Data from 24 restructuring elementary, middle, and high schools are used to examine teacher empowerment in schools with at least four years of experience with decentralized or school-based management. Findings suggest that empowerment is an important but not sufficient condition of change that does affect teaching quality and student performance.…

Discusses a study examining the relationship between student academic performance in an exit-level, developmental mathematics course and subsequent academic performance in a college-level mathematics course. Finds that developmental course performance and student age were significantly and positively related to academic success, while length of…

This article argues that challenges in motivating gifted underachievers should be addressed from an integrated systems approach. The design and implementation of specific interventions for these students are described, with a special focus on reward menus and behavior contracts. Suggested target behaviors and individual and class rewards are…

Discusses the development of soft skills such as management and sales or collaborative problem solving through the use of interactive distance education. Highlights include performance support, including interpersonal skills; long-term cognitive restructuring; and linking training to organizational goals. (Author/LRW)

In several countries, university purposes and functions are being renegotiated as governments insist on a certain kind of "product" and careful measures of university "productivity." Identifies immediate consequences for university culture, particularly displacement of academic leadership by a culture of "management." Argues that the university is…

Student interviews provide valuable input into peer evaluation of teaching. The University of Georgia and Stanford University (California) have explored ways of using student interviews to gain student perspectives. The two approaches are compared here, with similarities and differences examined. Aspects of teaching that are best reflected upon by…

The authors of a report on the technical adequacy of alternative reading measures reflect on issues concerning "whole language" terminology, the use of both quantitative and qualitative measures, and instructional decision making. (DB)

Five case studies of professional employees who are blind describe their needs for employment accommodations in the following areas: worksite accessibility, performance of essential job functions, job mastery and satisfaction, and career development. The article also describes the Work Experience Survey, an instrument useful in helping the…

Presents a format for case conceptualization to fill gaps in the literature on the preparation of counselors. The format fosters the systematic collection and integration of clinical data and is intended to complement training in counseling techniques. Model should aid counselors' collection and integration of data. (RJM)

The author and a colleague developed the Administrator/Teacher Alliance at California State University, Los Angeles. There were three key planning goals: maintaining integrity of course goals and objectives, developing relevant performance-based assessments, and designing authentic assessment activities that would maximize opportunities provided…

This article examines the complex needs of students with disabilities in learning rigorous standards-based curricula, the need of educators to teach this population standards-based curricula effectively, and the contextual factors that affect teaching and learning standards-based curricula in secondary schools. Exemplary and promising practices…

This article discusses how text variables interact with reader, strategy, and task variables to affect readability, including text coherence, text organization, signaling, and text structure. It considers how classic readability formulas, in concert with consideration of text, text reader, and strategy variables, can be used to match texts to…

Assessed effects of sleep restriction and extension on 9- to 12-year-olds' neurobehavioral functioning. Found that modest sleep restriction led to improved sleep quality but to reduced reported alertness. Children who extended sleep improved significantly from baseline their performance on the digit forward memory test and reaction time on the…

A meta-analysis of 30 studies found the following learner characteristics influenced the treatment responsiveness of early literacy interventions: rapid naming; problem behavior; phonological awareness; alphabetic principle; memory; IQ; and demographics. With the exception of the demographic category, the obtained effect sizes for the primary…

Three experiments obtained same-different judgments from children and adults to trace normal development of local and global processing of hierarchical visual forms. Findings indicated that reaction time was faster on global trials than local trials; bias was stronger in children and diminished to adult levels between ages 10 and 14. Reaction time…