This paper reports on an inquiry into discipline and effective schools, as perceived by administrators and teachers in a large, midwestern school district. A discussion of the historical foundations in school law, the societal milieu for the study, and educational research into discipline and school effectiveness is followed by a summary of the…

Topic Maps, ISO/IEC 13250 standard, are designed to facilitate the organization and navigation of large collections of information objects by creating meta-level perspectives of their underlying concepts and relationships. The underlying structure of concepts and relations is expressed by domain ontologies. The Topics Maps technology can become…

This speech presents a case for "joining hands" as the educational theme of the 1980s. In "joining hands" with their students, schools need to abandon assembly-line models of instruction in order to adopt learning and teaching styles that nurture students' inner potential and provide for individual differences of both teachers…

Based on observation and experience, analysis translates into a proposal for reform. Eight essays explore in personal terms several troubling educational issues undergirded by the fundamental belief that the purpose of public education is the cultivation of civic virtue. The first essay addresses the widespread loss of faith in public schooling.…

Students (n=358) completing the teacher admissions process at a university in the southeastern United States were asked to rank the characteristics of their best teacher and their worst teacher in grades K-12. They most frequently reported that personal relationships formed between teacher and students greatly influenced the effectiveness of the…

The recent flood of new information on structuring human experience along gender lines and on the female component of human experience has profound implications for education. The new scholarship shows that much of what people once assumed to be innate gender difference is in fact produced by adults' different behavior toward boys and girls, of…

The Freshman General Studies Thematic Program (GST) at California State University, Chico was established in 1973 to create a general education program for freshmen and to give faculty the opportunity to explore innovative teaching methods. What resulted was a 33-unit, year-long interdisciplinary course for 36 well-motivated, well-prepared…

The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME), in cooperation with the Center for the Advancement of Science, Engineering and Technology (CASET), undertook a national survey of underrepresented minority students in engineering to assess their college experiences in relation to academic performance. Professionals at the college…

Federal legislation ensures that children with physical disabilities should not be denied access to the school library. These children have the same information needs as their peers, and they want equal access to information in the school library media center. To create an accessible and functional school library, many requirements and…

This document states the position of the National Association of Elementary School Principals regarding the essential ingredients of a fine elementary or middle school. It combines the findings of current research on effective schooling with the practical, onsite experience of working principals. After a brief introduction, these standards are…

Ten principles based on the interactive nature of language learning and teaching include the following: (1) the student is the language learner; (2) language learning and teaching are shaped by student needs and objectives in particular circumstances; (3) language learning and teaching are based on normal uses of language, with communication of…

Intended for practitioners, this report, along with curriculum materials and instructional recommendations, provides a framework for language, genuine literacy, and learning across the curriculum. The report draws on teachers' collective and individual experiences, ERIC reports, National Council of Teachers of English guidelines and commission…

Taking the perspective of environmental psychology, this paper interprets the influence of educational settings upon children's socialization. The physical environment and the social structure it reflects determine the nature of information acquired during socialization. Socialization functions, long assumed by institutions such as schools, are…

This paper suggests 15 steps school superintendents can take to help close the gap between the educationally disadvantaged and other student populations. Superintendents should do the following: (1) create a vision of what an achieving educational community is; (2) implement goals and strategies which create a positive educational climate; (3)…

This case study of a central office school improvement initiative in an urban school system examines instructional leadership practices of two junior high school principals. The school-based research focuses on correlates of school effectiveness in "low achieving" settings and the principals' capacity to "reflect-in-action," an ability to make…