As our knowledge of young children grows, so does our awareness of the importance of the first few years of life. This book is written for students of child care at the college level, for those who work with children in the first three years of their lives, and for anyone who wants to understand more about what researchers and theorists have to…

This handbook, which was written by researchers with expertise in Australia's technical and further education (TAFE) system, provides background information about the following: approaches to research in vocational education and training (VET); the range of methods normally used in research and their the application to VET; and procedures for…

This report discusses the outcomes of a work forum of representatives of 10 national organizations concerned with the serious shortage of qualified special education and related services professionals. The forum convened to consider the need for a national personnel agenda. The first section of the resulting report describes the shortage of…

This brief report describes the Rosetta Stone Language Library, a set of multimedia second language instructional materials. These materials emphasize comprehension of spoken language as the first step to acquiring fluency, sometimes referred to as the "comprehension approach" or "natural approach." The materials are designed…

J.D.C. Atkins, Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1885-88, asserted, "No unity or community of feeling can be established among different peoples unless they are brought to speak the same language, and thus become imbued with like ideas of duty." Educators at government-operated Native American boarding schools embraced this assumption…

Service learning in preservice teacher education helps students to understand themselves and diverse members of the community, develop intercultural competence, and investigate more deeply what it means to be a member of the community. "Human Diversity, Power, and Opportunity in Social Institutions," is an introductory course that…

This study focused on the roles facilitators and students play in high school distance education classes, how these roles affect student performance, and other factors (such as school organization) which affect facilitator and student performance. Three classrooms from three different high schools, each taking the same nationally-offered distance…

This book presents 14 papers which discuss contemporary issues of curriculum change and instructional effectiveness in higher education primarily from a British perspective. Papers address curriculum purpose, curriculum delivery, and curriculum impact on the wider society. In addition, the book covers experiential learning, skills and training,…

New roles and relationships are being proposed in the literature dealing with the restructuring of teacher education. The linkages called for among teacher education faculties, liberal arts faculties, and public school personnel will result in role definitions that are significantly different from those that currently exist. Role theory provides…

Contains five articles, all in French, reporting research on French second language instruction. "Francophonie et francais langue seconde a l'oral: quel(s) culture(s), quelles methodes?" (Francophony and Spoken French as a Second Language: What Cultures(s), What Method(s) (D. Issa-Sayegh) discusses the content and structure of a…

A study investigated the attitudes and beliefs of three groups of third- and fourth-grade classroom teachers (special education pull-out, bilingual credentialed, and bilingual waivered, n=18 per group) concerning the reading assessment of Latino language minority students. Data were gathered from semi-structured interviews, a written…

This study was conducted to identify the most salient organizational and personality factors contributing to burnout for elementary, intermediate, and secondary teachers; and to determine the pattern of causal predominance linking these stressors to burnout for each teacher group. Participants in the study, full-time elementary (N=599),…

This paper reviews the theory and practice of teacher ethics. It defines ethics and examines the content of the Code of Ethics of the Education Profession adopted by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1975. An informal survey of 30 teachers found that none had a specific course or workshop in the area of ethics. When prompted to give…

One of the continuing problems and criticisms of human service disciplines is that they often separate research from clinical practice, as if the two had no connection or commonality. This article describes one way in which the two can be brought together for the benefit and empowerment of clients. Specifically, the article presents a model for…

The use of freewriting in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction as a means of promoting communicative competence is examined, particularly as it may improve high-school-level ESL instruction in Japan. First, the educational environment of Japanese high schools is described, and some problems with the teaching of ESL writing are outlined.…