This article describes the process of theoretical reflection that preceded the development and empirical verification of a model of "effective school improvement". The focus is on basic mechanisms that could be seen as underlying "getting things in motion" and change in education systems. Four mechanisms are distinguished:…

Using data from an experimental evaluation of the New Hope project, an anti-poverty program that increased employment and income, this study examined the effects of New Hope on entry into marriage among never-married mothers. Among never-married mothers, New Hope significantly increased rates of marriage. Five years after random assignment, 21…

When the US' governors gather in Washington this February 2005 for what is billed as a national education summit on high schools, many will come prepared to talk about initiatives already under way back home. The summit's organizers hope that an "action agenda"--coupled with intensive planning leading up to the meeting--will encourage state…

In the fall of 2003 a number of factors came together to create a fertile environment for developing an alternative, pre-service teacher education model. The overarching goal of the model is to diversify a rural university's credential program(s) by developing and offering alternative paths toward teacher certification within the constraints of a…

Unity without diversity is, at best, boring, and at worse, totalitarian. Diversity without unity constantly threatens to degenerate, at best, into tensions and failures at cooperation and, at worst, into genocide. The sources of diversity in the United States are many. Racial and ethnic differences as well as differences based on national origins,…

Adults regularly ask children what they want to be when they grow up. The responses are often interesting. David Castillo knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life, even at a young age. Now he is well on his way to accomplishing his childhood dream. Castillo, a center for the Florida State University (FSU) Seminoles' football team and…

The Penn-Delco School District in Pennsylvania uses a walk-through process focused on looking at student work and talking with individual students. The purpose is to ascertain what those students are able to express about their own learning. At the beginning of each year, a committee of teachers at each of the district's schools meets to identify…

Problems related to negative body image are very common among young women. In this study, we examined the relationship between women's body image and their sexual functioning over and above the effects of physical exercise and body mass index (BMI) in a sample of 214 university women. Low situational body image dysphoria and low body…

Narrative inquiry methodology was used to investigate self-perceived identities among 10 lesbian college students. Analysis of data from in-depth, open-ended interviews revealed the role of meaning-making capacity in determining the extent to which contextual influences shaped self-perceptions of sexual orientation identity and its relationship…

Articulating a philosophy of education for oneself, and getting the meaning across to others, is complex work. Here, the author presents some questions to ask that help identify the school's philosophy. The author also emphasizes re-examining the goals as well as starting the school year with confidence.

According to Hanes and Schiller (1994), "The student teacher experience is the traditional transition from theories of the university to practical realities of public schools. It is in this experience that critical changes occur and determine the manner of practice that preservice teachers tend to adopt for their future classrooms" (p. 218). The…

Coaches and sports psychologists often say that it is the mind that controls the body, and that once a race begins, it is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical training. Teaching young athletes to use mental strategies is a skill they will continue to use throughout their athletic career, and best of all, throughout their everyday lives, even…

Do students tend to set similar types of goals throughout the school year, or do their goal orientations shift over time? If students become more oriented toward mastery or performance over the course of the year, do they improve in their academic achievement, have a more positive affect toward class, and develop the cognitive propensities that…

To many who espouse feminist ideals or take a critical approach to gender relations, Holland and Eisenhart's (1990) observations of college women in the late 1970s and early 1980s are grim: At the two institutions that served as the field site for Holland and Eisenhart's study, "the peer culture established an ethos for women that emphasized…

This study tested the unidimensionality of the Tenacious Goal Pursuit (TGP) and Flexible Goal Adjustment (FGA) scales and examined the relationships of the factors measured in these scales with two criterion constructs (happiness and self-acceptance) and with age in a sample 292 adults (ranging from 50 to 90 years). Confirmatory factor analyses…