The subject of grade retention has generated substantial theoretical, empirical, and practical attention for almost a century. However, few conclusive statements regarding this widespread practice can be made, and the literature has generated mixed results. Reviews of the literature prompt many questions: Does retaining a child in grade increase…

This research abstract describes two studies: first, "Class Instructional Programs with Autistic Children; Group Structures and Tutoring Models" (Debra M. Whorton et al.) and, second, "The Use of Explicitly Trained Peers To Facilitate the Social Behavior of Autistic Children" (Andrew Egel and Michael Shafer). Both studies investigated effective…

The use and abuse of alcohol on college campuses is reviewed briefly and administrative responses are described. Campus initiatives include policy formation and enforcement, treatment programs, and prevention activities. Issues related to institutional liability are outlined, and important factors that bear on policy formation are detailed, such…

A consideration of readiness for kindergarten must take into account the kindergarten program and the teacher's expectations of the child. This digest first examines kindergarten teachers' expectations for children's social, behavioral, sensory-motor, cognitive, and language abilities upon entrance to kindergarten. The issue of kindergarten…

Summarizes 16 recent ERIC documents and journal articles on children's social difficulties. Topics of the articles include social-cognitive processes of withdrawn children; genetic and environmental influences on inhibition; anxious-withdrawn preschoolers; helping children grow up in the 1990s; development of inhibition; behaviors of parents of…

This digest summarizes research in the affective and social realms that overwhelmingly affirms the superiority of small schools. Findings on the affective and social effects of school size are extensive and highly consistent, while the research base on outcomes of schools-within-a-school arrangements is smaller and less conclusive. While many…

This ERIC digest examines the growth and nature of juvenile gangs and the growing problem they present in the nation's public schools. It explores the characteristics of gangs, the impact gangs are having on public schools, why gangs develop and why students join them, what the schools' responses have been to gangs, and effective interactions for…

This digest discusses factors associated with the acceptance and rejection of preschool children by their peers and offers a number of strategies that teachers and other adults can use in their attempts to help children achieve social acceptance. Behaviors and characteristics associated with peer rejection include aggression and misinterpretation…

This monograph explores the current use in higher education of cooperative learning, the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning. The opening section sets out to define cooperative learning, and to look at the history of the technique, its basic elements, types of cooperative…