Results are presented from a mixed-method investigation into the effects of Block Schedule on student self-efficacy, attitude, and instructional practices within the context of mathematics. Students exposed to block schedule showed no change in attitude toward mathematics, whereas those on a traditional schedule demonstrated a significant…

This research brief reviews selected 1986 publications concerning the effects of class size on student achievement, attitudes, and behavior. The following points are made: (1) smaller classes in the lower grades have a positive effect on student learning attitudes and behavior; (2) minority, disadvantaged, and low-achieving students perform better…

What effect would the manipulation of class size have on students, faculty, and institutional productivity? By providing each student with a class schedule of varying sized classes (at least one very large and at least one small class per student per semester), the student would derive educational benefits and maintain feelings of community in…

An experiment in which secondary school French, German, and Spanish classes at a large comprehensive high school were conducted in three different kinds of classroom settings is described, with emphasis on student rating of machine-guided language practice. Classroom settings included (1) a conventional classroom with a few weekly half-periods in…

Examines six constraints on teachers' ability to promote higher-order thinking in the classroom (schedule, student attitudes, teacher attitudes, resources, atmosphere, and assessment). Explores possibilities for overcoming such constraints, including block scheduling, integration of the curriculum and thematic teacher, portfolio assessment,…

This issue focuses on practices that can help improve reading instruction and includes two announcements from Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL). It begins with a look at study groups, the practice of teachers getting together to focus on instructional practices and student learning. Stacey Joyner, a staff member of SEDL's Texas…