Issues pertinent to prenatal drug-affected students are discussed in this ERIC Digest. The rising number of drug-exposed children approaching school age presents a challenge to school personnel in meeting their special needs. Topics covered are: (1) seriousness of the problem; (2) problems unique to drug-affected children; (3) creation of a…

Results of an assessment of 50 ecological and stress management competencies that were developed as part of a Kansas project to improve retention of special education personnel are presented in narrative and data sections. Ecological considerations include those that contribute to job success, such as job challenge and community atmosphere, while…

A study was made of children beginning school, to learn more about their response to school and how to help them adapt to it. Participants in the study's year-long first phase were 36 teachers from two very different local education authorities (LEA) and 92 children who started school in 1985-86. Teachers identified activities and organization in…

The Minneapolis public elementary school program in Spanish is described. It was established in 1974 as a FLES program in kindergarten and first grade, later established as part of a fundamental school alternative, and recently expanded to a partial immersion program. Children ideally follow the program from kindergarten through sixth grade. A…

A French language program used in a Montessori school with children in preschool through junior high grades is described. The program provides language instruction in the classroom by a French specialist as well as separate French classes, a compromise between immersion and the Montessori methodology. The children are able to work independently…

Measures of both preferred and actual classroom and school environment were administered to 1,675 secondary school students in New South Wales (Australia). Shortened versions of the My Class Inventory, Classroom Environment Scale, and Individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire, as well as the Quality of School Life questionnaire were…

Despite the surrounding controversy, second language instruction for America's language minority children is an important educational issue for continued methodological innovation and examination. The most effective and productive classroom interaction processes and dynamics in bilingual and second language instruction are still not appropriately…

A review of more than 500 empirical studies conducted since 1970 on the achievement of Mexican Americans identified prior claims supported and/or refuted by data, isolated promising hypotheses for further investigation or educational implementation, and made recommendations for improvement of schooling, school-home relations, and teacher…

Affective communication behavior is central to the teaching-learning process. A review of literature reveals that the affective domain has been viewed primarily as a teacher property rather than as an interactive variable in the process of student learning. However, there is a need for research that explores how affective behavior is negotiated…

A project to improve college instruction in the basic and allied health sciences at New York Chiropractic College and the New York Institute of Technology is described. Attention was directed to: the kinds of resources colleges and professional schools provide to improve instruction; motivation of faculty to explore innovative or strategic…

The text provides information to secondary school principals to assist them in designing and maintaining effective educational programs for severely handicapped high school students, including those who are labeled moderately or severely retarded, multiply handicapped, or autistic. A model of effective program characteristics is followed by a…

The Significant Bilingual Instructional Features (SBIF) study identified, described, and verified features of bilingual instruction of a wide variety of limited English proficient (LEP) students. It collected data on instructional organization, time allocation, classroom language use, active teaching behaviors, academic learning time, student…

Although writing and reading instruction can be integrated regardless of the reading program materials used, teachers need a greater understanding of the similarities and differences in reading and writing processes, as well as knowledge of ways in which instruction can be merged, before integration can take place. Both reading and writing are…

This study focused on the identification and description of environmental characteristics and their relationship to basic skills exposure. The objectives of the study were to identify the major factors that characterize environments in which learning is intended to occur, and to delineate patterns of co-exposure to basic skills and environmental…

A program was designed for training secondary school trainee teachers in expressive nonverbal behavior and for assessing the effect of various combinations of different training elements. The program was developed on the basis of nonverbal descriptors of "enthusiastic teaching": vocal delivery, eyes, facial expression, gestures, and eye contact…