This paper reviews the literature on positive and negative aspects of diagnostic classification of children, or labeling. It reviews the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which mandated that special education must be available to all children with disabilities. Definitional issues in diagnostic labeling of students with learning…

Student self-concept represents a newly emerging and extremely important field of study for instructors and classroom facilitators. This paper presents studies and theories investigating self-concept as a significant factor in the classroom. Self-concept is deeply imbedded in intrapersonal, perception, and interpersonal communication. In order to…

This guide describes eight skills every teacher should learn that were derived from a study of 252 schools in 50 states, American territories and protectorates, and 14 foreign countries over a 16-year period (1980-1996). Interviews were conducted with 769 teachers, 253 administrators, and 23 other school personnel. The skills include: (1) the…

Although cooperation between community college and university faculty regarding the characteristics of college-level coursework has been difficult to attain, the development of such standards could reduce frustration and costs for transfer students and help reduce duplication of efforts. In an effort to find areas of agreement on such…

Australia's process for quality child care improvement has 20 core principles, 4 of which relate to interactions between children and staff: (1) staff interactions with children should be warm and friendly; (2) all children should be treated equally, and their individual needs and backgrounds should be respected; (3) both sexes should be treated…

Demonstrating to teachers how to experience the joys of the craft along with their students, this book examines portfolios, record keeping, and methods for teaching conventions, spelling, and literary genres including fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Each chapter includes a varying number of "Actions," glossed objectives providing new…

This investigation examined the dimensional sources and perceptions of occupational stress experienced by department chairs in institutions of higher education, and the influence of professional independent variables associated with these stressors. Surveys were mailed to 800 randomly selected department chairs at 100 institutions (523 surveys…

Children and adolescents who succeed have specific assets in their lives--developmental assets, such as family support and self-esteem. The more assets young people have, the less likely they are to lose their way and get into trouble. Based on nationwide studies of children in grades 6 through 12, this book spells out 40 assets that help children…

This paper analyzes the results of three studies about teacher causal explanation of failure in the Brazilian public elementary schools. Confronted with very high incidence of school dropout and retention, the investigators asked public school teachers to choose the main determinants of dropout and failure in their schools. Two studies were…

This volume examines education-reform efforts in U.S. public schools. The report, which focuses on higher standards for student achievement, is based on two nation-wide studies: the Public School Teacher Survey on Education Reform and the Public School Survey on Education Reform. The survey included questions on teachers' understanding of higher…

Research suggests that teacher expectations can predict changes in student achievement and behavior. This Digest discusses the Pygmalion effect, or the idea that one's expectations about a person can eventually lead that person to behave and achieve in ways that conform to those expectations. Many teachers believe that they can judge ahead of time…

Using a social constructivist theoretical framework, the case of Ella demonstrates how one fifth-grade, African-American student who participated in a writing process classroom appropriated the dialogue from social interaction and transformed it to use in her own texts and in her talk with others. During the teacher-student writing conferences,…

Forty-two pairs of experienced and novice teachers predicted the rank order of their pupils' scores on the reading and mathematics portions of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS). The pool of novice teachers were first semester students in the Arizona State University Professional Teacher Preparation Program (PTPP). The experienced teachers in…

This case study was conducted to construct an in-depth description of the ethos, i.e., pattern of orientations and sentiments, of three Iowa teachers who have been selected as state winners in the Teacher of the Year program sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers, Encyclopedia Brittanica, and Good Housekeeping Maagazine. Using an…

Findings of a study that investigated whether or not ability grouping can be implemented more effectively are presented in this paper, with a focus on exploring possible instances of high quality instruction in low ability classes. Methodology involved observation, teacher questionnaires and interviews, student tests and questionnaires, and…