This response to EC 603 649 highlights issues in graduate training of behavior analysts, including the need for research on behavior analysis training programs, the use of an apprenticeship model, the proportion of graduates produced at different degree levels, and the need for a distinction between applied research and service delivery. (JDD)

During the 1980s, the established, time-honored theoretic concepts of the past four decades (emphasizing mathematical proof and laboratory science thinking) yielded to newer, richer ways of understanding organizations. Three new streams of thought (effective schools research, the reform movement, and human resources theory) have given…

Suggests that the cultural diversity of the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom can enhance instruction. Proposes application of Paulo Freire's problem-posing approach to teaching basic college writing in the multiethnic setting. Identifies teaching principles that have proven useful in urban testing. Discusses the integration of problem…

Stanford Professor Lee Shulman reflects on the limitations of effective teaching generalizations and describes how case histories, or specific stories about classroom experience, can enrich our collective wisdom of experience. Certain "effective teaching" practices (like asking short, focused questions suitable for standardized testing) do not…

A recent study of 491 government secondary school teachers in Victoria, Australia, explores the relationship between sources and types of social support and teacher burnout, using an instrument based on House's typology. Results uphold previous research pointing to principal support as a significant predictor of burnout. However, certain types of…

This article provides guidance to special education teachers who need to assess proposals involving their collaboration in research. Recommended considerations include the conceptual soundness of the research, feasibility, and ethics. (DB)

Discussion of ways to improve student focuses on the simple concept of letting students read whatever they choose, including comic books or so-called trashy books. Barriers to this approach are discussed, including the difficulty in breaking away from past practices and academic research that is unhelpful to practitioners. (LRW)

Outlines the historical development of modernism and its impact on literary studies in today's classrooms. Advocates abandoning modernist teaching modes. Describes an alternative postmodernist epistemology and how it might inform literary studies, particularly in fostering an ethics of reading and writing. (HB)

A theory of group development is used to organize a social work course teaching the task force approach to community policy formation. An advanced course on homelessness illustrates the method. It is suggested that some courses can incorporate both substantive content and innovative group methods to satisfy two requirements. (MSE)

Describes two Treasure Mountain IV conferences. The first conference brought practitioners together with researchers Stephen Krashen and Keith Lance to discuss evidence that school library media programs make a difference in academic achievement. The second conference focused on the possibility of measuring the impact of library media programs on…

Responds to an article in the same journal on the rhetoric of whole language. Provides alternative readings in the defining and deconstructing of whole language, and argues that its sense will come from the points of difference rather than from the precision of final definitions. (SR)

This paper discusses the historical context of communication and language intervention and critiques three widely used interventions. It advocates a cross-paradigmatic approach because its inherent flexibility fits with what is known about language acquisition, the nature of different intervention approaches, and human development. This approach…

In the development of word recognition skills, self-discovery may not be the most efficacious mode of learning, and it may be useful to isolate or fractionate cognitive components. Successful intervention directed at word recognition involves exogenous constructivism, in which explicit instruction and teacher-directed strategy teaching are not…

This article examines constructivism in terms of the learner, the content, teacher-student interactions, motivation, and assessment; evaluates mathematics standards and their sensitivity to students with mild/moderate disabilities; and identifies 19 instructional components derived from constructivism, focusing on teacher behaviors, teacher…

This pair of rejoinders to Rainforth (EC 609 966) by the original authors stresses that commitment to an educational philosophy (such as the inclusion philosophy) should not override the educational needs of individual students with mental retardation. The lack of empirical support for many such educational philosophies is also noted. (DB)