What do K-12 schools need to do to prepare their students for adult success? This was the question that originally catalyzed the standards-and-accountability movement some 30 years ago, though it seems somehow to have gotten lost. Today the question merits revisiting, because addressing it makes a strong case for taking an integrated approach to…

Recent research has demonstrated that social skills training can be successful in bringing about enduring gains in unpopular children's sociometric status among peers. Further progress in promoting social competence in peer relations will depend upon the development of a framework for conceptualizing the process components underlying social…

This paper proposes a definition of social skills in order to operationalize the components that need to be considered when teaching social skills to individuals with mental retardation in employment settings. It also presents current approaches to teaching social skills in employment settings. Social skills are defined as goal-oriented,…

A secondary school curriculum which includes a significant focus on individual developmental goals is proposed. Emphasis is placed on students' intellectual development, self-management, and interpersonal and small group involvement. The basic content of the developmental curriculum is summarized to include acquisition of the knowledge to: (1)…

The major virtue of educational criticism is that it expands our understanding of how we come to know, consequently creating new avenues for educational evaluation and research. The task of the educational critic is to write in a manner enabling the reader to vicariously participate in classroom life, thus becoming familiar with the emotional…

The problem of using learning styles to enhance the design of learning environments is discussed. Some questions to be addressed are examined: learning style characteristics that are most likely to prove useful for designing instructional processes, the best way to measure learning style, etc. (MLW)

Proactive teachers do not simply react to student behavior but use their thorough understanding of classroom communication to shape the pattern of class interaction. Proactive teachers are characterized by their recognition of the mutual influence of teachers and students in the learning process, their participation in social perspective taking,…

Provides a historical review of the concept of childhood beginning with childhood as a natural state and ending with childhood as a socially constructed reality. (SRT)

The qualities and characteristics of excellent faculty at Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) are described in this paper. First, an underlying set of assumptions is presented, stressing that the qualities identified as representative of faculty excellence apply equally to classroom teachers, librarians, counselors, and other non-teaching faculty,…

High schools are simply not designed to help young people develop interests or passions, become deeply engaged and productive in the life of the community, develop a commitment to high-quality work, or make connections and build relationships with peers and adults. School-to-career, arts education, and service learning each offer especially…