A history of English literature for secondary schools,

Mode of access: Internet.

Physics; a text-book for secondary schools.

Includes bibliography.

A progressive course in English for secondary schools : literature, composition, rhetoric, grammar /

Book 1, for first and second years. Book 2, for the third and fourth years.

Topics on Greek history; intended for use in secondary schools.

Mode of access: Internet.

Manual of experimental physics for secondary schools

Mode of access: Internet.

A guide for supervising teachers in secondary schools.

Mode of access: Internet.

Report of the Commissioner of Secondary Schools

Mode of access: Internet.

Survey of teacher stress in secondary schools in the local authority

DUE TO COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT

A study of leadership behaviors for Breaking Ranks leaders in public secondary schools

This research will investigate what it will take to develop principals who will embrace the recommendations of reform as proposed by National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP, 1996) in the Breaking Ranks document. Breaking Ranks is based on the belief that it is within the dynamics of the school culture that principals must gain insight into strategies for improving the schools for which they are held responsible. Given this context, it is important to examine perspectives that are held by principals who lead schools that embrace the concepts of reform as proposed by NASSP, thereby, could be deemed “Breaking Ranks” schools. It is within these schools that the new role of the principal develops. NASSP has identified seven key recommendations for leadership development; “attributes that need nourishing” (p. 12) for the success of school reform. The seven recommendations are included in Breaking Ranks. ^ The purpose of this study is to identify and describe how principals put the seven recommendations into practice as they function in their schools. In addition, this study will gather information on the characteristics, support, skills, and training these principals identify as critical aspects and components of their success. This is a study of principal leadership at four high school sites where “Breaking Ranks” principals have been identified. ^ This research plan will be designed to utilize an inquiry-based process with a panel of experts and four “Breaking Ranks” principals. This study will describe: (1) how a panel of experts identify what they believe needs to be done in order to put the recommendations of the Breaking Ranks document into practice and their identification of principals who are breaking ranks; (2) how identified principals say they have been able to put the recommendations of the Breaking Ranks document into practice; (3) How both groups identify and describe: (a) the characteristics and behaviors of a “Breaking Ranks” principal; (b) the new leadership skills as described by the seven recommendations identified in the Breaking Ranks document; (c) the support necessary in order to meet the recommendations in the Breaking Ranks document; and (d) The training needed in order to become “Breaking Ranks” principals; and (4) how the process of creating “Breaking Ranks” principals can be described by experts who have studied it theoretically and principals who have demonstrated it in their schools. ^

Do Peers Affect Student Achievement in China's Secondary Schools (Working Paper 35)

Peer effects have figured prominently in debates on school vouchers, desegregation, ability tracking and anti-poverty programs. Compelling evidence of their existence remains scarce for plaguing endogeneity issues such as selection bias and the reflection problem. This paper is among the first to firmly establish the link between peer performance and student achievement, using a unique dataset from China. We find strong evidence that peer effects exist and operate in a positive and nonlinear manner; reducing the variation of peer performance increases achievement; and our semi-parametric estimates clarify the tradeoffs facing policymakers in exploiting positive peers effects to increase future achievement.

Learning for self-regulation: Improving instructional benefits for pupils, teachers, parents, schools, and society at large

Compulsory education laws oblige primary and secondary schools to give each pupil positive encouragement in, for example, social, emotional, cognitive, creative, and ethical respects. This is a fairly smooth process for most pupils, but it is not as easy to achieve with others. A pattern of pupil, home or family, and school variables turns out to be responsible for a long-term process that may lead to a pupil’s dropping out of education. A systemic approach will do much to introduce more clarity into the diagnosis, potential reduction and possible prevention of some persistent educational problems that express themselves in related phenomena, for example low school motivation and achievement; forced underachievement of high ability pupils; concentration of bullying and violent behaviour in and around some types of classes and schools; and drop-out percentages that are relatively constant across time. Such problems have a negative effect on pupils, teachers, parents, schools, and society alike. In this address, I would therefore like to clarify some of the systemic causes and processes that we have identified between specific educational and pupil characteristics. Both theory and practice can assist in developing, implementing, and checking better learning methods and coaching procedures, particularly for pupils at risk. This development approach will take time and require co-ordination, but it will result in much better processes and outcomes than we are used to. First, I will diagnose some systemic aspects of education that do not seem to optimise the learning processes and school careers of some types of pupils in particular. Second, I will specify cognitive, social, motivational, and self-regulative aspects of learning tasks and relate corresponding learning processes to relevant instructional and wider educational contexts. I will elaborate these theoretical notions into an educational design with systemic instructional guidelines and multilevel procedures that may improve learning processes for different types of pupils. Internet-based Information and Communication Technology, or ICT, also plays a major role here. Third, I will report on concrete developments made in prototype research and trials. The development process concerns ICT-based differentiation of learning materials and procedures, and ICT-based strategies to improve pupil development and learning. Fourth, I will focus on the experience gained in primary and secondary educational practice with respect to implementation. We can learn much from such practical experience, in particular about the conditions for developing and implementing the necessary changes in and around schools. Finally, I will propose future research. As I hope to make clear, theory-based development and implementation research can join forces with systemic innovation and differentiated assessment in educational practice, to pave the way for optimal “learning for self-regulation” for pupils, teachers, parents, schools, and society at large.

School belongingness and mental health functioning across the primary-secondary transition in a mainstream sample: Multi-group cross-lagged analyses

The relationship between school belongingness and mental health functioning before and after the primary-secondary school transition has not been previously investigated in students with and without disabilities. This study used a prospective longitudinal design to test the bi-directional relationships between these constructs, by surveying 266 students with and without disabilities and their parents, 6-months before and after the transition to secondary school. Cross-lagged multi-group analyses found student perception of belongingness in the final year of primary school to contribute to change in their mental health functioning a year later. The beneficial longitudinal effects of school belongingness on subsequent mental health functioning were evident in all student subgroups; even after accounting for prior mental health scores and the cross-time stability in mental health functioning and school belongingness scores. Findings of the current study substantiate the role of school contextual influences on early adolescent mental health functioning. They highlight the importance for primary and secondary schools to assess students' school belongingness and mental health functioning and transfer these records as part of the transition process, so that appropriate scaffolds are in place to support those in need. Longer term longitudinal studies are needed to increase the understanding of the temporal sequencing between school belongingness and mental health functioning of all mainstream students.