For many adolescents today, the most common form of substance use is nonmedical prescription drug use. Fittingly, many researchers, policy makers, and people who work with youth are concerned about the serious problems associated with nonmedical prescription drug use (NMPDU). In this article, authors Jason Ford and William Watkins provide an…

Students in urban under-resourced schools are often disengaged from the curriculum. Distributing voice (agency) to them would seem an obvious counter to their alienation, allowing them to be co-constructors rather than objects of their education. Beyond being pragmatically sound, student agency is, arguably, a psychological and moral imperative.…

"Late Interventions Matter Too--The Case of College Coaching in New Hampshire" examined whether providing college application coaching to high school seniors increased postsecondary enrollment. The program was aimed at students who were considering applying to college but who had made little or no progress in the application process, and…

This study examined whether eligibility for the Florida Student Access Grant, a need-based grant for low-income students in Florida, affects college enrollment, credit accumulation, persistence over time in college, and, eventually, graduation. The sample for this study included seniors in Florida public high schools in 1999-2000 who submitted a…

This article describes a qualitative study examining factors influencing the decision-making processes of traditional-age students living in rural, southeastern Kentucky as they progress toward acquiring a bachelor's degree using the community college as a steppingstone. Specifically, this study explored students' perspectives of the factors that…

This data snapshot is a second report in a two-part series, "Newark Kids Count Data Snapshot: The Impact of COVID-19." In 2021, data releases from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as the U.S. Census Bureau, have demonstrated the ways in which college students have shifted their educational plans as a result of COVID-19. This…

This study is an assessment of the level of hope and happiness among the children of veterans and non-veterans in the Mazandaran province of Iran. This research includes a collection of descriptive data that compares the hope and happiness of the children of veterans and non-veterans. The statistical sample consists of 1093 male and female…

Optimism is a positive psychological trait which may help individuals to cope with stressful and adverse situations. This study examined the associations of dispositional optimism, academic self-efficacy, self-esteem, and gender on high-ability students' stress perception of academic expectations. 298 high-ability senior high school students in…

Substance use is a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality; it is in large part why, among 17 high-income nations, people in the U.S. have the highest probability of dying by age 50. Substance use is also an important contributor to many social ills including child and spousal abuse, violence more generally, theft, suicide, and more;…

In this essay, a high school senior reflects on her educational experience as a journey beginning with her difficult decision to stay at Francis W. Parker School for high school and ending with her current search for a college where she can continue to explore the nature of education. Her narrative focuses on her experience in an elective course…

Catholic schools in the United States have been in a serious state of decline, with the closing of a rising number of Catholic elementary and secondary schools, a major drop in student enrolments, and a real shortage of clergy and religious brothers and sisters to work in these schools. The purpose of this research article is to analyse how this…

High school graduation rates nationally have declined in recent years, despite public and private efforts. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether practice of the Quiet Time/Transcendental Meditation® program at a medium-size urban school results in higher school graduation rates compared to students who do not receive training…

Jobs for the Future and the Community College Research Center convened educators, policymakers, and researchers to discuss strategies for increasing college readiness and success by redesigning the senior year and improving the transition to postsecondary education. This brief highlights key issues and recommendations that grew out of the event…

The purposes of this study are (1) to longitudinally measure the receptive vocabulary size (VS) of Japanese EFL senior high school learners; (2) to investigate how the learners develop their VS; and (3) to describe the longitudinal developmental patterns of VS of each learner during their three years of high school. Kasahara's (2005) VS tests, a…

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of employing Concept Mapping (hereafter CM) in vocabulary instruction on Iranian pre-university students. This study also seeks to find whether there is difference between male and female students' vocabulary learning when they are subjected to CM instruction. In so doing, an…