Discusses how to teach culturally diverse students, questioning current practice in multicultural teacher education. The University of Alaska's alternative program helps prospective teachers understand multicultural classrooms and communities, design instruction to make connections between subject matter and student diversity, and learn to learn…

Research effects on achievement of nongraded elementary school organization is reviewed. Nongraded organization can have a positive impact on student achievement if cross-age grouping is used to allow teachers to provide more direct instruction to students but not if it is used as a framework for individualized instruction. (SLD)

Schools may not be the best sites for early field experiences of preservice teachers just beginning to work with culturally different children. The paper examines factors limiting public schools' potential as sites, describes an alternative nonschool setting, and analyzes conditions that make the setting better for developing culturally responsive…

Compares student reactions to a videoconferencing-based course with reactions to a traditionally delivered course in training and human resource development. Overall, responses were similar; however, students in the traditional classroom were more likely to agree that the instructor used class time effectively and that the instructor allocated…

Student behavior and instruction in a distance education (DE) class delivered via live cable or videotape were compared to traditional courses taken by DE enrollees. Results indicated that individual characteristics impact the behavior variables of attentiveness and motivation in DE. In general, learner satisfaction with DE was perceived as…

Two cohorts of students attending an alternative school for chronically disruptive youth received either the standard program or the standard program with additional family involvement. The experimental group experienced statistically significant improvements in locus of control, grade point averages, attendance, and reduced dropout rate, relative…

Discusses leadership issues that arose during the creation and offering of an Internet-based course for high school chemistry teachers including course organization, recruiting students, and technological support available to participating students. (Author/WRM)

Online education programs are in their infancy at traditional colleges and universities, although much of the growth in this area is within these institutions. The nontraditional students they serve are satisfied and, despite qualms about cheating and intellectual property, so are most professors who teach online. (Author/MSE)

A husband and wife team of Montessori-trained teachers started a private school in Brewster (New York) that also serves as a home school resource center. Their practices include mixed-age grouping, learner-centered instruction, optional standardized tests, parents in the classrooms, and frequent field trips. They endured 3 years of dealing with…

The Akwesasne Freedom School, on the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation (New York and Canada), is an independent immersion school that preserves not only the Mohawk language but also socialization patterns, styles of interpersonal relations, ethical principles, and aesthetic sensibilities. The curriculum is based on the Iroquoian Thanksgiving Address,…

Like other parents who phoned her at work, a dedicated associate commissioner of education grew increasingly frustrated with a system that failed to challenge her children. She enrolled them in a private alternative school that stressed community and viewed education as a privilege demanding great student effort. (MLH)

Chris Mercogliano's book about a free school in Albany, New York, advocates liberating children's life energies from the destructive forces of regimentation, repression, and control on which public education is based. An educational philosophy is needed that pays attention primarily to emotional and interpersonal issues, since academic learning…

A Tennessee district counsels seniors lacking sufficient credits to consider General Education Development (GED) tutoring. African-American females are generally "pulled out" by family reasons; African-American males feel "pushed out," following suspensions and expulsions. Potential dropouts are deterred by an alternative high school and a…

Examines the effects of participation in the Fifth Dimension after-school computer program on far transfer achievement in the subject areas of reading and math. Provides evidence that children who participate in the Fifth Dimension master knowledge and skill structures and acquire practices that mediate their performance on global measures of…

Investigated the cumulative effects of alternative certification (AC) on the public school teaching force and the comparative characteristics of teachers certified traditionally and alternatively. Data from the 1993-94 national Schools and Staffing Survey indicated that AC had mixed results in terms of fulfilling its promises, with some of the…