This study investigated the role of special education administrators in the transition planning process for children with disabilities ages 3-21 in selected Washington school districts. A basic qualitative study was selected to construct meaning from a described phenomenon. The study sought to identify and explain how special education…

James L. Hymes, Jr., wrote prolifically from the 1930s through the 1980s on the need for adults to understand and regard children's socio-emotional needs. In the belief that the foundation for true education is relationship-based, this article highlights Hymes's respect for children and examines the relevance of his regard for humanity for today's…

Scholars from multiple disciplines have commented on the divided nature of childhood as a historical construction: a period of life to be valued in itself as well as a means to adulthood. In this essay, James Stillwaggon considers George Orwell's "Such, Such Were the Joys," an autobiographical account of his childhood education, as a site of…

Makes an evocative plea for accepting children where they are developmentally and maintaining a vision of future possibility. Claims that adults are being guided and informed by children, and adjust their behaviors accordingly. Advocates encountering the child with a willingness to learn from the relationship, with the result that the educator…

School psychologists engaged in ecological assessment need to measure the degree to which children's behaviors fit the demands of the school environment. Although no standardized instruments serve that purpose, rating scales and simulation/role plays can be adapted to measure the person-environment (PE) fit. Although most behavior rating scales…

A child's "ecosystem" should be designed to involve families and schools, in the context of caring communities, to provide an optimum array of resources for the rearing of our children. (MM)

Explores the idea that workplaces have levels of moral complexity to assist in understanding how schools can create conditions that foster teacher's personal and professional growth. Focuses on: (1) social and moral complexity of the job of teaching; (2) schools as communities of development; (3) teacher development; and (4) effects on students…

This is a preliminary report on the project titled "Self-Perception of Children Starting School." The project's main concern is to describe and analyze the type of personal development produced by everyday school life, in terms of such concepts as self-perception and self-evaluation. The purpose of the project is to: (1) describe the situation of…

Researchers have found it difficult to measure various forms of indirect aggression, such as exclusion from groups, because such behaviors are difficult to observe in field settings such as school playgrounds. This study examined gender and developmental differences in aggression, investigated across-gender aggression, and looked at teachers'…

Parents, teachers, and peers play significant roles in a child's development of self-esteem. This report describes a program for improving the self-esteem of fourth-grade students in a large, multi-ethnic suburb. The researcher documented the students' low self-esteem through teacher observations and by the administration of a student self-esteem…

Each year more children come to school unprepared to relate appropriately to others and to contribute to a positive school climate. These children seem to have more problems and less ability to cope with the structural environment of the school. Educators tend to agree that many children lack the character traits necessary for healthy, positive…