Three mentally retarded students (ages 9-12) who exhibited challenging behaviors to escape from academic demands and to receive social attention were taught alternative assistance-seeking and attention-getting phrases. Data indicated that the intervention reduced challenging behavior. The results transferred across settings, and were maintained 18…

American Indians have long held that learning is most effective when it is relevant to one's culture and the community is included in the educational process. Discusses developing and sustaining effective community-school alliances, including five components for ensuring success; six effective educational reform practices; the role of technology…

Two Native-American graduate students' fieldwork involved teaching cultural heritage to Native-American inmates at Auburn Correctional Facility, New York. Through shared oral stories, readings, viewing Native produced films, and singing, the line between teachers and students became blurred and they became one group, learning oneness with…

A response to an article on multiculturalism and the status of community languages in Australia argues that efforts to maintain any minority language within immigrant communities should be tempered by critical assessment of what is to be achieved, for whom, and why. The original article's author responds. (MSE)

Examines the varied factors involved in providing Internet access in K-12 education, including expense, computer installation and maintenance, and security, and explores how the network computer could be useful in this context. Operating systems and servers are discussed. (MSE)

Examines potential uses of distance learning for maintaining and sustaining American-Indian tribal communities within the United States while allowing access to the information and skills needed for employment in the dominant society. Examines distance education in general, traditional education in tribal contexts, tribal uses of…

Describes Southwest Virginia's rich tradition of folklore and culture and the need for its preservation. Summarizes the author's time-consuming process of preparing an inventory and indexing the vast archival collections gathered by students in American Folklore classes at Mountain Empire Community College and by the Southwest Virginia Folklore…

Presents a reaction to Cooper and Gottlieb's (this issue) article titled, "Ethical Issues with Managed Care: Challenges Facing Counseling Psychology." Examines the ethical problems giving rise to managed care, the ethical character of therapy goals, and the social ethical question of balancing the good of individuals with the good of society.…

Describes Native American efforts to return bison to tribal lands and thereby restore cultural health. Discusses a summer program providing Winnebago youth with jobs tending bison pastures and teaching them the cultural importance of bison; bison ecosystem restoration undertaken by Intertribal Bison Cooperative members; a related environmental…

Presents results of a work group convened by the American Association of Dental Schools to examine experiences related to postdoctoral general dentistry (PGD) programs linked with managed care systems and clinical settings. The group identified factors and conditions believed to be critical to the planning, development, and conduct of PGD programs…

Pueblo author Simon Ortiz discusses Indigenous authors' use of their native language as a form of self-assertion, pointing out how African literature drives the decolonizing impulse in literature today. Use of the dominant language would reach a larger audience but would also make transmission of colonizers' cultural assumptions unavoidable while…

Compares two historical reactions from universalism to particularism: (1) the Enlightenment and its rejection by nationalism and romanticism; and (2) liberal education and its rejection as imperialist and patriarchal. Explores the relationships between the West and three groups (South Pacific Islanders, Maori, and Aborigines) that were…

Summarizes a report of a study that explored what the United States could learn about foreign language teaching from other countries. The project reviewed comparative language education studies and conducted interviews with language education professionals in countries where policies and practices could inform the United States. (Author/VWL)

A New Mexico foundation helps primarily Hispanic and American Indian communities restore adobe churches by supplying technical assistance and matching grants. Community leadership of the projects enhances volunteer commitment. The projects build community cohesiveness and pride, maintain local culture, foster intergenerational relations, teach…

Adolescents (n=18) with learning disabilities or low achievement were trained to use interactive dialogs to collaboratively plan and revise individually written opinion essays. Analysis indicated that, when compared with untrained controls, trainees improved significantly from pretest to posttest in clarity and cogency of their writing and…