This publication is designed to show principals how to improve staff development strategies. It begins by laying the foundations for teacher development. The first chapter explains what is known about teaching and identifies four general groups of teachers: productive teachers, who are highly motivated and skilled; novice teachers, who are still…

This digest summarizes research in the affective and social realms that overwhelmingly affirms the superiority of small schools. Findings on the affective and social effects of school size are extensive and highly consistent, while the research base on outcomes of schools-within-a-school arrangements is smaller and less conclusive. While many…

This book focuses on the relationship between ethnic and racial identity and academic engagement, examining in particular the role that schools and classrooms play in shaping this relationship. It examines the lives of students to ask how they conceptualize and assert their ethnic and racial identities across varied curricular settings. The case…

Understanding the quality of the day care environment is useful for practitioners and policymakers in the evaluation and improvement of day care provisions. Regulated features, interactive dimensions and global indices of quality have been examined in relation to child developmental outcomes. This study investigated the effects of variations in…

Bullying in schools is a widespread phenomenon that has been largely ignored by professional investigators. It is often a covert problem, but once it is put into the context of social interaction, schools are able to respond to it in productive ways. A multifactorial response is best, and prevention is far better than crisis management. One of the…

Despite the widespread attention given to education reform, no substantial knowledge base has existed for identifying and implementing effective reforms for at-risk student populations. This document, the third of three volumes, describes the research design for a study that identified the essential mechanics of effective reforms for students at…

The study explores the relative effects of a wide range of variables that influence learning, and whether three methods--content analysis, expert ratings, and meta-analysis--agree on whether and how strongly these variables influence learning, using the educational research literature and an expert survey. The presence of an emergent knowledge…

Teacher education programs are rapidly changing to ensure that pre-service teachers are well prepared to successfully conquer the critical issues they will encounter in K-12 public schools. The major issue influencing teaching and learning is school violence and the lack of a sense of peace and caring in educational institutions. The educational…

Gender stereotyping is endemic to British culture, and traditional male and female stereotypes have long been a feature of the reading material used in school classrooms. Although educators and publishers are becoming more sensitive to gender issues, and deliberate differentiation by gender has largely stopped, fundamental inequities may continue…

Attention to different aspects of communicative competence (form and meaning) in second language instruction creates different kinds of learning environments. Form-focused classrooms favor transmission of linguistic competence. Whole-class instruction and lockstep conditions restrict communication. Input from teacher language and attitudes toward…

This study used a naturalistic, qualitative design to investigate 12 preservice teachers' views toward urban education during a two-week experience in an urban high school. In-depth case studies to two of the subjects were constructed using data sources consisting of essays and interviews (pre- and post-experience), student journals, and…

This brief describes some of the innovative programs and features at Hopwood Junior High School, the only intermediate school on the island of Saipan in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. The Opportunity Learning Center (OLC), an "in school" suspension program, provides students with a closely supervised learning environment,…

A consideration of college honor codes examines why academic integrity is one of the most effective vehicles for teaching about moral responsibility, how honor codes are distinguished from codes of conduct, how students reason about academic integrity issues, the role of penalties and punishments, and steps campuses can take. A discussion of the…

The theme of this book is self-initiated learning. It provides a framework to examine the dynamics of how children learn in this new environment. Chapter 1, "Underlying Rationale and Overview," discusses the rationale underlying a new philosophy of education. Chapter 2, "Background and Characteristics of a Self-Initiated Learning…

Written in 1953, this book presents the reminiscences of a renowned scientist about his early education in a one-room school at Prairie View, Kansas, during the 1870s and 1880s. The first chapter records early memories of the road to school, and describes the community of Anglo and German farmers served by Prairie View. Other chapters describe…