A report from the National Endowment for the Arts, among much other such research, reveals that literacy is in serious decline in America. Ramifications of this decline extend beyond English and language departments to affect all other disciplines, ultimately raising the question of how a democracy can function when its citizens abandon the…

As the lead Advanced Placement (AP) English teacher at Suncoast High School, a magnet school, the author started a pilot program teaching the lowest quartile group of African American students the AP English Literature and Composition course their senior year. Their educational background was limited, and several were not able to write a complete…

Evander Childs High School and Morris High School are two of the largest and most challenged secondary schools in the Bronx. Despite decades of political handwringing, many attempts at school reform, an array of corporate and community partner programs, and efforts to recruit highly qualified faculties for the long term, many of the students in…

This study examined the roles of school climate, teacher expectations, and instructional practices in one elementary school in South Carolina (USA) that produced effective achievement outcomes with poor and minority students. Survey data, teacher interviews, and classroom videotaping was used to identify school characteristics and instructional…

This paper identifies a sample of process-oriented instructional strategies that may assist college faculty in augmenting their teaching repertoire and help students acquire skills used by learning organizations in industrial settings to facilitate problem-solving and quality improvement. It explains the role analysis technique, whereby the…

Not all schools and teachers maintain uniformly high expectations for all students. Evidence suggests that schools can improve student learning by encouraging teachers and students to set their sights high. This digest synthesizes recent research about teachers' expectations and the ways in which teachers' expectations affect student performance;…

"Consciousness of Kind" is a socio-anthropological phenomenon which shows how people belong to groups in which they are conscious of "their kind." How consciousness of kind could affect teachers' pedagogical judgments and decisions, or their behavior toward learners who are not of their "kind," is described in this…

Increased international business and technological advances that speed business communication are affecting the expectations that business has for translators. More companies are asking translation agencies to translate such items as English business letters, advertising campaigns, flyers, brochures, and technical manuals into other languages,…

Teachers play an important role in monitoring the effects of stimulant medication used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Any negative attitudes they hold toward ADHD students or the students' parents, doctors, or medication, can compromise treatment efficacy. To assess teachers' perceptions of ADHD concerning social…

This study examined 60 children from the first, fourth and seventh grades to discover their beliefs concerning alcohol. A vignette procedure method was used to assess the development of children's knowledge of adult drinking motives and beliefs about the causes of adolescent drinking. Children's expectations about the interpersonal consequences of…

The culture of the composition profession has engaged in grossly overgeneralizing the problems students have, and students have bought into teachers' descriptions. Composition teachers need to take responsibility for the ways in which they have diminished students. In a detailed account of the construction of students, Marguerite Helmers…

This study examined 14 sixth grade teachers' opinions about classroom management, gathering information from an online discussion group conducted during the summer of 1997. Researchers selected and analyzed the teachers' opinions using content analysis according to the tenets of three classroom management theories: (1) the non-interventionist…

This handbook is designed to help school communities work together to strengthen California's public schools. It provides information to help leaders in school-improvement efforts be more effective and is designed for parent leaders, teacher leaders, school administrators, businesspeople, philanthropists, school board members, and others with a…

Findings from a study that examined the effectiveness of schools in closing the academic achievement gap between low and middle socio-economic status (SES) students in grades K-12 are presented in this paper. The main argument is that the schools identified as "effective" did not close the gap without simultaneously lowering the average academic…

This paper addresses the effects of developmental changes that occur in the transition from childhood to adolescence on parent-child relationships. The first section considers four theoretical approaches to changes in relationships during the transition to adolescence. Noted especially are perspectives regarding the impetus for changes in…