This booklet, written for parents of children entering Virginia's public elementary schools, is designed to help parents help their children during this crucial stage of education. Chapter 1, "Starting Elementary School," discusses requirements for children in kindergarten, readiness for kindergarten, preparing children to enter…

This program manual describes the Communication Center at Joseph Kerr Junior High School in Sacramento County, California, which was established in 1975 to prevent student high risk behavior and to encourage positive attitudes in the school community. The philosophy of the Center, which is based on the theories of Rudolf Dreikurs, is described,…

This study employed the authors' previously developed Statements about Schools Inventory (SAS) to assess how well 14 alternative and 11 conventional high schools were meeting the needs of their students. Pairs of alternative and conventional schools studied were located in 11 communities in 10 states. Results of both student and teacher responses…

This collection, the last of four volumes on the history of compulsory education among the nations of Europe and the western hemisphere, analyzes statistics, methodology, reforms, and new tendencies. Twelve of the document's 18 articles are written in English, 3 are written in French and 3 are in Italian. Summaries accompany most articles; three…

This study tested the hypothesis that there is no significant difference in reading achievement among children in grades 2 through 5 related to family structure. Researchers administered the Stanford Achievement Test to 119 students in an Alabama city suburban school system. Of the sample, 69 children lived in intact families and 50 lived in…

The ways collective bargaining affects the operation of public schools are identified. Teachers covered by bargaining agreements, compared with teachers not covered, receive higher salaries and teach smaller classes. They also spend slightly less time instructing students but more time preparing for classes. The major difference detected in the…

The educational change strategy termed "reaching success through involvement" (RSI) has yielded promising results in creating school effectiveness. This paper analyzes the theoretical bases and practical applications of RSI strategy among 14 schools over an 8-year period. RSI theory assumes that educational organizations are dynamic social systems…

High school administrators are concerned about the contribution of student absenteeism to poor academic performance and the likelihood of dropping out. Administrators are faced with the difficult task of deciding which incentives will make regular school attendance more meaningful to students, and which penalties may make truancy and class cutting…

The physical environment of the classroom is a web of interrelated and, in many instances, interdependent variables. To examine the effects of the physical environment of the classroom, a total of 45 annotated citations are grouped under the following categories: (1) importance and description of classroom environment; (2) individual factors of…

This study is a description of the initial socialization of low-income children, aged 3 to 6 years, who were recruited by a middle- and upper-income elementary college-laboratory school. Data for this study were obtained through observations of 11 recruited children and their classmates during a 4-year period. These observations were supplemented…

Based on interviews with students and staff and several months of observing life and work in the school, this report examines Colorado's Mountain Open High School, where the program is based on the notion that secondary education should be the rite of passage from adolescence to mature adulthood. Chapter One introduces the people and facilities of…

This manual is designed to help school district personnel assess the extent of substance abuse and to develop policies and procedures for dealing with the problem through the cooperation of schools, parents and communities. The effect of social change on adolescents is discussed and trends in developmental distress are noted. Roles and…

Research literature on student perceptions of classroom environment is reviewed in this paper. The intent is to indicate the types of issues that have been addressed and to illustrate recent developments in the field of student perception. Seven categories of student perception are examined: (1) teachers and teacher behavior; (2) peers and peer…

An important part of any school's self-evaluation is student input or feedback. This inventory was developed in order to accomplish two goals: assessing student attitudes toward many facets of the school, and providing an opportunity for students to make recommendations for improvement. Thirty-four multiple choice items collect information on…

This study investigates whether students experiencing difficulty adapting to parental loss also feel they have little or no control over life events; whether an inability to adapt to the stress of parental loss surfaces as a school adjustment problem; and whether these relationships are stronger for students losing a parent through death than…