This study presents a summary of the major research findings on the factors that constrain girls' schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa. The factors are discussed under three categories: (1) sociocultural and socioeconomic factors; (2) factors related to the school environment; and (3) political and institutional factors. The study provides an outline…

Two studies have explored how teachers in the Netherlands think about value stimulation and how teachers combine stimulating the development of specific values with teaching skills that enable students to adopt critical thinking or to analyze various opinions. The results of an investigation into the importance attached by teachers to stimulating…

This study examined how kindergarten teachers' views of readiness (maturational, learning, or school) are influenced by students from urban, suburban, and rural areas; by minority and non-minority students; and by students from lower and middle class backgrounds. The framework for the study was the social constructivist theory, the theory that all…

Providing a low-key, nonthreatening way for teachers and parents to build partnerships for kids, this book presents short, concrete activities in English and Spanish to foster communication between teachers and parents and between parents and children. While the activities in the book are designed for grade 5, none of the activities have…

Ten articles provide a detailed look at examples of real-world multiage classrooms; review the literature and research surrounding multiage groupings; explore the practical issues involved in organizing, conducting, and assessing multiage classrooms; and offer insight into the many implications of and subtleties that accompany multiage groupings.…

Trust, respect, and caring are crucial components in achieving or maintaining school effectiveness. This paper presents findings of a case study that examined the ways in which one urban school manifested particular characteristics of community--those of respect, caring, and trust. The one-year case study at an elementary school in Los Angeles…

Oak View School, Huntington Beach (California) is reflective of demographic changes due to the rapid increase in the number of ethnic minority students. The school has created goals for quality education for immigrant and minority children and is attempting to respond to the needs of its culturally diverse, although largely Hispanic, population.…

This guide is designed to provide assistance in handling complex situational conflicts involving diversity through appropriate conflict management strategies for diverse classrooms at the elementary and middle school levels. Diversity-based conflict is not new in the United States. The classroom is, as it has been historically, one of the major…

In recent times, sociological constructs have been used to examine school culture, viewing schools as learning communities rather than formal organizations. This paper describes use of the School Cultural Elements Questionnaire (SCEQ) to investigate the culture of schools in Western Australia. The SCEQ was first administered to 422 teachers in 8…

This report presents national data on teachers and teaching from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and other sources. Where data permit, the report compares findings from the early to mid-1990s with findings from the 1980s. The report addresses a wide range of topics related to teachers and teaching, including teachers' demographic…

In 1992-93 a client satisfaction plan for teachers was developed and implemented in the Virginia Beach (Virginia) public school system. This report describes the processes of design and implementation as well as preliminary findings from the field test of a survey soliciting parent perceptions of teacher performance. Although students were…

Dropping out of school is an event in a long series of life stresses. This paper gives the results of an in-depth ethnographic study of 11 at-risk females at a high school in the greater New York metropolitan area. The primary themes that emerged from the students were centered around their desire to have adults communicate with them in a…

The use of computers in English departments, especially in composition classes, has become a primary site of contention between those who find technology liberating and those who find only new configurations of the same old hierarchies. Much of the excitement stems from a perceived connection between new classroom technologies and current theories…

This paper proposes an integrative approach for teaching English as a second language to students in Hong Kong to develop their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in English to meet the challenge of an English curriculum. The integrative approach provides an authentic language environment for learners to develop language skills in a…

The two articles in this issue of "Network" report on the comments of speakers and participants in the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) 1992 Networkshop. "Systemic Reform: Teachers and the Conditions of Teaching," discusses: the evolution and definition of systemic reform; systemic reform in relation to systems involving federal…