A case study of an alternative middle school for at-risk students indicates that small, under-resourced schools cannot be expected to successfully serve students who have been rejected by the mainstream school system. Small alternative schools providing small class sizes and extra support for students require more, not less, funding. Commitment…

Discusses the development of effective interactive learning environments based on a case study of a staff development program for university personnel that combined a Web-based database with CD technology. Topics include aspects of educational design; software design, including feasibility studies; project management, including team issues and…

Presents analyses that highlight how racial context influences the SAT's ability to predict black students' collegiate success. SAT items are shown to denigrate the black experience and demonstrate a bias toward science. The test's predictive validity is shown to depend on college racial environment, adjustment issues, gender, and black identity…

The lead article of the January 2002 issue of "Educational Leadership" suggested five strategies for schools to welcome children from sexual minority families. The journal for "Equity and Excellence in Education" has finalized a special issue focusing on LGBTQ issues in schools. The "Journal of Adolescence" (2001) and the "High School Journal"…

Introduction: This randomized controlled trial (RCT) investigated the effectiveness of and satisfaction with small-group problem-based learning (PBL) versus a didactic lecture approach to guideline dissemination in asthma management controlling for confounders common in comparative educational interventions. Methods: Sites were selected as either…

In this article, the author discusses a school improvement model, First Things First, developed by James P. Connell, a former tenured professor of psychology at the University of Rochester in New York. The model has three pillars for the high school level: (1) small, themed learning communities that each keep a group of students together…

School professionals, particularly new teachers and principals, are confronted with myriad challenges throughout their day. Recognizing and reporting child maltreatment is one of these challenges. Research suggests that school personnel are in the best position to identify and report maltreatment because they have consistent daily contact with…

For many students who have a mild to moderate learning, emotional, social, or mental problems, the school librarian is an unparalleled resource, and the library becomes a refuge and an important support system outside of the general classroom. This article provides a brief review of literature and concrete information on creating a supportive…

Doctoral-level training in psychology places importance on helping students acquire facilitative research-related attitudes, skills, and interests. Training models in PhD applied psychology programs also value sound teaching of research. We demonstrate how a research training environment can be evaluated using both standardized instruments and…

Research finds that the availability of specific coping resources can alleviate the more harmful effects of stress among adolescents. Although studies have investigated the relationship between coping resources and various outcomes among general samples of youth, no research has focused on adolescents who report high personal standards in…

This chapter is an introduction to how the learning process changes the brain, with special attention to the facilitative role of the adult educator/mentor.

Although authenticity makes one vulnerable, the author believes that its impact on learning and on enjoyment of the teaching and learning process justifies the risk. This chapter describes how to offer a relationship to each student, focusing on appropriate caring for individuals and for learning. (Contains 1 figure.)

New 9th graders reflect on the worries they had as middle school students about moving into high school. They also suggest ways of easing the transition and providing support in 9th grade. Teens want teachers to connect middle school students regularly with high school students, give them more responsibility in middle school, and focus on…

Romanticism's valuing of love and the life of the imagination, combined with its belief in human potential taken heroically to and beyond its limits, provides a way of addressing differently and fruitfully certain issues to do with pedagogy in schools, making in particular better sense of what it means to be an effective teacher and a productive…

"Chemie im Kontext" (ChiK) is a project that aims at the improvement of chemistry teaching at secondary school in Germany. Based on a framework that was derived from theories and empirical data on the teaching and learning of science, science education researchers and teachers work together on learning communities to transform this…