What Counts When it Comes to School Enjoyment and Aspiration in the Middle Grades.

Young adolescents, and the middle level educators who work with them, face many exciting but demanding challenges during this key period of development. According to stage-environment fit theory, the degree to which middle grades students perceive a good fit between their school environment and their needs impacts their academic and life outcomes. The authors endeavored to build on middle level research by studying the extent to which students' needs are supported by school environment factors and how this "fit" relates to two academic outcome variables: school enjoyment and aspiration. The sample consisted of middle grades students (N = 1,027) between the ages of 10 and 14. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses were conducted. After controlling for age, ethnicity, and gender, four subscales (Social Skills Needs, Mental Health Needs, Academic and Career Needs, and School Support) were entered as potential predictors. Both models were significant and accounted for ~20% of the variance. This study suggests that middle level educators, counselors, and administrators may benefit from considering ways to enhance the match between students' and the middle grades' learning environment, especially by considering non-academic factors as a way to provide indirect, but powerful, support for academic and life success.

Students with Disabilities' Self-Report on Perceptions toward Disclosing Disability and Faculty's Willingness to Provide Accommodations.

Perceptions of students with disabilities toward faculty willingness to provide accommodations and students' willingness to disclose a disability were investigated in a sample of undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities (n=141) at a large mid-Atlantic university. Results revealed that most students felt their professors were willing to provide accommodations. High levels of students perceived instructors' willingness to provide accommodations were associated with high students' willingness to disclose a disability. However, the students seemed to be unwilling to disclose their disability. Furthermore, rated past student experiences relative to requesting for accommodations was highly correlated with both perceived instructors' willingness to provide accommodations and students' willingness to disclose a disability. Implications for rehabilitation counselors working with students with disabilities and future research are discussed.

Rural Student Voices to Improve Educational Attainment Oriented Programs.

The Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) strives to increase college-going and completion rates for students in West Virginia (USA), a state with low educational attainment and the second most rural state in the country. The positive impact of HSTA on student academic trajectories has been documented, but student voices have not been represented. This qualitative study using Bronfenbrenner's ecological perspective explores student experiences through HSTA, with an eye toward how similar programs serving rural populations might improve while understanding student participant perspectives. Participants were 706 incoming 9th -12th graders from rural West Virginia who provided survey responses across two years. We address the organizational and individual considerations that were instrumental in creating a supportive learning environment for rural youth.