Utah advocates for gifted and talented education used creative problem-solving processes to design a mutually acceptable mission and goals statement that gave direction to statewide advocacy efforts. The document recognizes ownership of the tasks belonging to each advocacy group and provides flexibility for future growth and development in gifted…

Interviews with 148 African-American fifth- and sixth-grade students (in either gifted, above average, or average academic programs) found that gifted students, regardless of gender, were most supportive of the U.S. achievement ideology, and average students were least supportive. Discrepancies between beliefs about hard work and success and…

Thirty-three gifted fourth graders received writing strategy instruction and were given a goal of learning to use the strategy of writing paragraphs. The children who received feedback on their progress achieved better writing outcomes and transfer than children who did not. These children judged their self-efficacy for writing improvement higher…

Discussions conducted with people with visual impairments indicated that clients undergoing mobility training first need to overcome inhibitions, stress, and anxieties, which are influenced by the timing of and their readiness for mobility training, insufficient information about mobility, feelings of isolation and helplessness, and lack of…

The scoring system in cross-country running illustrates that the way in which results are reported and the opportunity to improve through hard work can provide crucial incentives. Establishing incentives that make students dissatisfied with their present effort without being overwhelmed or made fatalistic is a challenging task. (SLD)

Systemic reflection, not reflexive reaction, is fundamental to long-term improvement. Business cannot supply schools with all the answers. System change begins and ends with ongoing, authentic questions and conversations about a school's strengths and weaknesses, its vision and core values, its priorities and change strategies, and the structures,…

The authors discuss the importance of being aware of two attitudes of students and faculty--learning orientation (LO) and grade orientation (GO)--and describe instruments (LOGO II and LOGO F) that provide instructors with information about how their students stand on those two issues. (Author/MLW)

This paper focuses on goal setting in instruction of exceptional students. Goals types and such properties as specificity, proximity and difficulty are discussed, along with additional factors including feedback, commitment, participation, and student ability. Goal setting guidelines for reading, writing, mathematics, assignment completion, and…

Discusses challenges facing educational management in India resulting from demographic change, social demand for education, economic need for trained manpower. Attempts to develop social model for year 2000, reflecting concerns for strength of India's democracy and secularization. Educational managers will be challenged to achieve universalization…

It is argued that self-assessment skills, used for planning and monitoring achievement, must be taught to college students. One method, use of a personal diary of progress, is described and illustrated. An alternative or complementary procedure for teaching self-assessment skills, which can be used with large groups, is also outlined. (MSE)

Suggestions for helping students who are deaf or hard of hearing develop responsible behaviors focus on instruction in decision making and responsibility; developing a sense of purpose; goal setting; teaching skills for independent learning; and working with students' families. (DB)

Examined association between understanding of psychological causation and ability of young children from low-income families to produce goal-based episodes in narratives. Participants "read" book and resulting narrative was coded for psychological causation and goal-based episodes. Use of psychological causation was related to age and…

Challenges vague, underconceptualized notions of teacher professional community. Findings from an exploration of two California middle-school teacher communities suggest that current models obscure significant differences in beliefs and practices. One community stresses teachers' individual rights and responsibilities; the other is driven by a…

Discusses some current theories of learning motivation and describes how they may relate to the education of physicians, noting frequent disparities between medical schools' stated goals for learners and what is actually taught or rewarded by faculty. While motivation is multifaceted, there are strategies that may be used to strengthen students'…

Discusses how early childhood teachers can become more comfortable with young children's questions about sexual orientation and social conventions. Summarizes research findings about children's developing sexuality, and describes how teachers can respond when issues of children's developing sexuality arise in classrooms. Suggests appropriate ways…