Finds that the life and writings of Thomas Merton can be quite appealing to high school and college students because he embodies and articulates the dynamic activity of God's call in his life. Merton gives voice to students' struggles to find meaning and to their difficulties in expressing their experiences of grace in their lives. (VWC)

Discusses how child development research, social policy design, and human service delivery for children and families reflect three separate yet related cultures. Argues that transmitting knowledge from the academy to social policy and practice could be facilitated by a simple taxonomy differentiating established knowledge from both reasonable…

Describes potential contributions of theories of person-environment fit to understanding of the transition from school to work. Provides specific implications for integrating these concepts into school-to-work programs including: students need to spend time in exploration that leads to self-knowledge; programs should teach elements of…

Describes a curriculum development research project that took place in the French section of the Department of Modern Languages of the University of Salford in the United Kingdom over a 10-year period. The curriculum is motivated by three interacting theoretical perspectives on how languages are learned at an advanced level.(Author/VWL)

Argues that reading children's picture books to babies is an underestimated resource for addressing parenting skills and developmental issues, for providing emotional attachment and satisfaction, and for promoting basic literacy. The program "Read to Me" is described as an inexpensive, nondidactic and pleasurable intervention model for use with…

Vermont's I-Team has provided technical assistance and training to educational team members serving children with disabilities for 25 years. Characteristics of sustainable human services programs include flexibility, collaborative consultation, consideration and inclusion of families and communities, competent management, on-going training for all…

This study examines one NSF-funded Collaborative for Excellence in Teacher Preparation and describes the complexities of such a science education reform effort. A theoretical model based in community, culture, and identity is used to address key questions: How did institutional ideologies, structures, policies, and practices influence the…

This manuscript explores the concept of balance for master's students enrolled in student affairs preparation programs in the Southeast and Midwest. It provides research on the ways balance is restricted for master's students who are employed in a student affairs setting while also enrolled in preparation programs, and it investigates themes which…

Closed laboratories are becoming an increasingly popular approach to teaching introductory computer science courses, as they facilitate structured problem-solving and cooperation. However, most closed laboratories have been designed and implemented without embedded instructional research components for constant evaluation of the laboratories'…

Creating a classroom environment which is conducive to learning is one of the most important things a teacher can do. This becomes even more crucial as students enter classrooms with their cell phones, pagers, and beepers. Additionally, many students are tardy for class, leave early, or may not appear in class on numerous occasions. Therefore,…

This article addresses shortcomings in the literature on environmental inequality by (a) setting forth and testing four models of environmental inequality and (b) explicitly linking environmental inequality research to spatial mismatch theory and to the debate on the declining significance of race. The explanatory models ask whether the…

In this article, the author discusses a school improvement model, First Things First, developed by James P. Connell, a former tenured professor of psychology at the University of Rochester in New York. The model has three pillars for the high school level: (1) small, themed learning communities that each keep a group of students together…

In this article, a heterogeneous latent growth curve model for modeling heterogeneity of growth rates is proposed. The suggested model is an extension of a conventional growth curve model and a complementary tool to mixed growth modeling. It allows the modeling of heterogeneity of growth rates as a continuous function of latent initial status and…

Holding the premise that the development of expertise is a continuous process, this study concerns expert models and modeling processes associated with a modeling tool called Model-It. Five advanced Ph.D. students in environmental engineering and public health used Model-It to create and test models of water quality. Using "think aloud" technique…

Over the past four years, educators and researchers from the University of Connecticut have worked with urban high-poverty schools to implement an alternative reading instruction program called the Schoolwide Enrichment Model in Reading (SEM-R). Based on Renzulli's Enrichment Triad Model, the SEM-R works through planned enrichment experiences to…