Guidelines regarding self-efficacy assessment are highlighted in the first section of this paper. In the second section, the issue of specificity versus generality of measurement is clarified. And last, preliminary results of a study of eighth graders (n=172) are presented which demonstrate that: (1) the optimal level of specificity of any…

To provide opportunities for self-direction, middle-school educators must offer an orchestrated development plan aimed at the acquisition of attitudes and skills that allow and promote self-direction. Self-direction and self-help are becoming increasingly necessary as "high-tec" cultures move forward. Self-directed learners exhibit…

National standards published in 1995 addressed the importance of foreign language education and identified five goal areas: communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities. This study incorporated these five goals and examined the potential of electronic mail in foreign language learning. In addition, it looked at cultural…

This manual of activities and reproducible drawings and worksheets is designed to encourage reading and to accompany a reading club program. Each chapter is centered around an Olympic sport. As each chapter begins, a bulletin board idea and nametag pattern are provided. This is followed by several storytime ideas for toddlers and preschoolers,…

This study examined the relationship between student effort and performance on the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP), a standardized measure of postsecondary educational development, while statistically controlling for American College Testing (ACT) Assessment scores, ethnicity, gender, length of time between ACT Assessment and…

Grade-5 teachers, who were nominated by their supervisors as effective in educating their students to be readers and writers, responded to questionnaires about their practice. The 33 teachers claimed commitments to: (1) extensive reading at the heart of their reading instruction; (2) diverse instructional activities (e.g., whole-group instruction,…

A high school library media specialist uses storytelling regularly in her oral presentations for students. For an audience of adolescents, stories need to be selected carefully and edited to keep the action moving. Music and character voices are effective in capturing and holding teenagers' attention. Storytelling is a tool for curriculum…

The United States seems to be launching another round of efforts to change how teachers are paid. The path to teacher compensation change is not easy, but there are new ideas about how to pay educated workers, such as teachers, on bases other than years of experience, education units, and degrees. This publication examines state and local efforts…

Intended for use with grades 5-12, this book offers 201 titles of carefully selected novels as an antidote to students' laments about history being boring--good historical fiction that animates the data found in textbooks. The book is an expanded and updated edition of an earlier publication and includes 86 new titles, as well as 40 titles…

Noting that revising is the hardest part of the writing process for children, this book offers practical strategies to effectively motivate students and to help them build the skills to revise their own work. The book suggests that children in grades 2 and above can handle revision if they are taught the skills that enable them to do it and if…

This book is the story of the founder of the Awakening Seed School, who reveals how her childhood interests and experiences have influenced what she has created in her own school and classroom. Using the metaphor of a quilt, the book shows how teaching can be approached as a "handmade" process and how the materials of everyday life can…

Portfolios are collections of selected student work representing an array of performance. This "Consumer Guide" presents information on what has been learned about using portfolios for administrative purposes, the problems involved, and possible solutions to these problems. Student portfolios are being used administratively for…

The use of performance assessment for instruction and accountability and the support for its use provided by the school district were studied in three suburban school districts in Colorado, New York, and Illinois. Two were elementary and secondary districts, but the Illinois district was a high school district. All three districts have employed…

This book deals with various aspects of learners' engagement with open and distance education using biographical material. The book begins with two chapters that cover the diversities that open and distance teachers can expect in learners' backgrounds. The first thoughts of enrollment through the issues involved in students' experiences of open…

Trends in research on participation in adult education have reflected social changes, shifting from sociodemographic surveys toward emphasis on understanding motivation for participating. Participation has been studied primarily from the perspective of service providers, gathering data on participants or dropouts. Since the 1970s, researchers have…