Differentiating music instruction can be done well with a bit of forethought and creativity. When strategically used, music educators can better meet students' needs and make great strides in individual and overall student achievement. A variety of K-12 choral, instrumental, and general music examples is included. (Contains 7 notes and 2 tables.)

Children's preparedness for school is an important predictor of their eventual academic attainment, health, and personal success well into adulthood. Although kindergarten knowledge of numbers and vocabulary represent robust indicators of children's readiness to learn at school entry, theory and research suggest that self-directed learning skills…

Effective youth services are those operated by individuals who care about those they serve, and middle schools are no exception. Developing caring climates, promoting positive self-esteem, and fostering cognitive growth are factors of concern for middle school educators, but academic development remains the primary focus. In providing challenging…

Competing notions of education are reviewed. The progressivist notion is individualistic and aims at self-actualization, whereas the more conservative perspective emphasizes a mechanistic approach in which some students' full potential may not be realized. To accommodate student differences, curricula must be treated as useful guidelines to…

The United States has been engaged in school reform for three decades. The federal government as well as all fifty states have passed numerous versions of reform legislation to mandate and regulate the process. Educators have adjusted their practices to the policy created by this legislation. They have also allocated hundreds of billions of…

The Coursework Cluster Analysis Model, a new analytical technique linking college curriculum to student achievement gains, can be used to identify effective general education course sequences for different student ability levels. This can help overcome the fragmentation associated with general education and enhance undergraduate study for a…

Research suggests children have seven distinct intelligences (linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal). The article presents ideas to help elementary teachers develop intelligences in their students. It describes the project approach to providing multiple opportunities for using…

This report describes a program employing the theory of multiple intelligences and individual learning style in order to increase time on task, increase retention of academic material, and decrease fluctuations in distracting behaviors in classrooms. Seventeen third grade students in the targeted classroom of an elementary school were surveyed on…

This evaluative research is concerned with specific educational programs which attempt to adapt instruction to individual differences. Attention is limited to the Frick School, a large urban Pittsburgh school in which the Learning Research and Development Center develops its new educational programs, and to the Follow-Through network where these…

Maintains that children with disabilities increasingly are attending schools and classrooms they would attend if they did not have disabilities. Reports that educational research indicates little evidence that ability grouping improves academic achievement among these students. (CFR)

Explores the application of Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) in developing a community college curriculum that enhances an educator's ability to teach students based upon their dominant intelligences, such as verbal/linguistic or musical/rhythmic. (VWC)