In "This We Believe," a National Middle School Association position paper revised in 1995, 12 beliefs were identified that would "clarify a vision that will guide the decisions of those responsible for determining young adolescent educational programs." Middle schools across the country have used these beliefs as guidelines.…

Beginning and veteran teachers are experiencing gross professional neglect. Teachers have been passive far too long about their own professionalism. The National Education Association is currently working with seven teacher-preparation institutions to reinvent teacher education and professional development. As Columbus, Ohio's peer-review program…

School staff can lead, teach, and learn better by defining what has value within their educational organizations. Value-added work is effort leading directly to learning. Waste work is improperly completed effort not tied to learning. Necessary work consists of tasks that keep the school running, but do not directly affect learning. Meetings waste…

Examines how attributions of gender are influenced by whether a person self-labels, labels another, or is labeled by another as gay or lesbian. Labeling heightened the labeler's gender-typical attributions and being labeled produced the reverse pattern. Gay self-labeling resulted in intermediate ratings, whereas lesbian self-labeling dramatically…

To increase its counselor retention rate, a New York camp developed a course for counselors that focuses on leadership training and earns participants college credit. The class teaches situational leadership and focuses on the camper, not the activity. Course curriculum and objectives, course elements, and lessons learned about program improvement…

Five educators describe research that explores elementary school teachers' attitudes about sexual orientation in relation to children's sexuality and parents' sexual orientation. They compare children's and adults' conceptions of family and discuss the process of including gay and lesbian perspectives in early childhood and graduate school…

This study investigated the relationship among new measures of motivation, such as persistence, attention, and goal specificity, and existing measures of motivation and achievement in 75 students enrolled in a francophone secondary school in Ontario. It concluded that these new motivational measures add to the understanding of the effects of…

Updated description of 38 wilderness orientation programs currently affiliated with U.S. colleges and universities includes program enrollment, length, cost, types of leaders, training, and sponsorship. Discusses program philosophies, goals, reasons for using the wilderness, and critical and emerging issues. Compares data to previous research.…

Inspired by Deming's work, the superintendent of West Babylon (New York) Schools convened his administrative team to build a consensus about the schools' mission. The vision statement outlines four primary functions: protective care, civic training, personality development, and teaching of knowledge. The district's goal-driven process surmounted…

Discusses problems that arise when computer software users have to learn a new system while maintaining productivity. Highlights include active learning; a constructivist view; Vygotsky's zone of proximal development; and a model called Design for Learnability (DesiL) that focuses the performance technologist on an ethnomethodological study of…

Surveyed Moroccan high school students regarding perceived goal orientations, school satisfaction, success attributions, and cheating behaviors and beliefs. Students reported low satisfaction levels, rated mastery goals higher than performance goals, and were more internal than external in success attributions. Engagement and belief in cheating…

Addresses the role of multiple goals, both mastery and performance goals, and links them to multiple outcomes of motivation, affect, strategy use, and performance. Data from 8th and 9th graders (N=150) reveal that, in line with normative goal therapy, mastery goals were adaptive; but also that performance goals, when coupled with mastery goals,…

New superintendents of three urban school districts turned to a group of "critical friends" from other school districts and education agencies to conduct formal evaluations of their school systems. Leaders in private industry have long relied on outside perspectives. The process can dispel professional isolation. (MLH)

Three studies examined children's understanding of looking behavior in revealing another's desired goal. Found that 6-year olds and adults, but not 4-year olds, consistently regarded prolonged looking as a more important cue than glancing or inadvertent touching of the protagonist's goal. Results suggest that development is characterized by…

Professional organizations mandate that effective counseling be provided to lesbian, gay male, and bisexual male and female (LGB) clients. This article presents the characteristics, challenges, and needs of sexual minorities, along with therapeutic strategies that practitioners may use in facilitating a positive self-image among the lesbians, gay…