Social studies is essential in elementary curriculum. It is the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. Within the school program, social studies provides coordinated, systematic study drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, law, psychology, religion,…

In 2002, National Center for Education Research (NCER) began with three research grant competitions--one focused on reading instruction, one on preschool curricula, and one on student learning from a cognitive science perspective. These competitions resulted in a total of 24 research grants. Since that auspicious beginning, the grant competitions…

Perhaps no school reform has generated as much interest and controversy in recent years as the proposal to have parents select their children's schools. Opponents of school choice fear that rolling back the government's role will lead to profit-driven financial scandals, sectarianism, and increased class and racial isolation. School choice…

Background/Context: The current era of educational reform targets teacher education and aims to improve the performance of children who have traditionally underperformed and are underserved in public schools. Although educational policy has tried to address the ways in which "good teaching" contributes to improved student educational outcomes,…

The purpose of this study is to examine whether teachers' perceptions of educational value discontinuity are predictive of the psychological antecedents of academic performance (e.g., academic engagement and academic self-efficacy) during middle school. Educational value discontinuity is defined as the difference between teachers' actual…

Arguing that adolescence is a syndrome to be managed rather than a stage to be outgrown, this book offers suggestions from a high school principal as an insider's guide to today's teenage world. The book contends that the major task of adolescence is to gain mastery over emotion, and that a partnership between parents and educators is imperative…

A project was conducted at the Lake Washington Vocational Technical Institute to develop a curriculum and provide a pilot class in the consumer and homemaking program to address the needs of persons with the dual role of homemaker and wage earner. The format chosen for the course was a series of seminars to be conducted on-site at business offices…

The paper reports on the first year of an eighth grade social studies unit, "Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior" (ED 152 670). The unit focuses on the question of individual responsibility in society. During the first year of the program, experimental and control groups were pre- and posttested in four domains:…

This bulletin contains a list of the monthly record of current educational publications for March 1913. The publications are organized into two sections: (1) Publications of associations; and (2) Bureau of Education: Recent publications. The Bureau of Education: Recent publications cover the following topics: (1) General Reference Works; (2)…

Abu Ghraib. The name conjures horrifying images of abuse, torture, and man's inhumanity to man. In one photograph, a pyramid of naked detainees huddles outside a jail cell; in another, a soldier holds the end of a dog leash which is attached at the neck to a prostrate prisoner; in another, a soldier gives the thumbs-up sign in front of a line of…

Middle school students are at a critical point in their lives. One way or another they are learning the decision-making and coping skills that they will use as adults. To be successful they need guidance from caring teachers, parents, coaches, and other significant adults who are positive role models. For Cal Ripken, Jr. and his brother Bill, it…

This study presents new findings comparing public and private high schools using top-quality data from the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS), a long-term research project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. The ELS project tracks individual data on thousands of students, allowing researchers to conduct much better analyses than are…

During the mid-nineteenth century, Americans created the functional equivalent of earlier state religious establishments. Supported by mandatory taxation, purportedly inclusive, and vested with messianic promise, public schooling, like the earlier established churches, was touted as a bulwark of the Republic and as an essential agent of moral and…

This report describes a program designed to enhance social studies skills and knowledge. The target areas for enhancement are geography, economics, history, and core democratic values. The need for strengthening these skills was documented by literature, and surveys. An analysis of probable cause for lack of social studies skills revealed that…

This article discusses how all four facets of administrative ecology help dispel the claims about the "impossibility" of the superintendency. These are personal ecology, professional ecology, organizational ecology, and community ecology. Using today's superintendency as an administrative platform, current literature describes a preponderance of…