When the literature anthologies did not arrive, Allen Webb turned to the Internet, where he found a wealth of classic and contemporary e-texts. Using these online resources opened up possibilities for new ways of teaching and learning traditional skills of close reading and critical analysis. Students created blogs of poems and commentary,…

Civic responsibility as an ideal of higher education is rarely considered through a cultural and theoretical lens. Swidler's (1986, "American Sociological Review", 51: 273-286) framework linking ideology, culture and action was used in this ethnographic study of a research university (a) to understand dominant institutional beliefs about civic…

Research on fear of crime has evolved to suggest the existence of a complex relationship between individual, lifestyle, and contextual factors. Past work generally focuses on predominantly heterosexual populations; this study examines correlates of fear of crime and perceptions of risk among a sample of 272 self-identified lesbians and gay men.…

Purpose: The success of schools fundamentally depends on teachers' willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty, namely, to exhibit organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Attempts to understand the causes of OCB frequently focus on individual characteristics; only recently have researchers begun to direct their attention to more…

This report addresses both why and how charter schools designed for students with disabilities operate their programs and provides information learned about charter schools specifically designed for children with disabilities through a series of questions and answers. First, the legal and policy context in which such schools develop and operate is…

In the present study, the authors use the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort of 1998-1999, to examine the extent to which family, school, and neighborhood factors account for the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on children's early reading. Through the use of hierarchical linear modeling techniques, growth curve models…

This mid-point report from a seven-year study about building a college culture investigates how a multifaceted approach including mentoring, technology, campus visits, parent involvement, and tutoring impacts at-risk middle school students' college aspirations and eventual success gaining college acceptance. Based on NAEP report data, many young…

As some educators try to eradicate homophobia among their students, the literature on how classroom interventions lessen homophobia has netted inconsistent results. Most studies have found modest curriculum effects, while some have not. In addressing these inconsistencies, this study investigates the way some mitigating factors may either augment…

Six series of experiments (11 individual experiments involving over 150 subjects) were conducted to further extend automatic/controlled processing research to command and control mission-specific training. The issues examined in these experiments were related to retention of task-component skills of amount of practice, component training for…

A study was conducted to examine the data collected by previous researchers on the degree of helpfulness of natural contexts. In this study two schemes of context cue types were compared on the basis of their contribution to word meaning acquisition, and their relationship to other text and word properties was explored. Subjects were 352 children…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of two contextual influences (performance-contingent rewards and proximal goals) on children's task motivation, self-efficacy, and skillful performance after division skill-development training. The sample included 44 children, ranging in age from approximately 9 to 11 years, who were identified…

The use of logos in the early childhood classroom is one aspect of a rich written language environment in which the young child can begin to acquire literacy in a meaningful way. The early childhood classroom provides many opportunities for the use of logos in context. Sociodramatic play provides one such opportunity. Whether the play is arranged…

Black and white middle class preschool children were compared on the frequency with which they engaged in functional, constructive, and dramatic cognitive play across interactive and noninteractive social play situations. Results of analyses yielded no significant racial differences on the cognitive play types across interactive and noninteractive…

Aspects of chess relevant to certain educational issues are explored. Based on findings from a sample of about 50 children from 6 to 18 years of age, discussion focuses on (1) how children play chess and how the process of acquiring expertise differs among children and adults, (2) chess training techniques and why they are effective with children,…

All incidents of crying that occurred in a preschool setting were recorded along with the responses of other children and teachers. After pilot observations had been carried out for 3 hours at each of 20 preschool and day care centers, detailed observations were made at a single site, four hours per day, twice a week, from late fall to mid-spring.…