To initiate their study of competency-based teacher education programs, authors investigate the area of desired pupil outcomes. They find significant agreement among college professors, public school teachers, and between these groups concerning the priorities of specified pupil behaviors. (Editor/RK)

Describes a series of disciplinary measures that are being developed in schools across the country as alternatives to suspension from school. They range from special classes to efforts to bring about parental truancy control, and they reflect several new educational realities. (Author/RK)

Aims at exposing some of the more common questions asked by beginning teachers and at trying to bring some insight into the answers to these questions. (Author/RK)

Schools are places seething with strong feelings. Here are some tips for dealing with them sensibly. (Editor)

On the surface, Ponapean culture and values seem dominant in student behavior despite the American schooling structure. However, a major cultural transformation is occurring, as children are forced, because of age-grade structure, to form a new social order based on peer relationships rather than family structure. (RW)

Discipline is viewed in its broad organizational context as control of behavior. The context of secondary school discipline is analyzed in both its theoretical and practical aspects. Available from: Australian College of Education, 916 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia, $2.50 single copy. (Author/MLF)

To determine the effects of teaching experience on changes in accuracy of teachers' recall of their own and their students' specific classroom behaviors during teaching, researchers observed and interviewed elementary teachers with a range of experiences. Results suggested that teachers progressed in thoroughness of recall along different paths…

Investigates the attribution of success and failure in five naturally occurring clusters of 7th-grade students (N=217): Popular Insiders, Ambitious Insiders, Outsiders, Alienated Disengaged, and Invisible Students. Discusses the achievement attributions of each cluster and argues that school counselors need to understand achievement-related…

Focuses on the emotional/cognitive processes associated with teacher ratings of empathic and socially competent behaviors. Results indicate that children (N=120) with higher empathy ratings and at higher grade levels received higher scores on a storytelling measure--the Thematic Apperception Test. Clarifies the social information processing of…

Examines patterns of alcohol use at a mid-South state university so as to discover the reasons students (N=403) endorse for not drinking on those occasions when they chose not to drink. Results indicate that safety needs, the risk of underage drinking, the affordability of alcohol, and religiosity all contributed to decisions not to drink. (RJM)

In Florida, the Learn & Serve America program has fostered evolutionary, perhaps revolutionary, changes in teaching and learning. Data from 1995-96 Florida Learn & Serve grantees mirror the positive results of the previous academic year. By heavy majorities (62% to 82%), participating students showed improvements in attendance, conduct,…

Describes a new psychoeducational treatment model for antisocial youth. Discusses the principles and methods for cultivating a positive caring culture in the schools and how the program equips youth for effective peer helping by integrating positive peer culture with training in moral development, anger management, social skills, and correcting…

Describes how staff in one school concluded that its suspension policies and practices were counterproductive, leading them to develop proactive discipline procedures that transformed the school culture from a depersonalized organization to a community of mutual respect among all its members. The program emphasizes recognition of students' good…

Investigates the effects of child behavior problems on teachers' (N=3) intervention fidelity across two intervention protocols: escape extinction and functional communication training. Results indicate that a high rate of behavior problems during escape extinction appeared to punish teachers' efforts. A low rate of behavior problems was evident…