"EFF HOT (Highlights on Teaching Topics) Topics" is a publication of the EFF (Equipped for the Future) Center for Training and Technical Assistance. Each issue concentrates on a specific topic, highlighting examples of actual practice and offering strategies and tools for using EFF in the classroom. This issue of "HOT Topics"…

This presentation addresses three topics: (1) the assessment of professional learning communities in schools; (2) the design and development of professional learning communities in schools; and (3) the effects of professional learning communities in schools. The purpose of this brief document is to share descriptions, processes, and materials…

This book presents service-learning research that focuses on units of analysis ranging from the individual student to the community partnership. It contains the following chapters/articles: "Enhancing Theory-Based Research on Service-Learning" (Robert G. Bringle); "The Missing Link: Exploring the Content of Learning in Service-Learning" (Deborah…

An adult immersion program in the Mohawk language took place in an Iroquois community in southern Ontario. The class was limited to 12 students who had taken a readiness course that introduced them to basic grammar and vocabulary. The class met daily in the relaxed setting of a house. The preparation and sharing of meals, the presence of fluent…

The feature story in this issue, "Managing the Collaborative Learning Environment," focuses on the growing emphasis on teamwork in the workplace. It discusses how the concept of empowering employees in the workplace is evolving and the benefits--faster decision making, lower costs and absenteeism, higher productivity and quality, and…

A "lifelong learning" orientation to education is seen as vital if young people are to thrive in the knowledge rich, constantly-changing world of today and the immediate future. This study identifies ways that the foundations for lifelong learning can be built in secondary schools. "Lifelong Learning" is interpreted as engaging…

This paper highlights the substantial overlap in recommended practices from two emerging areas of educational research: research on the academic literacy development of adolescents and research on English language learners (ELLs) in secondary schools. Specifically, this paper examines instructional principles related to the connection between…

Despite suggestions for incorporating students' experiences into school math lessons, mathematics education seems to be the last bastion of formalism. This paper reports on a sociocultural study of the use of students' personal experiences in early childhood elementary mathematics lessons. This study documents the use of students' personal…

The "Read, Imagine, Decide, and Do" (RIDD) reading strategy was developed based on observations of student behaviors and reading problems while completing academic tasks. The four steps of the RIDD strategy are described. To determine its effectiveness, four elementary teachers in a rural northeastern Nebraska school taught the RIDD strategy. Each…

This guide offers guidance for mentoring programs and relationships serving gifted and/or talented students from multicultural and/or disadvantaged environments. After an introductory chapter which defines the mentor concept, Chapter 2 considers the mentoring relationship, racial/cultural differences, characteristics of economically disadvantaged…

The focus of this paper is to present non-traditional or alternate instructional methods in remedial mathematics education at the community college level. However, these methods will apply to credit math courses as well as courses from other disciplines. With the large number of students needing remediation and the United States traditionally…

This project is building on site-specific qualitative data to develop a profile of adult learning activity now largely unrecognized by education providers. It explores the various learning strategies used by adults in these three locations: unionized factory, community-based training program, and literacy program. At a half-way point in a two-year…

This collection presents current thinking and research on the sociocultural influences in student motivation. After an introduction, "Bridging the Sociocultural Divide: An Encouragement for Researchers To Consider a Wheel of Research Perspective" (Shawn Van Etten and Dennis M. McInerney), the 14 papers include: (1) "The Self in…

Researchers worked with French, Japanese, and Spanish immersion teachers in metropolitan Washington, DC elementary schools (grades 1-6) to implement language learning strategies in their classrooms. Workshops, materials, and observations were provided for professional support. Teachers were debriefed on the effectiveness of the teacher training…

Although the emphasis elsewhere is on learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder as possible causal factors for high dropout rates and associated student deficiencies in adult education (AE), a project explored an alternative etiology: intention deficit disorder. The hypothesis was that higher level "executive" regulatory…