Chapters in this volume describe and analyze distinct types of programs that seek to promote knowledge, competence, and a sense of belonging for diverse youth in environments that permit children's socialization and learning. The following chapters are included: (1) "Development and Context and the Contexts of Learning" (Francisco A. Villarruel…

This final report documents Phase I of a federally funded, naturalistic study of how middle schools can integrate technology into mainstream instruction for mildly handicapped students. Phase I of the study, carried out from October 1986 through September 1989, examined teacher practices that create successful, computer-supported learning…

This study describes what some urban teachers at one school believe and know about literacy teaching and learning, and relates what they believe and know to two contrasting viewpoints about the way students become literate (mechanism and contextualism). Quantitative and qualitative measures were used to create summaries of teacher beliefs and…

Whether or not working with more realistic and lengthier problems during instruction would make students better able to solve similar problems on achievement tests was studied for 82 seventh graders (50 in the experimental condition and 32 in the control condition) in general mathematics classes at an urban middle school. The study also…

This study examines the question of students as context for what happens in school and the ways in which educators' subjective interpretations of the realities students bring with them to school influence every aspect of the school environment. The focus is on contemporary, nontraditional students whose academic backgrounds, families, values, or…

This paper reports the findings from the qualitative component of a study of first-year teachers in urban schools in Connecticut during the school year 1989-90. Five first-year teachers, each from a different school in the Hartford (Connecticut) Public School System, were interviewed at 2-week intervals throughout the school year. The study was…

An empirical approach is adopted in this paper to explore a possible model for prediction of students' science achievement in China and the United States. Construction of the model is based on the ninth-grade data base from Phase 2 of the Second International Education Association Science Study (SISS) in the United States and the SISS Extension…

The contextual factors that influence the infusion of technology into rural and urban schools are explored in this study of technology integration in education. Two case studies of schools that have had a technology-rich environment for at least two years are analyzed using a document review, focus-group interviews, individual interviews, and…

Researchers have found that students who attend Catholic high schools tend to outperform public high school students on standardized tests of achievement. Although many aspects of this finding have been examined in subsequent research, little attention has been paid to the issue of how ability grouping affects achievement across school sectors. A…

This study examines the factors that influence participation in vocational education among students who attended high school during the early 1990s--that is, when the focus of federal vocational education policy began to change. The factors examined included three types of characteristics of students, their parents, and their high schools: (1)…

Teachers make the greatest impact on students--what they learn, how they learn it, and what they do with it. Decades of research clearly demonstrate that a quality teacher, more than any other factor, enables students to overcome obstacles to learning like poverty and can even erase the achievement gap. The problem is that many teachers lack the…

This report is an executive summary of two previously-released reports presenting findings from Wave 2: The Academic Achievement and Functional Performance of Youth with Disabilities and After High School: A First Look at the Postschool Experiences of Youth with Disabilities. Some key findings presented in the Overview include the following: (1) A…

This handbook is designed for native English speakers who are preparing to teach English in China. The contents of the handbook are selected based on the findings of face-to-face interviews and a questionnaire survey conducted by the author with experienced native English teachers to China as the partial fulfillment of her Master's in TESOL…

Noting that adolescents' academic achievement depends, to a large degree, on adolescents' motivation, this chapter takes an achievement goal theory perspective to show how the manner in which adolescents adopt differing achievement goal orientations provides a framework for understanding the processes that contribute to their adoption of adaptive…

This research project is a study of education, out-migration of young adults, and the impact of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) on the education and economies of rural communities in Newfoundland and Labrador. A qualitative study of Newfoundland and Labrador's rural schools were conducted from January to August 2001. This report…