The surest way to improve schooling for 12 million children in poverty is to get them better teachers. The problem is selection, not training. "Star" urban teachers persistently engage their students, protect and enhance student learning opportunities, easily apply generalizations, succeed despite students' life conditions, genuinely respect…

Reports results of a study that used an online survey, focus groups, and logs of telnet connections to examine Internet use when accessed through the University of Toronto Library (Canada). Discusses needs of Internet users and reveals patterns of Internet use. An appendix contains the online survey. (JMV)

A national survey of 355 licensed pharmacists investigated their perceptions of themselves as lifelong learners, participation in various professional and leisure activities, attitudes predicting lifelong learning behavior, and respondent characteristics. The two analytical models used arrived at different demographic and other variables…

This study of book interest behaviors of preschoolers focused on four year olds who exhibited a low interest in books in classroom contexts. It was found that providing access to books without teacher mediation did not result in increased book interactions or changes in the childrens' book interests. (18 references) (LRW)

Examines the role of increasing use and heavy first-time use of alcohol and cigarettes in multisubstance abuse patterns for 4,192 secondary school students surveyed 3 times over a 4-year period. A history of licit substance use with increasing use levels is likely to precede use of other substances. (SLD)

Notes the omission of a historical perspective in the research papers in this special issue on prosocial and aggressive play. Maintains that the past several hundred years can be characterized as a time of domesticating children's play, and that more research on rough-and-tumble play is needed. (LB)

A commentary on the articles in this special issue addresses the themes of the origins and consequences of children's adversarial social roles and behaviors; children's peer relationships as a context for social learning and development; and linkages between the family and peer systems. (LB)

Draws on self-categorization theory (use of social characteristics to define psychological groups and promote positive self-identity) to explore the effects of demographic diversity on an individual's psychological and behavior attachment to an organization. Membership in a majority-dominated social group may both satisfy the minority member's…

To compare the effectiveness of parents and teachers as instructors of a personal safety program, 61 low-income preschoolers participated in either a home-based, school-based, or control program. No significant differences were found between groups taught by teachers or parents. Both groups demonstrated greater knowledge of sexual abuse and…

Twenty-five university students with learning disabilities were interviewed relating to specific work habits necessary for successful functioning in an undergraduate program. Only 4 of 10 work habits were reported as acquired by 70% or more of the students. There was no correlation between overall self-rating and cumulative grade point average.…

This article discusses use of child interview data to decide whether or not a child has been sexually abused. It examines the role of child interview findings from a historical perspective, discusses the challenge of researching criteria indicative of a true allegation, reviews existing studies of child interview data, draws conclusions, and…

This essay introduces a series of studies developing a statistical theory of elementary learning processes. An attempt is made to derive relations among commonly used measures of behavior and quantitative expressions describing simple learning phenomena. Laws of the theory state probability relations between momentary changes in behavioral and…

Describes the Jefferson Institute on the Foundations of Ethics in Western Society, a program of the Fairfax County (Virginia) high schools to provide teachers with a surer grasp of ethics to help them foster a school climate in which students consider issues of "right behavior." (SLD)

This commentary focuses on the application of D. Rogosa and G. Ghandour's work to observational research on classroom processes. Rogosa and Ghandour have shown that the short length of an observation is typically the dominant source of error. Investigators should conduct observations for as long as possible. (SLD)

This literature review addresses studies of speech, language, and communication skills evidenced by children diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effects. Concomitant physical, behavioral, intellectual, and learning patterns are reviewed, and symptoms presented by alcohol-exposed children are compared to those seen in other…