Does early child care hinder or enhance infants' and toddlers' social and cognitive development? This longitudinal study investigated whether: (1) child care is related to qualities of mother-child interaction and the child's cognitive and language development in the first 3 years of life; (2) the child care environment interacts with the home…

Experiences of Bosnian adult refugees within the Swedish educational system raise questions of diversity and indications of institutionalized discrimination. Approaches to diversity within the education system reflect those approaches within the social system of the nation. Sweden is presently moving toward a uniform and more restrictive European…

A study observed how four boys focused in group literacy activities in a whole language classroom, observed the literacy development of the four boys early in grade 1, and reflected on the teacher's role in class literacy activities. Data included daily journal entries made by the teacher/researcher, copies of students' work, and interviews with…

Project ALERT, a 3-year Wayne State University workplace education program in partnership with 5 varied worksites in metropolitan Detroit, developed replicable workplace literacy models. A review of literature provided information on how and why adults learn. A needs assessment and on-site observations were conducted to determine which sets of…

This book consists of creative drama activities that introduce, review, and reinforce content material across the curriculum. Step-by-step procedural outlines and actual scripts are included. Chapter 1, "An Overview," presents a definition of creative drama, describes the benefits of using it in the classroom, and outlines suggestions and…

This unit is designed around a four-week plan integrated into third- and fourth-grade science, social studies, language arts, reading, and art. The unit takes students through specific strategies of creating awareness about issues and to help them become more responsible about pet care, personally and in the community. Each week has a theme,…

The project described in this paper addresses the major issues surrounding content standards, provides a model for their identification, and applies this model to identify standards and benchmarks in subject areas. This update includes a revision of content standards and benchmarks published in earlier updates and the synthesis and identification…

An action research study described and evaluated a program for improving the reading comprehension of targeted first, second, and third grade students, in a progressive suburban community in northern Illinois. The problem was noted by the researchers, who in recent years had observed a need for improvement in reading comprehension as indicated by…

This paper discusses the oral and written communication demands of school on children with hearing loss from a script viewpoint, which emphasizes describing the role of actors, actions, props, routines, and possible variations of a given event. The paper first distinguishes among the schema, the script, and the routine. It also considers the role…

While researchers have long advocated integrating disciplines, practitioners have sometimes viewed the combination of language arts and science for a particular purpose as unnatural and difficult to accomplish. An introductory section of this paper examines the underlying concepts for the integrated approach, that students learn based on what they…

Case studies examined how two communities--Miami and Los Angeles--with large immigrant populations had responded to the educational challenge posed by adult immigrants. Each case study had three components: interviews with education policymakers and practitioners, community leaders, and others; limited survey of adult immigrant students in the…

This book argues that parents, by spending 20 minutes each day imparting the wisdom found in its pages, can compensate for the lack of cultural education their children receive in school. Predicated on the idea that there is a certain background "core knowledge" that every American school child should possess, the book can also be used…

This final report describes a staff development project designed to provide for the effective and statewide dissemination of significant current or previous Section 353 special demonstration projects in Pennsylvania. A panel of 8 literacy experts reviewed 65 special projects funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Bureau of Adult…

A multi-year study examined whether elementary school students can engage in historical thinking in a meaningful way, and what kind of writing activities best serve this purpose. Subjects were 17 students of varying language proficiency levels selected as the focus of research from the entire class of 31 primarily Hispanic and African-American…

Based on Montessori's ideas about children's innate capabilities and potential, this book encourages restructuring the home environment to provide children, especially preschool children, with opportunities for self-directed activities and personal autonomy. In each of the chapters, a different room is examined as to how it could be redesigned to…