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This study focused on parents' relationships and involvement in their children's lives and the effects on the students' school engagement and school performance. The study used the Wave I data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The data on seventh and eighth grade students' school and family experiences were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The study examined the effect of parents' relationships and involvement on students' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement in school and subsequently on school performance. The results confirmed the importance and significance of parents' involvement in middle school students' school engagement and performance. The study has implications for practice and provides empirical support for creating school structures that would foster parents' continued interest and engagement in their children's education. (Contains 5 tables and 2 figures.)

Men are underrepresented within the ivory tower. When the intersection of race and gender is examined, enrollment gaps widen even further. Currently, more opportunities than ever before are available for African Americans and Hispanics to attend college; however, their rates of attaining a bachelor's degree are significantly lower when compared to other ethnic/gender combinations. Select personal characteristics (i.e., race, SES) are known to play a role in men's academic achievement. Beyond those, however, are issues of efficacy. The purpose of this study was to determine what efficacy factors predict persistence to graduation of male students when personal characteristics are controlled for. A modified version of the Bandura et al. (1996) theoretical model was used that identified three factors that influence self-efficacy, hence academic success: familial, peer, and self. The findings suggest that race and select parental and peer factors can have both negative and positive effects on the persistence of male students in college.

This study examined the individual, class, and school level variability of the students' science achievement. It was hypothesized that there are school or teacher effects which contribute toward explaining achievement differences, besides the student level differences. Owing to the nested structure of the data in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, we used the Hierarchical Linear Modeling methodology. Besides the significant effect of engagement, the teachers' teaching certification in science and the topic coverage were both significant factors as were the effect of school SES and availability of remedial and enrichment programs in science. The study makes a contribution to a better understanding of the opportunity to learn variables at classroom and school level in students' science achievement.

The study explored the relationship of self-concept and locus of control to science engagement and science achievement. Furthermore, the relationship of self variables with science engagement and science achievement was studied across ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES). The data were accessed from the 3 waves of the National Education Longitudinal Study: 88 (NELS:88) to estimate both cross-sectional and multilevel longitudinal models. It was hypothesized that self-concept and locus of control would have a positive effect on science engagement and science achievement and that science engagement would affect science achievement positively. The results supported the theoretical formulations of the conceptual model and showed significant effects of self-concept and locus of control constructs on science engagement and science Item Response Theory (IRT) scores. Furthermore, science engagement showed a positive but small effect on science achievement, especially the time spent on science homework. The study supported earlier findings that the inclusion of non-ability factors improves the explanation and understanding of differences in science achievement. The study has implications for practice. (Contains 7 tables and 4 figures.)