A study examined the effects of individual characteristics, institutional characteristics and experiences, and financial aid on African-American and White students' degree aspirations. Students' aspirations were mostly the result of socioeconomic factors, initial degree aspirations, and institutional characteristics. Financial aid was not a…

Presents specific recommendations to prevent underachievement, including matching experienced teachers who have realistically high expectations with low-achievement students, reducing class size, establishing professional-development programs to assist teachers in learning effective ways to communicate with students and parents from diverse…

This study investigated patterns among three practices used by 52 general education teachers for inclusion of students with disabilities: grouping strategies, teacher expectations, and modifications. Results found a pattern of differences between content and special area teachers in use of large-group instruction and reliance on special education…

Changes in America's undergraduate students (cultural diversity, age, expectations of college and career, psychological and social background, patterns of socializing) add up to the demise of traditional residential college life. Colleges can address these shifts by focusing their efforts, using all available opportunities to educate student,…

Explores student attitudes toward and expectations about a science methods course. Science-teaching skills associated with personal survival were prominent both in the expectations of the prospective teachers and in what they valued from such a course. Focus on personal concerns made a difference in the confidence with which teachers approach…

This study investigated contemporary social cognitive variables and likely adult influence factors in predicting intended and self-reported vigorous physical activity in young adolescents. Student surveys indicated that frequency and intensity of adult encouragement was a significant predictor of children's self-reported strenuous physical…

A study of senior education majors in the United Kingdom investigated the realism of student expectations of a required independent research project. Student self-assessments and teacher assessments showed little correlation, and students' evaluation criteria emphasized lower-order skills (style and presentation) and ignored higher-order processes…

Reviews research on teacher efficacy, concluding that teachers who believe they are effective set more challenging goals for themselves and their students, take responsibility for student outcomes, and persist when faced with obstacles to learning. The article suggests that efforts to improve schools should include attention to teacher efficacy.…

This teacher examined the effect of allowing her first graders to choose their own topics for writing. She gathered and analyzed evidence from observations, discussions, surveys, and Likert-like scales, then changed the way she facilitated and taught writing. Students wrote from their imaginations and experiences and became more original, genuine,…

The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's Equity Center has identified several disturbing trends, including renewed physical separation, cultural biases, lower teacher expectations, and ability grouping, resulting in inequitable policies and practices and unsatisfactory student achievement. Seven key ameliorative components, including access…

Examined low socioeconomic-status (SES) preschool classrooms for teacher perceptions of children and teacher/child interactions as a function of ethnicity. Hispanic teachers described Hispanic boys as having high levels of difficulty; they engaged in high levels of interaction with them. Perceptions of girls were more positive and less influenced…

This pilot study examined the approaches and expectations regarding personal and professional balance among nine student affairs officers. The focus of the exercise was to determine lessons about balance obtained from professionals who have been mentored or are mentoring younger staff. Demographic variables were also examined to determine how they…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether relations existed between sixth, seventh, and eighth grade learners' and their teachers' efficacy beliefs and outcome expectancies and whether student perceived efficacy beliefs were predictors of reading comprehension achievement as measured by a reading comprehension subtest score on a state…

This article employs the concept of intersubjectivity to analyze developments in and discrepancies between students' understandings of criteria for effective writing and the criteria of their teacher. It reports on a study that employed qualitative methods of interview and classroom observation in conjunction with analysis of students' writing and…

This article talks about how a teacher from Rail Road Flat Elementary School, Randall Youngblood, handles his class of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders through discipline. Discipline and the kind of teach-to-the-test learning that has become endemic in the era of No Child Left Behind has kept his students' energy channeled. Such rote learning often gets…