The 11 chapters of this theme issue explore important issues that relate cognitive style to educational concerns. They link cognitive style with reading comprehension, parental teaching, family qualities, teaching, distance learning, strategic learning, socialization, and athletic performance. (SLD)

Interviews with 28 African-American eighth graders indicate that some African-American students with a high awareness of racial discrimination respond in ways that are conducive to academic success. Positive racial socialization was a primary success factor for these students. (SLD)

New neuroscientific knowledge is redefining possibilities for K-12 education. There are five critical variables in the brain's learning process: neural history, context, acquisition, elaboration, and encoding. This article tracks one student's unique brain activity throughout her school day to illustrate these variables. (MLH)

Lee Shulman's vision of good teaching includes nurturing students' moral and spiritual development, civic engagement, and socialization. High-stakes tests do not embody standards. When evaluating and rewarding teachers, mentoring and monitoring functions should be separated. National Board for Professional Teaching Standards improvement incentives…

A study of 250 new teaching assistants and 122 tenure-track faculty investigated their endorsement of 4 norms defining appropriate and inappropriate teaching behavior: (1) interpersonal disregard; (2) particularistic grading; (3) moral turpitude; and (4) inadequate planning. Both groups accorded the norms similar levels of impropriety. Questions…

Although teachers are increasingly expected to work with colleagues, administrators, and parents to achieve schoolwide reforms, the existing professional socialization of new teachers does little to encourage acquisition of collaboration skills. Preservice education must help beginning teachers develop the commitment, skills, and knowledge…

Examines family life factors that contribute to, or inhibit, the development of a child's emotional health and social well-being. Special problems in the socialization of African Americans are discussed, and the goals and practices these families should strive for to help them survive are explored. (GR)

Examined the Japanese concepts of "sunao," a quality of docility or cooperativeness in kindergarten children, age 6 and a half years old, from the viewpoint of children themselves. Examined how Japanese adults promote their children's internalization of parental, group, and institutional norms. Discusses the role of "sunao" as…

Used social network analysis to investigate the peer group as context for socialization of young adolescents' school motivation and achievement. Found that students' Fall peer context predicted changes in liking and enjoyment of school and achievement over the year. Students' peer context was unrelated to changes in their beliefs about the…

Although most constructivist classrooms feature active, social, and creative learning, different kinds of knowledge (inert, ritual, conceptually difficult, and foreign) invite varied constructivist responses, not one standard approach. Constructivism is pragmatic and should be viewed as a toolbox for problems of learning; teachers should use…

Presents a study in which 56 students in two Year 1 classes were taught a series of arts lessons on three-dimensional clay modeling. One class was taught using traditional practices and the other using social modeling and cognitive learning. The social learning group evidenced strong gains in measures of creativity. (CMK)

Surveys of 242 Hispanic students attending New Mexico Highlands University and California State University, San Bernardino, examined students' political attitudes, political activism, and attitude toward bilingual education in relation to students' choice of ethnic label (Hispanic, Chicano, or Mexican American), level of acculturation, income, and…

Presents an overview of six years into research of Maori girls' schooling in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and the role of education in the formation of their national identity. Focuses on the research methodology associated with the discovery of the documents and narratives on which the research is based. (CMK)

New heads taking up their appointments in English schools in recent years have had supportive programmes to help them, both prior to headship and on taking up the role. This study examines the experience of heads new to their role in primary and secondary schools over the period 2002-2004. All were participants in the National College for School…

Assesses why educational attainment is associated with many diverse social outcomes. Uses multivariate models to measure schooling, socioeconomic status, and cognitive ability. Explains outcome variables include attitudes toward civil liberties and gender equality, social and cultural capital, and civic knowledge. Indicates only modest evidence of…