This introduction to a series of articles on the scaffolding metaphor in learning disabilities research introduces each article and raises two main concerns: the lack of careful delineation of how scaffolding becomes operational in research studies and constraints in the use of scaffolding arising from communication problems. (DB)

Discusses the value of curriculum integration and developmentally appropriate curriculum in middle school education. Suggests ways to incorporate standards into the integrative curriculum process that includes life skills competencies, prioritizing subject matter standards, organizing staff to teach the hybrid curriculum, and involving students.…

Five elementary schools actively engaged in inclusive approaches were studied using survey, observation, and interview methods. Findings revealed commonalties in leadership practices and core principles across this diverse sample of schools, consistent patterns in measured climate indices, and a range of administrative strategies used by…

Discusses eight principles emerging from a 1997 conference on issues facing continuing medical education (CME). The principles reflect the interspecialty and interdisciplinary consensus achieved at the conference. Urges a still more systematic and rigorously analytic approach in which CME content is determined according to assessed needs and…

Study provides a description of the kinds of situations school psychology practitioners find ethically challenging. Frequencies of various kinds of dilemmas are reported along with illustrative incidents. Most incidents described by respondents concerned difficult situations rather than violations of professional codes of ethics. Implications for…

A new approach to appreciation of children's literature supports the principles of Deleuze and Guattari used to describe human communication and employed as a metaphor for the ideal or rhizome book: connection, heterogeneity, multiplicity, asignifying rupture, cartography, and decalcomania. Examples of this new aesthetic drawn from contemporary…

Questions whether the marketing of higher education is a uniquely American phenomenon, or whether it applies to Canadian higher education. Believes that several basic differences between Canadian and American universities make this less likely in Canada: lower financial rewards for faculty who enter academic administration, course evaluation…

This study analyzes four gifted education models and six middle school models to identify specific areas of commonality and/or conflict. Common and compatible areas are identified. Results of the study offer very positive implications for appropriately meeting the needs of all students, including gifted children, within the middle school context.…

Explores whether, when college presidents become CEOs, professors act as free agents, and students turn into consumers, the traditional values of higher education can survive. (EV)

As an aesthetic form, architecture deals with the creation and definition of space expressed in buildings and other physical structures. The Colosseum in Rome, Notre Dame in Paris, and the United States capital in Washington, through their designs define space, capture our imagination, and communicate important cultural and historical messages.…

Andrew Wright has recently criticized an article penned by the author, which suggests that no good reasons have been given why religious education should be a compulsory school subject. In this article, the author explains the two misunderstandings Wright has about his position. First, Wright characterized the author's thesis as arguing "from…

Teachers are likely to create authentic learning environments for their students only if such contexts exist for them. However, it is more important than ever to look closely at professional development spaces that have been sustained over time in order to bolster teachers' agency, giving them the courage to teach against the grain. In this…

Massachusetts is heralded nationally for being the first in the nation to enact a state policy to redesign and expand the learning day for all students to advance academic achievement, broaden enrichment opportunities, and improve instruction. The Expanded Learning Time (ELT) Initiative has gained momentum over the past several years due to the…

This article outlines a learning intervention which the authors call Learning by Design. The goal of this intervention is classroom and curriculum transformation, and the professional learning of teachers. The experiment involves the practical application of the learning theory to everyday classroom practice. Its ideas are grounded in pedagogical…

Writing on contemporary culture and social life, sociologists and cultural theorists have been describing new or changing forms of movement, variously described as cultural "flows," "liquid life," or a "networked society." The change in such movements or mobilities of people, media, material goods, and other social phenomena, including the reach…