Supporting elementary preservice teachers' development of a science teacher identity provides a way to address challenges of low self-efficacy, self-confidence, and pedagogical content knowledge in science. Meaningful teaching experiences in student teaching placements and field-based science methods courses provide opportunities for preservice…

This study provides empirical data regarding multicultural education within teacher preparation programs. Individual course sections of pre-service teachers (PSTs) completing field-based teaching experiences were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups or a no-treatment control group. Quantitative measures within a…

This phenomenological study explores how external forces, internal motivations and environmental conditions may influence school personnel when considering placement requests. Seidman's three-stage interview process was implemented to conduct semi-structured interviews with five principals and five teachers in a large, urban school district. Four…

Discussed in the speech on criteria in the public education of the severely handicapped are historical developments leading to the current situation, the kinds of developing structures emerging in special education, the question of criteria and its ramifications, and major tasks to be accomplished. Identified are four historical stages in special…

This paper briefly describes and gives examples of how one teacher education program developed and has been successfully using a web based system to effectively and efficiently place student teachers, maintain records of placement information, communicate with schools, determine honoraria requests and obtain evaluation data from student teachers…

Decision theory can be applied to four types of decision situations in education and psychology: (1) selection; (2) placement; (3) classification; and (4) mastery. For the application of the theory, a utility function must be specified. Usually the utility function is chosen on a priori grounds. In this paper methods for the empirical assessment…

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative, instrumental case study that examined students' academic preparedness, as well as assessment and placement policy in 15 community colleges in 6 states across the country. Although most community colleges mandate basic skills assessment for all entering freshmen, many do not require low-scoring…

This paper offers reflections from the author's experience with community placement for developmentally disabled persons, specifically addressing practical and philosophical issues. Drawn from the author's personal involvement with the Macomb-Oakland Regional Center (MORE) in Michigan, this document notes nine illustrations of progress from…

Grades, report cards, and other progress reports are important vehicles for communicating with families about their children's strengths, areas to target, and interventions that can be used at home. For families of children with disabilities, accurate information on learning progress is essential for understanding intervention effectiveness and…

This paper outlines current changes in American adoption practice and the controversies surrounding these changes. It includes a discussion of the role that neo-Kantian and utilitarian perspectives have played in American adoption policy and practice, and offers an alternative, the communitarian perspective, described by Sandel (1984). Adoption…

This paper was written for career guidance counselors and practitioners who work in the field of career planning and placement. It presents a method to help career guidance practitioners assess counselee leisure interests, attitudes, needs, and skills, and to integrate that information into their guidance, thereby improving, broadening, and…

This document presents a review of the history of the implementation of de-institutionalization in Queens County, a borough of New York City. A number of issues confronting the mental health profession, the community, the patients, and their families are discussed. It notes that Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, the major provider of services for the…

To study the stability of students' writing performances across occasions, four essays were obtained from each of 107 college students. These were scored with an analytic system that counts errors in 18 categories. Score reliability, computed by summing the 18 categories, was .36 for a single essay and .68 for the set of four essays. Score…

The first stage of a three-stage speech placement test that can be used by individual campuses of the University of Wisconsin is discussed in this paper. The following applications of this speech theory test are described first: to exempt students from the basic communication course, to place students in an appropriate communication course, or to…

The FamiliesFirst project in Davis, California is a child abuse prevention project designed to keep abused children safely at home. During the first year of operation, FamiliesFirst provided in-home prevention services to 59 children in 26 families referred by county Child Protective Services as an alternative to out-of-home placement. Therapists,…