To cope with some social problems, Japanese educational planners are drafting some proposals for research into innovations in the educational system. This paper reports on some research recently done which looked into the relationships of the Japanese educational environment and the reasoning/thinking skills and process skills of students in…

Although ability partly explains why some students are eager to learn in school whereas others are disinterested, motivation is another significant factor. This newsletter discusses factors that affect students' motivation to learn, considers techniques that can increase motivation, and identifies schools that have developed activities to enhance…

Because an instructor's attitude toward students' language is a crucial factor in determining whether students will be active participants in the educational process, it is important for teachers to be aware of dialect differences. Labelled by many as "nonstandard," Black English is a dialect derived from Gullah, a creole based on…

This training manual is designed to improve understanding of Chinese American children, their families, and the issues surrounding the assessment process, to assist educators in creating a more appropriate assessment and learning environment for the limited English speaking Chinese American child. Three training modules are included; each module…

The seminar reported here was held to discuss the educational problems specific to gypsy children and to identify the principal elements of their culture and history with which teachers in Western Europe should become acquainted. Attended by gypsy representatives, teachers, teacher trainers, inspectors of education and ministerial representatives…

Issues concerning world peace and security, as well as other controversial issues, should receive more attention in the school curriculum. An increasing number of studies on student perceptions of war and peace consistently suggest that students are acutely aware of the nuclear threat. Moreover, student knowledge about war-related issues increases…

This report discusses adolescent development by examining psychological research and theory and examining the process of adolescent development in the social context of secondary schools. The author functions from a base of four assumptions: (1) that the contours of adolescent experience can constrain or facilitate adult development, (2) that…

This report compares the findings of a recent ethnographic study of a multiethnic urban high school to some of the highlights of a series of ten-year-old ethnographic studies on court-ordered desegregated school settings. The study of the multiethnic urban school employed an ethnographic design whereby a participant-observer interviewed students…

This study sought to determine whether there is a set of in-school factors which might help explain the differences in dropout rates among schools with very similar student bodies. The study was designed as an in-depth ethnographic examination of four pairs of Chicago (Illinois) public high schools. One school in each pair had a high dropout rate…

This document enumerates the minimun standards which have been in effect since May 1, 1985 for all Texas child care facilities offering educational programs in one or more grades for children ages 5 through 13. The following areas of concern are covered in the seven chapters: (1) organization and administration (in general, and of enrollment and…

To be used in conjunction with a document providing evaluation criteria for quality elementary school programs, this guide is designed to help members of a program review team conduct a program review. The first chapter describes the methodology and procedures of program review, the application of quality criteria to the school's curricular and…

The Academic Environment Inventory (AEI), developed to measure students' experience of stressor events and support events in middle or junior high school, was used to study 107 students in a mostly black, low-income urban public school and a comparison group of 49 students in a mostly white, high-income private school. Project students and…

The implementation of multicultural teaching in Texas public schools was examined in 28 elementary, 18 junior high, and 17 high schools in southeastern Texas. Questionnaires, sent to 63 teachers enrolled in a graduate course in multicultural education, evaluated learning resources, curriculum development, school environments, and personnel…

This paper reports the results from an investigation of a method for systematic development of a procedure for assessing the administrator and instructional leader roles in implementation of an innovative school program. The purpose of the study was to design and field-test a feasible and useful approach to examining the degree of…

In designing the "Study of Schooling" research project, it was decided that seven regions in the United States would be studied, and for each region, "triples" would be the focus of the research. A "triple" consisted of a senior high school, a feeder junior high or middle school, and a feeder elementary school.…