Schools have an important role to play in adolescent suicide prevention. This article describes universal screenings for depression and suicidality as one component of the Signs of Suicide (SOS) program in middle and high schools following the suicide death of a student in the past few years. Of the students screened (N = 7,429), 11.0 percent of…

The authors investigated the effects of a collaborative after-school inclusive sports program on adolescents with disabilities and neurotypical students in underserved high schools. The program brought together a large urban school district and a private after-school program to provide a service on the school site. The goals were to provide a…

Youth who are bullied are more likely to experience negative social and educational outcomes; these problems may be exacerbated for Black youth who also experience racial bullying or discrimination as part of their victimization. This study investigated the ways in which Black parents understand and respond to their adolescent children's bullying…

Schools and neighborhoods are adolescents' primary environments, and each has a significant influence on their academic success. The majority of studies on educational attainment have examined the impact of a single context--either the school or the neighborhood--suggesting mixed findings on school and neighborhood effects as well as potential…

Adolescent suicide is a public health issue with 15 percent of adolescents experiencing the suicide loss of a classmate, acquaintance, or friend. This article reports findings from an online survey of individuals (N = 40) who lost a peer to suicide in middle or high school. The most frequently provided school-based postvention responses were…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a Tier 2 classroom-based motivational interviewing (MI) intervention--the Aspire Group Intervention (AGI)--designed for ninth-grade students identified as being at high risk for school dropout. The nine-lesson AGI curriculum was…

Social communication is closely related to overall and general adolescent mental health and predictive of problem behaviors in adulthood. However, adolescents with social communication deficits remain an underidentified and underserved population, especially in school-based settings. In part, this is due to the dearth of social communication…

The research on students who do not graduate from high school has traditionally focused on students who drop out before their expected graduation date. This ignores the experiences of "persisters" or "persisting students"--those who remain enrolled in high school on or beyond their expected graduation date, but have yet to earn…

Although students must successfully navigate transition years in school in pursuit of sustained academic success, not enough is known about the context-linked experiences of African American male adolescents as they seek to traverse their senior year, one of the most important pivotal points in time for all students. This study examined the…

To support student success effectively, school teams need information on known predictors of youth behavior and academic performance. In contrast to measures of behavioral and academic outcomes that are commonly relied on in schools, the School Success Profile (SSP) for middle and high school students provides comprehensive information on…

Positive school climate has been consistently associated with many desirable student outcomes in both middle and high schools. However, there has been little work comparing the perceptions across these two school settings. The U.S. Department of Education conceptualized a three-factor model for school climate consisting of safety, engagement, and…

The study discussed in this article examined the relationships between support from parents, teachers, and peers; contextual risks; and select achievement outcomes in a representative sample of African American female high school seniors enrolled in an urban school district in southeastern Virginia. Quantitative analysis revealed that some support…

Heightened attention to bullying in research and in the media has led to a proliferation of school climate surveys that ask students to report their level of involvement in bullying. In this study, the authors reviewed the challenges associated with measuring bullying and the implications they have on the reliability of school climate surveys.…

Bullying is a significant public health problem for students in schools. Prevention programs have addressed targets with some success; however, meta-analyses find small effects among older youths. A pilot study was conducted with high school students to evaluate the potential efficacy of StandUp, a three-session online program that delivers…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of school violence on recent alcohol use and episodic heavy drinking among seventh- through 12th-grade students. A total of 54,631 students completed a survey assessing substance use and other risky behaviors. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the research questions. Results…