This article provides a replication study of the National Writing Project's College, Career, & Community Writers Program (C3WP), which was found to be effective at improving student writing quality in two prior studies. C3WP is designed to improve students' source-based argument writing through intensive teacher professional development,…

The Pennsylvania Department of Education's (PDE's) Office for Safe Schools partnered with REL Mid-Atlantic to conduct a study using data from PDE's school climate survey. This survey, which is available on a voluntary basis to any school in the state, provides a way to track school climate and identify schools that need additional support to…

On January 22, 2023, the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) released high school graduation rates for the State of Florida and the District. The FY23 Federal High School Graduation Rate includes standard diplomas but excludes special diplomas and General Education Diplomas (GEDs). Students with Disabilities (SWD) on Access Points curriculum…

Background: Adolescents who begin high school with a poor record of academic performance are often at risk for developing maladaptive academic behaviors, which can impede academic success in the long run. Objective: Guided by the substantial literature on the academic and motivational benefits of adolescents' conversations, this study examined the…

On January 13, 2023 the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) released high school graduation rates for the State of Florida and the District. The FY22 Federal High School Graduation Rate includes standard diplomas but excludes special diplomas and General Education Diplomas (GEDs). Students with Disabilities (SWD) on Access Points curriculum are…

This poll was conducted between March 16-March 22, 2022 among a sample of 1,000 all teachers. The interviews were conducted online. Among the key findings are: (1) In March, teachers in district schools were much more pessimistic about the profession compared to private school teachers; (2) About one out of four teachers reported a protest or…

Background: Internationally 18% of youth are obese. Fitness testing can be used to establish fitness surveillance, which can inform policy and targeted interventions aimed at addressing obesity. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of overweight, obesity, and low fitness in Idaho school-aged youth through a pilot study.…

Background: We evaluated the association between availability of specific physical activity (PA) spaces and PA practices among adolescents within Mexican high schools (HS). Methods: Data were collected through an online survey applied to principals or person in charge of 4023 Mexican HS during the 2015-2016 school year. Adequate PA was defined as…

Following the homicide of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, young adults participated widely in national protests against racism and police brutality. This study examined temporal trends and correlates of self-reported distress about police brutality from May 18 to August 3, 2020 among a cohort of young adults (ages 19-22; N = 2,080) from Los Angeles,…

For many years, Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) has provided information on Kansas' rankings compared to other states on a variety of student outcome measures. In addition, KASB annually determines "peer states" which are most similar to Kansas in terms of student characteristics, adult population characteristics and…

School systems started the 2021-22 school year with extra resources and plans for recovery, but repeated resurgences of the COVID-19 virus thwarted hopes of a strong comeback. Schools continued to face a myriad of challenges including severe staff shortages, high rates of absenteeism and sickness, and rolling school closures forced by the…

The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) Office of Federal Programs conducted a routine monitoring of Upshur County in December of 2022. This resulted in a report of findings which was completed February 10, 2023. Per Federal Program protocols, counties are provided 60 days to respond to findings; establishing Upshur County's deadline for…

Most of the existing literature and evidence on school violence and victimization comes from high-income countries, and there is a lack of evidence on developing countries. This study examines the prevalence of student victimization and its association with individual, family, and school-related correlates, focusing on the representative sample…

These are the appendixes for the full report, "Changes in School Climate during COVID-19 in a Sample of Pennsylvania Schools." The REL study analyzed changes in scores from a pre-pandemic year (2018/19) to the 2020/21 and 2021/22 school years, both of which were affected by COVID-19 and related policy changes. These technical appendixes…

Background: Shifts from in-person learning to virtual and hybrid learning modes in response to the coronavirus pandemic potentially impacted children's physical, emotional, social, and academic development. This study examined the association between virtual, in-person, and hybrid learning modality with parent-reported quality of life among US…