This ERIC digest looks at how college faculty can use cooperative learning principles to ensure that students actively create their own knowledge and work together to achieve shared learning goals. The first section describes cooperative learning and recommends training professors to apply an overall system to build cooperative activities,…

This ERIC Digest delineates problems posed by the increasing number of language-minority children in schools and offers suggestions for teaching children from different cultures. It is maintained that a group's language reflects its culture, and the uses to which that language is put are culturally determined. When children and adults do not share…

This digest describes ways in which professionals who work with culturally and linguistically diverse students with disabilities can create an educational climate that accepts and respects the language and culture of its students and empowers them to feel confident enough to risk getting involved in the learning process. Methods of creating such…

This digest discusses factors that influence the ability of foster children to achieve academically and offers some strategies that schools can use to improve their educational success and emotional well-being. Schools can be an important source of stability for foster children, whose home lives have been disrupted. Foster children need to believe…

This digest presents recommendations from the U.S. Department of Education's Hispanic Dropout Project for school practices that promote the academic achievement of Hispanic youth, and it supplements the recommendations with examples from case studies. Each Hispanic student should have an adult in the school committed to nurturing the student's…

This digest discusses factors affecting the achievement of gifted minority students, particularly Black students. Problems associated with underachievement definitions and the influence of social, cultural, and psychological factors on student achievement are examined. Suggestions and recommendations for reversing underachievement among gifted…

Many school staff and their client communities are concerned about pupil achievement, skills, and attitudes related to mathematics. To respond to these concerns, staff need to determine how they can improve their elementary mathematics programs by modifying the content and skills emphasized in the curriculum, changing and supplementing…

Many school staff and their client communities are concerned about pupil achievement, skills, and attitudes related to mathematics. To respond to these concerns, staff need to determine how they can improve their secondary mathematics programs by modifying the content and skills emphasized in the curriculum, changing and supplementing…

This digest describes a model curriculum for children from language minority groups, called the "Optimal Learning Environment Curriculum--A Resource for Teachers of Spanish Speaking Children in Learning Handicapped Programs." This bilingual special education class model is governed by the following principles: (1) take into account the…

This Spanish-language ERIC Digest addresses the question of what young children should be learning that will best serve their development and learning in the long term. Two major dimensions of development--normative and dynamic--are explored, and four categories of learning goals are discussed: (1) knowledge; (2) skills; (3) dispositions; and (4)…

This digest identifies several common types of nontraditional families and presents a few of their characteristics relevant to their children's education. It also offers some recommendations to help schools provide support for the families to ensure their inclusion in all aspects of schooling. Multiracial families comprise both children whose…

The use of small groups in adult literacy and basic education has been stimulated by a desire to provide a more learner-centered and collaborative learning environment. Another set of factors promoting their use is related to increased use of language experience or whole language as instructional approaches in adult literacy and basic education.…

Many school staff and their client communities are concerned about pupil achievement, skills, and attitudes related to the environment. To respond to these concerns, staff need to determine how they can improve their environmental education programs by modifying the content and skills emphasized in the curriculum, and supplementing instructional…

Many school staff and their client communities are concerned about pupil achievement, skills, and attitudes related to science. To respond to these concerns, staff need to determine how they can improve their science programs by modifying the content and skills emphasized in the curriculum, changing and supplementing instructional materials,…

Many school staff and their client communities are concerned about student achievement, skills, and attitudes related to science. To respond to these concerns, staff need to determine how they can improve their science programs by modifying the content and skills emphasized in the curriculum, changing and supplementing instructional materials,…