The life quality of society and the stability of national economy is largely connected with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The complex character of STEM education demands informed teaching/learning strategies in order to make the 21st century youth interested in learning. The aim of the research was to find out the views…

The Wake County Public School System's Student Engagement Survey is administered annually to measure students' perceptions of their learning experiences. This report is the first publication on student engagement results in the school system since 2018-19. Approximately 34,692 students from grades 5 through 12 responded in the spring of 2022 for a…

This narrative study investigated through storytelling the experiences of five students who attended a Montessori middle school and then transitioned to a public high school. The testimonies of the participants highlighted that, to help students make a successful transition to high school, it is useful to consider three elements: (a) developing…

This research investigated the potential contributions of natural mentoring relationships and ethnic identity to the academic attitudes and performance of Latinx high school students. In a sample of 347 urban Latinx students in grades 9 and 10, analyses examined the presence and quality of mentoring relationships as well as ethnic identity…

The education system is drawn in opposite directions both in research and in practice: Outcome-based evaluation and achievements on the one hand and values-based education on the other. The research and theory on the topic is also divided. Values based education is supported almost exclusively by theoretical arguments and qualitative research…

The WCPSS [Wake County Public School System] Student Survey is administered each year to measure students' perceptions about their learning experiences. Approximately 70,000 students from grades 5 through 12 responded in the spring of 2019. The majority of students had positive perceptions of their schools and teachers, were hopeful about their…

The article presents a qualitative study which explores Chinese school teachers' imaginaries of Chinese and other education systems. It also investigates how social media has shaped their imaginaries. By reference to the literature on imaginary, discourse, and media, the study views imaginary as an instantiation of a particular discourse or…

The WCPSS Student Survey is administered each year to measure students' perceptions about their learning experiences. Over 24,000 students in grades 5, 8, and 9 responded to the 51-item survey in the spring of 2018. Results by grade were very similar to 2017 survey results. The majority of students had positive perceptions of their schools and…

The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) Student Survey is administered each year to measure students' perceptions about their learning experiences. Over 28,000 students in grades 5, 8, and 9 responded to the 50-item survey in the spring of 2017. Results by grade were very similar to 2016 survey results. The majority of students had positive…

We investigated the effect of participating in two domains of extracurricular activities (sports and performance arts/clubs) in Grades 7 and 8 on Grade 9 academic motivation and letter grades, above baseline performance. Participants were 483 students (55% male; 33% Euro-American, 25% African American, and 39% Latino). Propensity score weighting…

This qualitative study explored the beliefs of students, parents and teachers on the purposes of schooling in order to provide a context for understanding beliefs and attitudes to school learning and achievement. Focus groups were conducted with Year 9 and 10 students (aged 13-15 years) and parents and teachers in three secondary schools in…

This qualitative, phenomenological study explores urban school counselors' perceptions of low-income families in their schools. Ten school counselors participated in two rounds of individual interviews and answered two emailed reflective questions. Six themes emerged from the data: (a) perceptions of family characteristics and environment, (b)…

This study investigated the relation between motivational goals and university intentions, school valuing and school achievement. The premise of this study is that motivational goals play a key role in academic values and achievement. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to establish the construct validity of the motivational measures drawn…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a formative evaluation of the first two years of the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) Aspirations Project (Aspirations) using a Context, Input, Process, and Product (CIPP) model so as to gain an in-depth understanding of the project during the middle school…

This dissertation examines high school students' perspectives on social studies homework. Specifically, it uses the high school student perspective to determine the types of social studies homework that students perceive most benefit them academically and developmentally. In addition, it examines how homework should be evaluated. Findings are…