Reviews literature published in 1997 related to career counseling and career development. Reveals that researchers and practitioners continue to productively contribute to a dynamic understanding of career-related issues. The literature was organized into four sections: career development throughout the lifespan, cultural and contextual factors,…

Attempts to broaden the analytic categories for understanding early-adolescent pregnancy, suggesting an antidote to the methodological individualism that emphasizes individual and family characteristics by using broader contextual factors. Seemingly imprudent behaviors can be rendered interpretably rational when placed in social context. Without…

Studied the relationship between gender differences in physical aggression and selected personality and social contextual factors through self-report measures completed by 89 adolescents. Findings suggest the strength and importance of sympathy as a mitigator of physically aggressive behaviors. Contains 58 references. (SLD)

Professional standards for school principals typically describe an ideal performance in a generalized context. This article describes an alternative method of developing a standards framework, combining qualitative vignettes with probabilistic measurement techniques to provide essential or ideal performance qualities with contextually rich…

Explores the effects of a proactive school-wide discipline approach on the frequency of problem behavior displayed by elementary students. Study was designed to explore the impact of a social skill instruction program and direct intervention on problem behaviors in three school settings (cafeteria, recess, and hallway transition). Results indicate…

Investigates the influence of subject-matter setting on comprehension monitoring by secondary school students. Expected comprehension monitoring to decline when material was presented as incontrovertible truth, as in science texts. Concludes that comprehension monitoring depends on subject-matter setting and, contrary to expectations, science has…

Describes conventional and nonconventional gestures, asserting they form an integrated system with language but on different levels, working together to produce a web of visuo-spatial expression surrounding linear speech products. Conventional gestures can be loosely bound temporally with speech but require across-context codes; nonconventional…

Explores the historical and social context in which leadership actions are embedded, focusing on the education and moral regulation of students at London Technical High School, a Canadian vocational high school established in 1912 to increase the pool of industrial laborers. Knowing the full historical context enhances understanding of change…

Disagrees with an earlier article in this journal about the dispute among reading-instruction specialists as to how phonics is best taught. Argues for direct and systematic phonics instruction. Presents a response to Groff, agreeing that children need explicit phonics instruction but arguing that an instructional approach that acknowledges the…

Longitudinal study examined 6-year-olds' performance in tasks involving a protagonist with partial information about an object or a person. Found that children who demonstrated some understanding of the consequences of limited information access often made other errors. Despite intervening additions of contextual support and clarifications, the…

Draws on the authors' experience of developing and presenting an Open University Masters level course: Guidance and Counselling in Learning. Explores the diversity of contexts for guidance practices and the assumptions about the relationship between theory and practice that is embedded in various approaches to professional development. (Contains…

Although a Canadian training project was conducted by a union with a progressive philosophy, it construed unemployment as a personal rather than a public issue. Analysis using a social/cultural capital framework uncovered four areas of tension: organizational structure, educational content, diversity, and the "good employee." (Contains…

Reviews Jessor, Colby, and Shweder's "Ethnography and Human Development: Context and Meaning in Social Inquiry." Maintains that the book invites reflection on the appropriate epistemology of contemporary social sciences, and significantly advances the integration of ethnography and developmental psychology research. Argues that concerns…

The relation between similarity and dissimilarity of context was analyzed for synonymous nouns. New semantic similarity and dissimilarity rating tests with an empirically determined series of linguistic anchors and conventional, arbitrarily anchored semantic similarity ratings were compared. Contextual similarity was elicited by a sorting test…

Examined the relations of teachers' and parents' reports of children's shyness at ages 6-8, 8-10, and 10-12 years to dispositional regulation, emotionality, and coping. The overall pattern of findings was partially consistent with the conclusion that parent-rated shyness reflected primarily social wariness with unfamiliar people, whereas…