Purpose: Asset-based pedagogy (ABP) values what students bring to the classroom and is responsive to their individual needs. Yet teachers, particularly beginners, fail to integrate these types of strategies throughout K-12 classrooms. It is imperative to explore to what extent beginning teachers understand ABP as well as the variation within who…

Due to the growing number of students enrolling as homeless in American public schools, a quantitative design was applied to determine if students in an Illinois suburban, kindergarten through eighth grade school district (District A), who are enrolled under the McKinney-Vento Act and are receiving resources of food, shelter, clothing, and…

The new generation of teachers needs a new kind of special education textbook--one that focuses on children, not labels. That's why Whitney Rapp & Katrina Arndt developed "Teaching Everyone", the first text that fully prepares teachers to see past disability labels and work with all students' individual needs and strengths. Accessible and…

This report provides national estimates about dropout prevention services and programs in public school districts. The estimates presented in this report are based on a district survey about dropout prevention services and programs offered by the district or by any of the schools in the district during the 2010-11 school year. For this survey,…

This brief article stresses that the search for omnibus social and emotional needs that cut across all gifted children is misguided and that differences in needs are likely a function of the relationship between the individual child's talents and social interactions within the communities of the child's world. (DB)

Uses the metaphor of teacher as rain dancer to explore a teacher's dilemma when democratic class practices clash with individual student needs. Raises the question of whose needs and whose agenda prevail in the classroom. (SK)

Presented in a question-and-answer format, this digest offers guidelines in choosing an enriching summer program for gifted students. The following questions are addressed: What are the possibilities? What needs do summer programs meet? Who should make the selection? What does the selection process involve? What variables are important? and What…

Claims crisis in education, in part, has been caused by the rigidity of the education professional to continue in a traditional role. Contends for the school to become more responsive to the psychosocial-educational needs of students, the education professional must expand the pedagogical role to the five Ps: politician, psychologist, philosopher,…

School counselors are being asked to assume a greater role in the lives of their students and the students' families. The challenges facing counselors and demands on their time will continue to grow during the next decade. School counselors must choose where they spend their time and energy carefully. It will be easy for counselors to engage in…

This digest explores the concept of mentoring with gifted students and offers guidelines on its implementation. The literature on mentoring is reviewed, noting the maturing effect of mentor relationships and the particular value of mentors for disadvantaged students and for females. Among six guidelines offered are: decide what (not whom) the…

The authors warn against placing too heavy a burden of responsibility on building-level administrators for service delivery approaches tailored to the individual needs of all students. Given the goal of meeting individual needs through combining regular and special education resources, there is no reason for maintaining a dual system. (JW)

Although the majority of our children acquire functional literacy in all the basic skills; become functional, law-abiding, and constructive adults; and become employable, a large number do not. Children are reared in environments that teach three life views--that the objective of life is to work hard, sacrifice the joys of the moment, and indulge…

This article focuses on guidance, counseling and teaching procedures as they affect nonwhite children, particularly in their right to be different. (Author)

From reading and writing basics likes phonics and spelling to advice on motivating the student to develop and improve writing skills, this handbook contains everything a person needs to get involved and to be effective as a tutor. The handbook tells readers what to expect, how to prepare, and, most important, how to begin. It explains the…

Discusses the presumed superiority of the Japanese education system, questioning whether it meets that society's needs and expectations and satisfies the psycho-social needs of the individual. Examines strengths and weaknesses of the system, urging U.S. educational reformers to recognize the weak points before they are incorporated into the U.S.…