The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) program periodically conducts national-level assessments of student achievement in geography. In July 2019, the National Assessment Governing Board announced a decision to eliminate geography, economics, arts, and foreign language assessments from the NAEP testing schedule through 2029. In…

This article argues for the crucial role of alignment in second language acquisition, as conceptualized from a broadly sociocognitive perspective. By "alignment," we mean the complex processes through which human beings effect coordinated interaction, both with other human beings and (usually human-engineered) environments, situations,…

Examines what the author calls a "Carry-Over Crisis". The diagnostic pattern of a Carry-Over Crisis involves a student who overreacts to some typical frustration, such as teasing, with unusual intensity and anger. Diagnostic thinking about this overreaction may lead to the assumption that it is the result of displaced anger about something or…

School Counselors' roles have changed with the challenges of today's population. School counselors are support staff with high student-to-counselor ratios. Counselors are not only present in junior high and middle schools; they now service elementary schools. School counselors need to be aware of the demographics of the changing student…

This article presents an interview with Jeremy Koester, an eighth grade math teacher and football coach at Alamo Heights Junior School in San Antonio, Texas. In this interview, Koester describes his use of technology in his classes and describes his dream of advancing Second Life (SL) as a distance education environment. SL is a "3-D virtual…

Describes a career exploration program whereby the students participated in group discussions, read pertinent materials, interviewed adults, attended in-school conferences, and served as interns in local businesses. The program provided an opportunity for students to explore careers for up to three years and to participate in related activities.…

The background, challenge, opportunity, and excitement of hermeneutics can be explored in three signposts of a hermeneutic turn in a doctoral research proposal: from being gifted to gifted reading, from method to interpretation, and from metacognition to the hermeneutic circle. A change in the research site of a study of the metacognitive…

School counselors have been encouraged to implement peer facilitator groups, however, it is important for counselors to consider the developmental needs of the students involved. Through systematic and carefully planned selection, training, and supervision of students, counselors can encourage middle graders to reach out and help each other grow…

Describes an attempt to develop history curriculum for junior high school students which would help them to develop the ability to imaginatively re-create the past. The central technique was to direct students to analyze case studies (both historical and fictional) which had a strong foundation in the verified facts of the period under study. (DB)

This report focuses on guidance and counseling training of guidance practitioners in Botswana. The introduction notes that currently in Botswana many schools have a guidance teacher and/or volunteer for the position who is, more likely, to be chosen by the headmaster. The status of counselor training is examined. The roles and functions which…

Schooling for young adolescents (middle grade education) is the weakest link in the chain of public education. Young adolescents pose a unique problem for educators. The central characteristic of this age group is its diversity, resulting from extreme variations in the rates of physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development. Strong…

Middle graders today are under more stress than in the past and are less prepared to cope because they have not been given the time and guidance needed to acquire a healthy sense of self-esteem and self-identity, which is the best defense against stress. Counseling approaches and strategies to combat stress are given. (Author/BL)

This defense of the authors' previous report states that there is a large sex difference in mathematical reasoning ability among intellectually talented preadolescents. The authors concluded differential course taking could not account for observed sex differences among intellectually gifted students, although this may affect average ability…

The authors examine each of Raths' 10 components of teaching for its applicability to middle school teaching, given the particular characteristics and needs of the young adolescent learner. They end by rephrasing Raths' components so that they apply directly to teaching in the middle school. (SJL)

Argues the importance of teaching fractions and discusses examples of fundamental problems in students' conceptualization of common fractions and decimal fractions. (SS)