It is no coincidence, that disengagement from school by young adolescents has intensified at precisely the same time as there has been a hardening of educational policy regimes that have made schools less hospitable places for students and teachers. There can be little doubt from research evidence that as conditions conducive of learning in…

Ringeisen, Henderson, and Hoagwood have provided an important discussion of the significance of school context to children's mental health, particularly in relation to empirically supported interventions. They have outlined the influence of context on treatment integrity, and have emphasized appropriately the significant gap between…

The current model of early intervention with children who are deaf or hard of hearing emphasizes parental self-efficacy and involvement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between mothers' self-efficacy beliefs and involvement and children's language skills in a group of mothers of children who are deaf or hard of…

Reflective dialogue is still very much an unexplored area in teacher education in Pakistan. This article presents findings of a study that engaged four teachers in the process of reflective dialogue in a school in Karachi, Pakistan. It explores the teachers' response to the process and possible reasons. It also examines the role played by those…

There have been growing reports of older women and men caring for their grandchildren and great grandchildren. Many of these grandparents are caring for children with developmental disabilities. To systematically examine the effectiveness of a support group intervention for such grandparents, we recruited 97 grandparents through three agencies in…

High school students continue to struggle in algebra, especially in large inner-city schools with underprivileged students. Students are not the only ones skirmishing with algebra. Teachers and school leaders are just as frustrated as they search for answers to complex teaching and learning problems. Two high school principals report the results…

This article describes the pedagogy, practice and outcomes of a digital art program developed to enable high school and middle school students to become active participants in new forms of grassroots public media. Students and their teachers become producers and controllers of art-based videos and associated digital dialogue which is distributed…

Over the last two decades, researchers have presented convincing evidence that teachers are an important key to school improvement and to closing the student achievement gap. However, ensuring that all students are taught by quality teachers--those with the right talent, skills, and experience--is not enough. Teachers--even the best of them--must…

This article outlines a motivational/empowerment model for students on academic probation implemented at The University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG). The model draws from several theoretical orientations, and includes individual and group interaction as well as discussion in four key topic areas: personal responsibility, positive…

Students with disabilities are increasingly enrolled in postsecondary education, yet many of them are not prepared to cope with the rigor of higher education. Students who do not have the skills of self-empowerment often experience frustration and discouragement in the postsecondary setting, leading to their dropping out of school and eventually…

Public school principals encounter a sizable gap between the autonomy they believe they need to be effective and the autonomy that they actually have in practice, especially when it comes to hiring, firing, and transferring teachers. That is a key finding of this report from the Fordham Institute and the American Institutes for Research, which is…

Teachers in "good" schools often provide considerable input into curriculum decisions and other types of school policies. They are considered to be "empowered." This paper argues that the apparent empowerment of teachers in these situations is actually the opposite: In good schools superordinates do not empower teachers; instead, teachers empower…

The 307 schools funded by the Ohio Venture Capital program were the focus of a study on teacher empowerment. This paper focuses on the method used to maximize survey responses, rather than on the study findings. Data were sought from the building principals and 10,544 classroom teachers to create a "total picture" of the individual…

This proceedings contains papers presented at the fourth Annual Conference of the Association of Teachers of English Grammar. Papers in the proceedings are: "Linguistics and English Language Teaching: Another Attempt" (James Kenkel and Robert Yates); "College Students' Attitudes on Grammar--A Survey" (Cornelia Paraskevas);…

This digest discusses the use of faculty mentoring programs to empower faculty and ultimately benefit the institution and improve the quality of higher education. It refers to the literature on mentoring in terms of conceptual frameworks, mentoring arenas, and roles and functions of mentors and proteges. It briefly addresses the following aspects…