National assessments of student academic achievement in various subjects and grades are conducted each year in France. However, there is no formal evaluation of student performance in various cross-curriculum domains, such as study skills, self-image, interest in learning, cooperative attitudes, social competence, or civic knowledge and values.…

This paper begins by relating the experiences of a beginning special education teacher in a small school in rural Montana. He soon became frustrated as he lacked the skills required for collaborating with other teachers, students, parents, and the community. Small rural schools have difficulty in recruiting and retaining qualified special…

This learning activities book contains guidance and counseling activities. It establishes goals for Nebraska middle/junior high and senior high schools covering three major areas--learning, personal/social, and career--with four separate goals under each area. After an introduction, the following information is included: Nebraska career guidance…

Current research on school effectiveness concludes that differences among schools affect students' academic achievement. An important characteristic of effective schools is providing a safe and secure environment. An example of programs that address this issue are peer mediation or conflict resolution programs. These programs require the combined…

Young people need to learn and to use alternative dispute resolution skills at school as well as in their daily lives. Ways in which to instruct high school and middle school students in these skills are detailed in the leader's guide and accompanying video. In addition to demonstrating the mediation process, the video presents ideas and…

This brief suggests that during the past 2 decades, the skills needed to succeed in the workplace have changed significantly. Technical skills remain important, but, increasingly, employers recognize another category of skills crucial to a worker's ability to work "smarter, not harder." These "soft,""core,""nontechnical,""essential,""generic," and…

As part of an effort to reinforce the general education competencies of students in its Associate in Applied Science degree programs, Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) conducted two needs assessment surveys to develop a list of critical life skills for integration into existing curricula. Each of the identified skills can be developed in 2…

Experiences with the data, analysis, and results in the Finnish Contrastive Discourse Analysis Project (1985-1988) at the University of Oulu are reported. The purpose of the project was to describe the conversational skills of advanced Finnish speakers of English, and especially to determine the level of their social competence or their ability to…

This set of curriculum-based assessment instruments is designed to measure the career education knowledge and skills of regular and special education students, as part of the Life Centered Career Education Program, a field-tested curriculum to develop competencies in daily living skills, personal-social skills, and occupational guidance and…

"Second Step" is a curriculum designed to reduce impulsive and aggressive behavior in children aged 9 through 12 years, increasing their levels of social competence by teaching skills in empathy, impulse control, and anger management. This guide is part of the "Second Step" series, which includes curricula for…

"Second Step" is a curriculum designed to reduce impulsive and aggressive behavior in children in grades 6 through 8, increasing their levels of social competence through empathy training, interpersonal cognitive problem solving, behavioral social skill training, and anger management. This guide is part of the "Second Step"…

This document is the Spanish language supplement to "Second Step, Grades 1-3," a violence-prevention curriculum designed to reduce impulsive and aggressive behavior in young children and to increase their social competence. The supplement cannot be used by itself, as only a portion of the entire curriculum has been translated into…

This feasibility study examined the need and the appropriateness of developing a videotape targeted to parents of young children with disabilities. The study involved a review of the literature, interviews with experts and practitioners, a focus group discussion to elicit the opinions and suggestions of parents of children with disabilities,…

This paper on career education for gifted and talented students addresses the following issues: multipotentiality versus pressure toward early specialization, expectations of significant others, differences in career lifestyles, required investments of time and money and resulting deferred family life, mobility demands possibly leading to…

This paper consists of 13 chapters that describe a study of the effects of training in conflict resolution and cooperative learning in an alternative high school in New York City. Three of the school's four campuses participated, with Campus A receiving conflict resolution training, Campus C receiving cooperative and Campus B receiving training in…