Discusses principles to use in evaluating online university courses, including student-faculty contact; cooperation among students; active learning, including course projects; prompt feedback; time on task, including the need for deadlines; high expectations; and respecting diverse talents and ways of learning. (LRW)

The Minneapolis Public Schools have found that certain improvement strategies make a difference: early intervention, near-perfect attendance, smaller classrooms, quality instruction, expectations of excellence, good health, consistency, increased instructional time, community support, multiple measures, aligned curricula, accountability,…

A survey of incoming African American freshmen (n=212) at a predominantly white institution found gender differences in why students attended college and planned to graduate, expectations about declaring a major and the difficulty of college coursework, and amount of involvement in extracurricular activities and campus groups. Many areas…

Teachers and parents, working together, can help students reach their potential. They must set realistic, achievable goals and realize that no one makes progress all the time. The paper discusses what to do when a child underachieves and how teachers can prepare parents to deal with a student's poor grades. (SM)

Teachers supported higher achievement standards and increased accountability, but expressed concerns about variations in student preparation, automatic promotion policies, and standards for homework and grading. Teachers also advocated more standardization and continuity in education, and agreed that raising achievement requires a measure of…

A case study examined ways to improve schools through democratic accountability, highlighting a principal's strategies to increase staff and student expectations in a low-performing middle school in rural Florida. Results gleaned from interviews and surveys suggest that leaders must build schools' capacity for sustaining achievement. (Contains 32…

Used social network analysis to investigate the peer group as context for socialization of young adolescents' school motivation and achievement. Found that students' Fall peer context predicted changes in liking and enjoyment of school and achievement over the year. Students' peer context was unrelated to changes in their beliefs about the…

Explored factors underlying elementary children's incorrect task responses in physical education. Data from class observations and student and teacher interviews indicated that children participated in the instructional setting at their own developmental level of understanding and competency, comprehension did not necessarily reflect…

If female outdoor leaders assume a leadership style incongruent to their gender role, they may receive negative evaluations even though situations necessitate such behavior. Male and female outdoor leaders can break down gender-role expectations by identifying their own leadership styles and gender biases, creating awareness in colleagues of…

A science teacher at a Portland (Oregon) parochial school has made the school a major contender at local, state, and national science fairs. He instills confidence in his students through high expectations. Science projects are 25 percent of a student's grade, and through public presentation of findings, they learn public speaking skills and…

This article explores the identification of culturally diverse gifted students and provides the following suggestions: train teachers to look for gifted behaviors in different areas, use portfolios in assessments, change perceptions of innate abilities of students, recognize potential that can be developed, and recognize giftedness other than…

The extent to which teacher expectations, disconfirming information, and parental involvement affect teacher judgments was examined among 147 Canadian preservice teachers who assessed an imaginary eighth grader's progress over a 10-week period. The student's final grade was significantly affected by teacher expectations based on socioeconomic…

Today, one out of four American children attends school in an urban district; one out of every six American children lives in poverty; and, in urban schools where most of the students are poor, two-thirds or more of the children fail to reach even the "basic" level of achievement on national tests. Urban schools are where most states…

This article looks at the experiences of young people with Statements of special educational needs prior to and following moves from primary to secondary school. Pam Maras and Emma-Louise Aveling of the University of Greenwich, London, used interviews to develop six qualitative case studies focusing on the transition process. Findings from these…

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Latino students accounted for 18% of the school population in 2003, and the larger Latino population had reached 41.3 million as of 2004. With a yearly growth rate of 3.6%, Latinos continue to be the fastest growing population group in the nation. As Latinos continue to shape the diversity in the schools, many…