One of the most important correlates of an instructionally effective school is its climate. Effective schools have an atmosphere that denotes a safe and orderly environment, without being oppressive and where conditions exist that are conducive to learning. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development has identified a set of…

A new teacher observation scale is described and teacher ratings are related to measures of self concept and attitude toward school. Different results are obtained when analysis employs change measures of these variables in comparison with status measures. The teaching dimensions of "cognitive demand" and "warmth" seem to be important variables…

Providing explanatory information regarding the legal principles and issues affecting Catholic school educators, this handbook summarizes student rights, contractual arrangements, and state and federal requirements as they apply to parochial schools. The legal issues involved in torts of negligence, including establishment and violation of…

An evaluation of the effectiveness of the School Team Approach for changing perceptions of the school climate and the level of victimization in 290 middle, junior high, and high schools used student and teacher questionnaires adapted from those used in the Safe School Study. In pre-intervention tests, students and teachers in middle and junior…

Chapter 18 of a book on school law summarizes court decisions that have established the responsibility of school officials, when taking disciplinary action, to conduct hearings to protect employees' and students' due process rights. The courts have used a balancing test to determine whether a trial procedure or a more informal procedure can be…

This literature review focuses on the role of schools'"common properties" in planned educational change and everyday school operations. Common properties include those features that are either present in all schools, relatively stable and unchanging, or central to the concept of schools today. The author first examines five ways in which…

This volume summarizes, analyzes, and discusses the 52 papers on theoretical perspectives of school crime and poverty solicited by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) for the purpose of illuminating findings from the "Safe School Study Report to Congress." It also analyzes 12 papers not included in the original NCCD…

This book is aimed at helping school personnel and others understand the world as youths experience it and to prepare them to respond to young people's search for philosophical answers. Understanding the life context and viewpoint of young adolescents is assumed to be a prerequisite for understanding drug abuse and for communicating with…

This manual begins with an introductory chapter concerning the authors' philosophy of effective discipline at the secondary level. Both this chapter and the entire volume stress the necessity of firm, consistent discipline coupled with a genuine concern for students. The second chapter defines and explains legal requirements related to…

A STUDY WAS MADE OF MATERNAL BEHAVIOR AS IT AFFECTS THE CHILD'S COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING, ATTITUDES TOWARD LEARNING, AND ROLE CONCEPTION. MOTHERS' RESPONSES TO TWO TASKS WERE USED TO ASSESS THEIR ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR. THE FIRST TASK WAS TO ANSWER A QUESTION ABOUT WHAT THE MOTHERS WOULD DO IF THEY HAD THE POWER TO CHANGE EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOLS,…

This paper examines some of the historical and contemporary assumptions regarding the social and educational context of the use of corporal punishment on children, assumptions that are implicit in the Supreme Court's decision in the Ingraham v. Wright case. Beginning with a summary of the Florida case, the author outlines the Court's majority…

The purpose of this paper is to help school administrators look seriously at one of the biggest school problems--discipline. The author examines those factors that seem to cause student misbehavior--factors having their origin in both the home and the school. Believing that the best way to handle discipline problems is through prevention rather…

This study examines how the values and value orientations derived fro two differing, historical traditions influence the formal education of adolescent boys attending an Orthodox Jewish day school in Melbourne, Australia. The two traditions include the Chassidic variant of the great tradition of Orthodox Judaism and the Australian adaptation of…

The information presented here describes the Federal and State Laws that school officials must adhere to with respect to student records. The sections of the Education Amendment Act of 1974 that deals with the maintenance and release of student records, protection of the rights and privacy of parents and students, protection of pupil rights, and…

Two areas of law are examined in this paper: student free speech and immorality as the basis of teacher dismissal. These areas are discussed to exemplify an increasing impact of judicial decisions on school practices, and to support the argument that schools of education need to engage in teaching and research about law as it relates to education,…