Children and adolescents who succeed have specific assets in their lives--developmental assets, such as family support and self-esteem. The more assets young people have, the less likely they are to lose their way and get into trouble. Based on nationwide studies of children in grades 6 through 12, this book spells out 40 assets that help children…

This manual, part of Project STEPS (Sequenced Transition to Education in the Public Schools) is intended to provide teachers, particularly those at the preschool level, with ideas for increasing independence in young children as they make the transition from preschool to school-age programs. Section 1 is an overview of instructional issues which…

Defining literacy development as a continuous process that has its roots in the home, this training guide is intended to enhance the skills of Head Start staff in collaborating with families to support the development of children's language skills. The guide also describes the emerging literacy for children from birth through the preschool years.…

This paper addresses the prevalence and identification of social skills deficits in students with learning disabilities. It begins by discussing the definition of learning disabilities and then reviews literature on the social difficulties of this population. Findings indicate that approximately 75 percent of children with learning disabilities…

By using a game-centered approach, mental health professionals can help teach social and emotional skills to their clients. The 66 games described in this book are presented using a standard format that includes suggestions for how to help players use their skills in daily life. The games were field tested using an evaluation strategy that focused…

This study examined the relationships among parent psychological well-being, parents' perceptions of their children's social competence, and reported use of authoritative parenting strategies during the kindergarten year. Parents of 179 kindergarten children in a small Midwestern U.S. city who were also involved in a Head Start Transition Study…

This paper explains that Grotberg (1995) has developed two measures of child resilience, one eliciting children's responses to vignettes depicting difficult situations and the second a checklist completed by an adult. Two studies examined the validity of these methods of assessing child resilience. Study 1 focused on the validity of vignettes and…

The Child Development Project (CDP) was designed to enhance the development of prosocial characteristics in school children in kindergarten through sixth grade. It was developed and evaluated in a school district (San Ramon) in the San Francisco, California area. The features of the program include: (1) an instructional approach that enhances…

In 1990, Elizabeth Dole, then Secretary of the Department of Labor, established the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) to determine the skills that youths need to participate in the workplace and the skill levels that entry-level jobs require. SCANS determined that workplace skills consist of foundation skills and…

This document provides a rationale for developing in adults enrolled in education and training reentry programs the skills to cope with pressures from their "significant others." It also includes instructional activities designed to develop those skills. The first four sections of the report provide an overview, a literature review, a…

This paper, by reporting on research literature published from 1980 to 1992, attempts to identify the origins of interpersonal and social skill deficits of adolescents and young adults with visible physical disabilities, either congenital or acquired during very early childhood. The paper examines the nature of interpersonal and social skills and…

This report outlines the work of the Fort McMurray School District in Alberta, Canada, to develop a set of indicators of and standards applicable to students' social skills, behaviors, and attitudes. The indicators and standards are intended to be used to assess the quality of a selected portion of the district's education program and delivery.…

Site visits to three New England prisons were conducted to gather information on the multicultural environments of Hispanic prison inmates and to identify English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teaching materials available for use with Hispanic American inmates. Available materials were located, and the materials' effectiveness was discussed with…

This book contains information targeted at executives, line managers, and human resource executives responsible for bringing the team vision to their organizations. A prologue defines teams and shows how they are developed. Part I (chapters 1-4) has the following purposes: introduces the team empowerment continuum, shows how a reshuffling of…

The RE-FOCUS Program at Ruskin High School in Kansas City, Missouri, helps at-risk students to redefine their efforts in social behavior and academic success. When inappropriate behavior occurs and the classroom teacher needs assistance, the student is taken out of his/her regular school environment and assigned in the RE-FOCUS room. The program,…