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…

Social-emotional learning (SEL) programs can be considered upstream, or primary prevention, because they focus on providing students with the life skills necessary to navigate situations and relationships from which problem behaviors may arise to prevent a crisis situation. Strategies & Tools to Embrace Prevention with Upstream Programs…

The middle school transition has been identified as a difficult time for youths, resulting in adjustment difficulties across a variety of domains. Although some research has examined strategies that are useful for the adjustment outcomes associated with the transition, more research understanding student perceptions of what is helpful in the…

Rural schools face unique challenges that affect student academic success or failure. Youths served in rural settings experience barriers to learning that negatively influence their achievement and developmental outcomes. To improve outcomes for rural youths, it is important for schools to understand overall school experiences so that school-wide…

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…

Youths who have been in foster care face many challenges in accessing and completing postsecondary education. The Chafee Education and Training Vouchers (ETV) program is a federally funded program that assists current and former foster youths in accessing postsecondary learning opportunities by providing scholarship money for their education. This…

Despite positive changes made in Tanzania to promote gender equality, discrimination toward women and girls still exists, especially in some remote areas. Often such inequality exists within family, schools, and the community, leading to a devaluing of girls that results in normalization of their exploitation. The author discusses findings from…

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.…

The goal of this study was to investigate the views of school staff, early adolescents, and parents about which behaviors constitute bullying or teen dating violence (TDV), with attention focused on perceived overlap between the two. To achieve this aim, a mixed-methods design was used to quantitatively investigate the factors associated with…

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…

Little is known about academic performance among homeless high school students, although correlates of academic performance are well documented among their peers in the elementary and middle school grades. This study explores the relationship between student-level demographic and academic performance indicators (for example, grade point average…

Schoolwide interventions are among the most effective approaches for improving students' behavioral and academic outcomes. However, researchers have documented consistent challenges with implementation fidelity and have argued that school social workers should be engaged in efforts to improve treatment integrity. This study examines contextual…

This study examined whether school climate variables were directly and inversely related to absenteeism severity and key symptoms of psychopathology among youths specifically referred for problematic attendance (N = 398). Adolescents in our sample completed the School Climate Survey Revised Edition, which measured sharing of resources, order and…

After mass crises, trauma-exposed children report increased psychological distress, yet most receive no mental health (MH) services and supports. This study identifies factors associated with teachers' reports of outreach to school-based MH providers (such as social workers, psychologists, and counselors) as well as provision of informal supports…