This study explores the impact of classroom relationships on student engagement. To determine whether improved classroom relations lead to higher levels of student engagement, surveys were distributed to 2,340 students from 117 fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms. Respondents reported the degree to which they felt support from teachers, collegiality with classmates, and engagement in classroom activities. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses were employed, the results of which indicate that supportive teacher behavior and collegial support positively affect the level of student engagement for the classrooms within this study. Implications for classroom and school relations are discussed.

This study examined student readiness to learn and teacher effectiveness in order to determine their impact on middle grades mathematics achievement. Survey data were collected from 964 middle grades students and 93 mathematics teachers in Texas. This study is the first to use this particular collective efficacy short form with middle grade students, and factor analyses were conducted accordingly. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to measure the relationship between teacher perceptions of student readiness to learn and student perceptions of teacher effectiveness on mathematics achievement in the middle grades. The results of these analyses indicated that students' perceptions of teacher effectiveness and teachers' perceptions of student readiness to learn each made a significant contribution to the variance in middle grades mathematics achievement. Implications are discussed.

This article presents a case study of one high performing high poverty campus serving students of color in South Central Texas. The researchers utilized the criteria for 90/90/90 schools established by Douglas Reeves (2004). In order to meet these criteria, schools had to have the following characteristics: 90% or more of the student body had to be non-Anglo, 90% or more of the students had to qualify for free or reduced lunch, and achievement testing was mastered at rates of 90% or greater. Researchers conducted an initial examination of every public school within a 16,631 square mile area utilizing these criteria. The results yielded 15 schools that met this standard at least once between the years 2006-2010. Only one school met the criteria in each of these years. Panel interviews, focus groups, site visits, and individual follow up interviews were conducted to glean information on the characteristics of this high performing campus, the results of which are presented herein.

This article presents a mixed-method study utilizing teacher ratings of principal mindfulness from 149 public schools in Texas and follow-up qualitative data analysis through semi-structured interviews conducted with the top 10 percent of principals identified as mindful. This research is based on the theoretical framework of mindfulness as established by Langer, refined by Weick and Sutcliff and applied to school settings by Hoy. For the quantitative methodology, OLS regression analyses were employed to measure the relative effect of principal influence on student achievement. The results of these analyses indicate that principal mindfulness made a statistically significant independent contribution to the variance in student achievement. For the qualitative interview data, a grounded theory approach was used to develop a conceptual framework for how mindful principals do their work. Three themes emerged endemically from these interviews, the results of which are presented in a concept map at the end of this article.

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