The twenty-first century brought unprecedented rates of teenage psychological disorder (PD), with conditions such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia reaching all-time highs. Young adolescents, despite having been recognized as a psychologically vulnerable demographic, are constantly excluded in their own mental health evaluations, and teachers in the American education system play a pivotal role in addressing this gap. Thus, in this paper, I specifically explore how high school students and teachers perceive teenage PD by examining their opinions on literary portrayals of mentally ill adolescents. This article thoroughly investigates this inquiry by utilizing quantitative, open-ended survey research followed by a thematic and comparative analysis. A total of 43 students and 24 teachers participated in the study, and I identified five recurring themes throughout their responses: the validity of teenagers’ struggles, PD’s relation to teenagers’ school life, PD’s relation to teenagers’ social life, trust in professional treatment, and the potential of recovery. My findings demonstrated that although both groups showed a mutual concern for the mental welfare of teenagers, there were stark differences between students’ and teachers’ perceptions of teenage PD. These results present a fundamental ideological dichotomy that must be bridged in order to help adolescents benefit from their schools, and an implementation of comprehensive mental health and social and emotional well-being (SEWB) training for all teachers may be the first step to achieving this goal.

The field clinical experience is an essential component for the early professional development of pre-service teacher candidates. Teacher candidates need the opportunity to interact with teachers and students in multiple instructional settings and modalities. Research in teacher candidate pedagogic development indicates that clinical experiences in the field promote self-efficacy, especially when applying educational theory to actual classroom practice in the early years of teaching. The purpose of this chapter is to report the efficacy of transition between face-to-face, virtual, and hybrid clinical experiences and how these transitions inform best clinical practice conceptualized using a proprietary instructional model (IDEAL) as well as the TPACK framework.

The twenty-first century is redefining the boundaries of adolescent mental health with its “epidemic of anxiety.” As a psychologically vulnerable demographic, academically intensive high school students are as unrivaled in their anxiety levels as they are in their ambition, which inflates their fear factors and undermines their personal values as well. In this paper, I expand on this subject by specifically exploring high-achieving students’ risk perceptions of their future academic prospects and how they correlate with symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). This study dives into the inquiry by utilizing quantitative survey research followed by a mixed cross-examination analysis. A total of 47 Advanced Placement high schoolers responded to the survey, and, based on the final numerical values assigned to their anxiety and risk perception levels, I calculated several correlation coefficients to interpret the results. My findings demonstrated that there was a strong positive correlation between anxiety and risk perceptions of academic prospects among high-achieving students. Despite their superlative academic statistics, results showed that many of the participants not only had high anxiety levels but also perceived a substantial amount of risk for their future success. This target population comprises only a fraction of teenagers who experience such symptoms, but this study presents how they uphold negative trends in anxiety-related disorders that require more attention and research in the field of psychology as a whole.

ABSTRACT Schools are adopting social emotional learning (SEL) programs, intending to provide students with intrapersonal and interpersonal skills to better prepare them for life. Transformative SEL is designed to promote the building of relationships between diverse students and educators to build more just schools and society. Because SEL models are heavily adopted, this paper addresses the inequities present within them. That is, traditional and transformative SEL fail BIPOC: Traditional SEL perpetuates the status quo by further marginalizing BIPOC and transformative SEL is too conceptual for successful adoption in PreK-12 schools. This article provides a brief discussion of traditional SEL, transformative SEL, and abolitionist teaching frameworks, then highlights educational practitioner narratives that discuss SEL adoptions that have proven harmful. We assert that we must (re)imagine and formulate a transformative SEL based on abolitionist teaching structures, which requires fully engaging the voices of our educators by presenting Transformative Abolitionist Social Emotional Learning (TASEL) framework, a practitioner-friendly SEL alternative framed by the tenets of equity and justice.

To prepare 21st Century school leaders, educational leadership professors need to learn and teach the utilization of increasingly sophisticated technologies in their courses. The co-authors, a professor and an educational specialist degree candidate, describe how the use of advanced technologies — such as Wikis, Google Docs, Wimba Classroom, and Discussion Board — have served as a catalyst for learning among educational leadership students. Details regarding how technology has been used in one course are described, demonstrating how various apps and software applications can easily be applied in other courses.

RNA polymerase (RNAP), a bacterial cell regulation target, binds promoters, then opens DNA near the transcription start site. The crucial step in DNA promoter melting is −10 element (consensus sequence T−12A−11T−10A−9A−8T−7) recognition by the RNAP sigma (σ) subunit. X‐ray crystallography reveals details of ‐10 element recognition by σ. Single stranded (ss) DNA with the TATAAT sequence is draped across a σ conserved surface, with a 90° turn between the −11 and −10. Specific interactions occur with the most conserved bases: T‐12, A‐11, and T‐7, especially A‐11 and T‐7, which are flipped out of ss DNA and buried in σ pockets. A hydrophobic pocket tightly fits A‐11 between σ R246 and Y253. A‐11 hydrogen bonds with σ K241, F242 and E243. T‐7 fits in a large hydrophilic σ pocket with three ordered waters. T‐7 hydrogen bonds with L209 and N206 and has water‐mediated interactions with several σ residues. Less important central bases, ‐10T, ‐9A and ‐8A, point away from σ and make few or no base‐specific contacts with the protein. The structure reveals insights into initiation of transcription bubble formation and suggests interesting ideas for rational antimicrobial design. The Leonia High School SMART (Students Modeling a Research Topic) Team partnered with a researcher to create a physical model of σ interacting with the DNA ‐10 element using 3D printing technology. Supported by a grant from HHMI Pre‐College Program.

This study examined perspectives of field experiences among preservice teachers and their cooperating teachers because of debate in the politically charged atmosphere of No Child Left Behind regarding teacher preparation programs. Nine pairs of preservice and cooperating teachers were observed and interviewed over the course of a semester to determine the effect of these experiences on the future educators. Interviews, observations, and documents were open coded and analyzed to determine themes. Results indicated that relationships between the pairs, based on communication and trust, were paramount to preservice teachers' development. Both preservice teachers and cooperating teachers indicated specific roles that each must engage in to maximize growth. Implications for teacher preparation programs include training of the preservice teachers, cooperating teachers, and university support staff prior to initiation of field experiences.

This study explores the relationship between future orientation and teens’ attitudes about pregnancy and avoidance behaviors. Participants were 91 adolescents, ages 15-19, surveyed using measures developed for this study that examined future orientation, attitudes to avoiding pregnancy, child-rearing responsibility, and perceptions about teen parenting. The results suggested that finishing high school was important in predicting a desire to avoid pregnancy. The perception that a teen pregnancy would make it difficult to achieve post-high school educational goals, specifically a college education, was also found to be important. Implications for school counselors and mental health professionals are discussed. Issues specific to non college-bound students are addressed.

Teachers' evaluation of pupil learning should be consistent with identified learning outcomes at the intended level of performance. To the extent that curriculum and assessment are aligned, the validity of inferences about pupil knowledge is strengthened. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the assessment practices of preservice teachers who have successfully completed coursework in educational measurement. Three hundred and nine lesson plans from 65 preservice (student) teachers were reviewed. The authors found that, during student teaching, preservice teachers do not follow many of the assessment practices recommended in their coursework. Perhaps implementations of recommended classroom assessment practices seem to depend on more than possessing the requisite knowledge.