This report examines how well minority students are achieving in North Carolina schools. It is intended to inform parents, education leaders, policymakers, and the public about the crisis in North Carolina's public education system. Data show that too many minority students continue to be unprepared for high stakes testing. Scholastic Assessment…

Using a Vygotskian perspective, the researchers investigated the interaction of secondary school language learners engaged in a dictogloss task that called for collaborative reconstruction of a text. The investigation focused on the students' behaviors that were detrimental to effective interaction and made it less likely that students would be…

Motivation for learning is important for positive learning outcomes as well as for measured achievement levels. When students come to our classes, they bring with them learning histories in which we as individual teachers, most likely, did not have an input. Our students do not only bring with them different levels of prerequisite leanings but…

In this study, from a list of ethical "do's" and "don't's" for teachers, four categories of ethical issues emerged: competence, professional relationships, confidentiality, and conflicts of interest. Competence embodies both negative and positive aspects, as teachers not only must refrain from doing the wrong thing but also must work to enhance…

This book contains seven chapters, written by graduate students in teacher education, on educational strategies to promote multiculturalism and combat racial, ethnic, and gender bias in the classroom. Chapters are: (1) "Diversity and Multiculturalism: Quo Vadis? What Is Multiculturalism?" (Deborah Bradford Basey, Michelle Danner, Stacy…

This report focuses on issues relating to the development of individualized education programs for and placement of students who are classified as having mental retardation, learning disabilities, behavioral disabilities, or serious emotional disturbances. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights examined present-day barriers and inequities that deny…

Noting that other parents can be an excellent source of practical parenting advice, this book compiles over a thousand practical tips--those not generally found in baby care books or pediatrician's offices--with over 400 new tips compiled since the book's 1982 version. Major topics include: (1) new baby care, including cesarean deliveries,…

This study surveyed 106 student teachers/interns to determine (1) whether they possessed theoretical beliefs about second language learning and teaching that reflected the methodological divisions of skill-based, rule-based, and function-based approaches toward teaching English as a Second Language (ESL); (2) the extent to which their…

This book contends that the American public education system has made "black male" synonymous with "disabled" through the creation of the labels "Behavior Disorders" and "Emotional Disorders." These labels, which say that African American boys cannot behave without special treatment, juvenile probation, and,…

This study examined language development as a precursor of maladaptive behavior in inner-city early adolescents. Participating were 256 adolescents from the graduation classes of 2000 and 2001 who had previously attended District of Columbia prekindergarten/Head Start and kindergarten. The sample was 98 percent African American and 56 percent…

This paper shares research from two professional development initiatives that focused on changes in teacher educators' and teachers' multicultural thinking, discussing the use of a developmental perspective to structure and evaluate such initiatives. The first study involved an action research project that examined six teacher educators'…

A four-year private suburban college and a city public school district collaboratively provided teacher education courses to paraprofessionals working with special needs students in general education classes. The two teacher education courses, offered on the school district's premises, were Teaching, Learning, and Growth and Instructional…

This report identifies provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997 that relate to 10 recommendations proposed by a 1996 conference of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education on the Individualized Education Program (IEP). The conference used an accountability model that views…

When elementary and middle level students lack effective problem-solving skills, they may make poor behavior choices in social conflicts, contributing to a negative learning and instructional environment. This action research project evaluated the impact of using social skills instruction to improve students' ability to solve problems related to…

In an effort to reveal how closely cheating at community colleges resembles that at four-year colleges in both kind and quantity, a survey similar to the one used by Donald L. McCabe for university students was administered to 298 students at Raritan Valley Community College. A summary of the results are included in this report. The survey data…