This article takes stock of where the field of behavioral science applied to education policy seems to be at, which avenues seem promising and which ones seem like dead ends. I present a curated set of studies rather than an exhaustive literature review, categorizing interventions by whether they nudge (keep options intact) or "shove"…

One of the critical issues in education today is how to help all students to maximize their fullest potential. Achieving this goal seems to be difficult for many people who come from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. At all levels, they endure direct and indirect disenfranchisements, disadvantages, and disillusionments,…

This article explores how mapping patterns of student participation in classroom discussion can both illuminate and complicate the dynamic relationships among identity, physical position in the classroom, student engagement, and course content. It draws on the perspectives of an undergraduate in the role of pedagogical consultant, a faculty member…

In this article, we look closely at the way power circulates through school routines with ordinary texts in everyday moments. We address texts that support different types of achievement and how critical literacy helps us redefine achievement and examine what we're doing with texts and students in classrooms. We interrogate the notion of…

A school principal at Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary School in Richmond, Virginia, describes the application of the Clifton Youth StrengthsExplorer assessment developed by the Gallup organization. A fifth-grade girl who was in frequent conflict with peers and teachers was helped to identify her strengths and develop more effective emotional and…

A case study examined the student-teacher relationship in writing conferences to determine how both teachers and students can better negotiate teaching-learning situations. Students enrolled in a six-week tutorial writing course at the University of Michigan were used as subjects. Tape-recorded conversations in the weekly half-hour conferences…

The study investigated the nature of appropriate and inappropriate interaction behaviors between 91 college professors (74 with experience teaching disabled students) and 38 physically disabled students. Among findings was that professors who had taught disabled students were more comfortable with such students and interested in teaching them in…

Illustrates that every child is to some degree involved in every class activity. Creative teaching can accommodate the needs of an apparently nonparticipating child. (BB)

Teachers have the paradoxical dual responsibility of fostering children's personal autonomy while ensuring that the children follow necessary rules affecting their health, safety, and educational development. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to determine when children should be allowed freedom and when they need regulation, and on occasion…

Increasingly, college faculty are complaining about unacceptable and disruptive student behavior in the classroom. Scholars are publishing articles on the problem and institutions are offering workshops to help faculty cope. Blame is placed on a crisis of authority in American society. Some find the trend is not new, but the behavior has worsened.…

Maintains that the traditional approach to behavior problems in secondary schools has been reactive and largely negative. Reviews research on behavior intervention methods and preventative practices. Finds that reports on whole-school innovations are positive and considers practical implications for educational psychologists. (CFR)

A "thick" description of teaching is referred to as the uncovering of the meaning of what is being said or done by knowing the structure in which it is said or done. In this ethnographic study of teachers' experiences with microcomputers in their classrooms, George Kelly's (1955) personal construct theory was used to develop a clinical interview…

The user-friendly Classroom Ecobehavioral Assessment Instrument was developed to incorporate advantages of environmental assessment and functional assessment. Relatively simple behavior sampling procedures and scripted steps for summarizing and analyzing data lead to prescriptions for altering assessment and/or intervention practices. Results of…

Describes a study of reading and writing instruction at the elementary level and explains how teachers learned new ways to support each other, how the teachers' role changed as they encouraged their students' diverse interests, and how the teacher/learner roles changed. (HOD)

Examines the life and work of a teacher of Japanese traditional dance ("Nihon Buyo") in the United States, K. Fujima. Describes the following: (1) Fujima's educational approach; (2) her students' learning experience; and (3) her contributions to the maintenance of Japanese ideal behavior in the communities in which she teaches. (SLD)