The Praeger Handbook of American High Schools contains entries that explore the topic of secondary schools in the United States. Entries are arranged alphabetically and cover topics as varied as assessment to the history of the American high school, from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder to gay and straight student alliances, from the No Child Left Behind Act and state-mandated tests to student engagement, from proms to violence. All entries are cross-referenced for the reader's convenience, and there is a comprehensive index. Over 100 people from diverse fields including anthropology, education, measurement and research, psychology, and sociology, among other disciplines, contributed to the handbook. This work also contains documents that are critical to an understanding of the development of the American high school historically and as an institution bound by legal constraints. Legislative acts, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and more recently the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, as well as U.S. Supreme Court cases, such as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas and Zelman, Superintendent of Public Instruction of Ohio, et al. v. Simmons-Harris et al. are some examples included in the handbook of documents that have shaped education in the United States. This handbook is an important resource for all who require information about this critically important American institution. The reader will find cross-disciplinary coverage of such issues as the development and change in the organization and structure of the high school as an institution. In addition, the experiences of students in high school and the long-term effects of high school will be covered. It is hoped that The Praeger Handbook of American High Schools will be an essential reference for scholars and students in a variety of fields of study, including education, anthropology, history, political science, psychology, and sociology, and could serve as a supplementary text in courses on the social foundations of education and the anthropology and sociology of education. High school students, teachers, and administrators will also find it an attractive reference for class papers and projects, and for addressing practical issues and concerns. It will also be an important resource for policy makers, advocates, and the general public interested in a variety of educational and social issues. This volume contains the following: (1) Preface; (2) Introduction; (3) List of Documents; and (4) U.S. Supreme Court Cases.