This collection of essays reflects the notion that perceptions of children and childhood shape approaches to education and child rearing. The essays include: (1) "The Child Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow," on how children have been regarded throughout recorded history; (2) "Piaget and Montessori in the Classroom," examining the…

Written by a Los Angeles history teacher frustrated by the lack of culturally relevant materials, this book covers some of the most interesting events in the history of Mexico and the heritage of Mexican Americans. Chapters are: (1) Indian Mexico (Teotihuacan, the Maya, the Toltecs, and the Aztecs); (2) La Conquista (Cortes and Moctezuma, conquest…

For two working-class academics/editors, the book they co-edited, "This Fine Place So Far from Home: Voices of Academics from the Working Class," is a working-class book masquerading as a traditional scholarly work. Over 100 submissions were received for the collection, and most were autobiographical and did not resemble scholarly essays…

This paper presents an ex post facto analysis of the performance of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) college students in ESL and mainstream freshman composition courses. Students were evaluated on 4 essays written during the 10-week quarter and a final in-class essay. This final essay examination focused on a common theme, was evaluated by at…

An informal study explored the difficulties of writing teachers who are asked to set aside preferred ways of viewing student writing for state-mandated criteria when serving as evaluators for state-mandated tests, such as Florida's College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST). Twelve high school, community college, and university-level writing…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the formal teaching of grammatical rules would affect the writing quality of sixth graders. Comparison was made between students of two University Lab Schools located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The study was limited to the observation of written expression, because of limited…

Since the publication of Samuel Shem's "House of God," medical students and residents have been famous for their cynical conversations about patients and life on the wards. This image is largely a caricature, yet peer pressure, medical machismo, stressful working conditions, and house staff subculture do foster negative attitudes and…

None of the problems confronting the black community today are more critical to its future than those related to education. Blacks must demand that schools shift their focus from the supposed deficiencies of the black child to the social barriers that stand in the way of academic success. The historical interest of the black community in education…

To help students strengthen competencies in reading and writing direct instruction is essential. Modeling is a key component in direct instruction. The kind of materials used can help provide more cultural awareness among learners. Written materials of current interest need to be selected. Sources are varied including such periodicals as…

Rank ordering examinees is an easier task for judges than is awarding numerical ratings. A measurement model for rankings based on Rasch's objectivity axioms provides linear, sample-independent and judge-independent measures. Estimates of examinee measures are obtained from the data set of rankings, along with standard errors and fit statistics.…

A study investigated the responses of students of English as a Second Language (ESL) to teachers' written comments on essay drafts. Subjects were 15 students in intensive college ESL courses. The students wrote essay drafts, which were turned in to teachers for graded comments. The students were then interviewed within three days after receiving…

Stylistic features that impede the efficiency of communication in writing were studied in the essays of a sophomore class in reading and essay writing in English as a second language (ESL) at Birzeit University (Israel). It was hypothesized that in ESL writing, college students apply many strategies of communication more typical of the spoken mode…

This paper deals with test fairness regarding a test consisting of two parts: (1) a "common" section, taken by all students; and (2) a "variable" section, in which some students may answer a different set of questions from other students. For example, a test taken by several thousand students each year contains a common multiple-choice portion and…

This guide was developed to help students learn how to study. Suggestions are given for when to study, where to study, what to study, and how to study. The need to understand assignments and to turn in homework assignments on time is emphasized. Use of the library is explained, and suggestions for taking and using good notes are given. Ways to…

This report identifies the methods and issues in the evaluation of student writing in classrooms and large scale assessments using an analytical scoring system from the Illinois Inventory of Educational Progress (IIEP). This guide is written for staff in state offices of education conducting large-scale writing assessments, and also for personnel…