Forty faculty volunteers from 30 departments were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: "full process," with teaching performance data collection, feedback, diagnosis, applied instructional improvement strategies and data re-collection; "diagnostic," which excluded the applied improvement strategies; and "data collection…

Two social studies units for sixth grade provide information and learning activities about Africa and Russia. Both units contain lists of concepts to be learned, skills, objectives, learning activities, common misconceptions, vocabulary, maps, objective and essay tests, and bibliographies. The unit on Africa helps students understand the wide…

The various programs presented here offer educators an array of ideas and some potential solutions to meet the needs and interests of communities far from the original project sites. In view of demonstrated effectiveness in meeting local school program needs, these projects were submitted for quality assurance to the Joint Dissemination Review…

This position paper discusses the general absence of law instruction at the elementary level and presents reasons for including it in the elementary curriculum. Two factors which hamper attempts to provide law instruction are limited economic resources and a general lack of understanding that law-related education could develop democratic…

The report gives an account of a research and development project on Language Assistant Training. It shows the place of the Year Abroad in Modern Languages Degrees, and the need for training of English Language Assistants. After detailing the preparatory arrangements and timetable of a fieldwork visit to French schools to observe and record…

Alverno College began its outcome-oriented liberal arts curriculum in the fall of 1973. Clearly traceable to Alverno's early heritage as a teachers' college for educating the sisters of a teaching order is the current liberal arts college's interest in the incoming student's orientation to college learning. Each section of this report briefly…

Examines whether students spontaneously focus on and acquire meanings for unknown words encountered in text. Indicates that, while the intentional learning group made the greatest gains, the incidental learning group acquired some knowledge and confidence. Shows that the control group gained little in either case. Provides support for incidental…

Describes magnet high school which was created in California to meet desegregation requirements and emphasizes computer technology. Highlights include local computer networks that connect science and music labs, the library/media center, business computer lab, writing lab, language arts skills lab, and social studies classrooms; software; teacher…

The article clarifies the role of monolingual English specialists in the pre-referral process for culturally and linguistically different students. To help specialists assess language and learning disorders and plan intervention, a question-and-answer format which describes first language proficiency and relates it to learning English as a second…

Discusses (1) activities that encourage students to use formal vocabulary; (2) the use of computers to motivate remedial readers to write; and (3) a pilot study in which sustained silent reading and writing was used to improve the literacy of seventh and eighth grade remedial students.

Considers: (1) research by George Hillocks using meta-analysis to examine four modes of composition instruction; (2) role playing in classroom to improve student writing of persuasive letters or opinion essays; (3) process approach to English instruction, which allows for complex nature of individual learning styles; and (4) resource for promising…

A recent survey of Los Angeles area employers suggests that current secondary vocational education should be reformed, that employer-based skills-training programs should be created, and that more attention should be paid to the needs of small firms for workers with specialized skills. (JBM)

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Talking 'bout Evolution: High School Science Teachers Share Strategies for Dealing with Controversy in the Classroom (Nancy Walser); (2) Standards-Based…

One of the key features of this legislation is an emphasis on teacher quality. A growing body of research has documented the importance of teacher knowledge and skill in improving student achievement. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 includes specific criteria for considering a teacher highly qualified, and other specific requirements…

It is one thing to lament the financial pressures put on universities, quite another to face up to the poverty of resources for thinking about what universities should do when they purport to offer a liberal education. In "Powers of the Mind", former University of Chicago dean Donald N. Levine enriches those resources by proposing fresh…