This annual journal issue contains 24 papers on issues of faculty development, instructional improvement, knowledge and teaching, and communication in higher education. Many of the papers were developed for the annual conference of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD). The papers are: (1) "Teaching…

Intended as a an aid to classroom teachers, this 52-page handbook presents a literature unit based on the children and young people's book, "Dragon's Gate" by Laurence Yep. It begins with sample lesson plans, pre-reading activities, author information, a book summary, vocabulary lists and suggested vocabulary activities. Next, chapters…

In the world of social science and educational research, Asian Americans are frequently represented as one group and summarized with one number, like an arithmetic average. However, Asian Americans think of themselves as quite different from one another, as indeed they are. In the 1990 U.S. Census, information is available for 11 different groups…

This collection explores diversity in American schools by opening the discussion to the unprecedented diversity of children in American schools. Sections on rethinking familiar minorities, newcomers to the country, and other, often unrecognized minorities, deal with the common themes of minority status, marginality, and resistance. The following…

Results of national studies suggest that for girls, the middle grades can be a time of significant decline in self-esteem and academic achievement. Reasons for this decline are not clearly indicated by research, but it is likely that multiple factors are involved. One factor is the preferential treatment boys receive in the classroom.…

Designed to be used in courses devoted to the study of multicultural education, this book aims to outline conceptual foundations of multicultural education and to discuss differences in cultural perspectives. The book is divided into two parts. Part one provides the foundation of multicultural education; part two focuses on the perspectives on…

A program was developed to create a positive school climate in a multiethnic school to reduce conflict among students. The targeted population consisted of students in kindergarten through grade six in a school in a low socioeconomic environment in a rural community in northern Illinois. The majority of the school's 309 students were White, but…

To analyze some of the processes through which student voices and lived experiences can be either excluded or included, a study focused on elements of the classroom environment already addressed in previous analyses, examining "texts and talk" in two middle school English classrooms. The study analyzed how the classroom environments that…

This fact sheet lists problems involved in the use of standardized tests. It is argued that standardized tests are not really fair and helpful evaluation tools because they reward the ability to answer superficial questions quickly and do not measure the ability to think or create in any field. They also assume that all test takers have been…

This practicum was designed to develop an inservice training program for classroom teachers to help them better meet the needs of non-English speaking students, and to help the non-English speaking students acclimate and socialize with other students and to better deal with the problems of a culturally diverse, if not economically diverse…

National standards and assessments are being proposed as a strategy for improving schools in the United States. However, proposed federal policies for implementation raise serious concerns about the extent to which national standards and assessments alone will help improve the quality of public education for all, or whether they will serve to…

This document assists with the development of comprehensive, coordinated, school-linked services for students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD). Part 1 provides awareness of issues involved in creating comprehensive flexible programs for students with EBD. It begins with a discussion of specific problems: unserved students, cultural bias,…

This paper provides the text of a Congressional presentation outlining the position of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) concerning reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The CEC believes that the fundamental rights and protections for children and their families, as well as the basic fiscal and…

This book is designed to familiarize trainers with the implications of culture on the learning and development process and provide them with practical techniques for taking different cultural values into account when planning and delivering training. The book consists of 18 chapters organized into 4 parts as follows: culture and training (risks of…

A policy forum was convened on the disproportionate participation of students from ethnic and cultural minorities in special education classes and programs, to promote a constructive national dialogue. The charge to participants was to identify the issues underlying the problem of disproportionate participation of minorities and to identify…