heavily on the city's…

The changes in the New Orleans public school system are proceeding at break neck speed. There is currently a bill in the Louisiana State Senate which would allow the state to sell, lease, or give New Orleans school buildings to any institution that has operated schools for 25 years. This would be done with a no-bid process. The money would not go…

This article addresses the over-reliance on numerical data primarily in the form of test scores and argues that they are inadequate as sole sources of information about high schools. While the numbers may help to identify standards of excellence, they do little to raise awareness about the serious and constraining inequities that exist within and…