Homelessness influences every facet of children's lives, inhibiting their physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and behavioral development. Homeless women face such obstacles to healthy pregnancies as chemical abuse, chronic health problems, and lack of prenatal care. Homeless infants are more likely to have low birth weights and are at greater…

This report is the first in a series on Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams) in the Newark, New Jersey Public Schools. Project GRAD is an education initiative that combines several proven or promising reforms with the goals of increasing reading and math achievement test scores, improving classroom behavior, reducing dropout rates, and…

This paper presents a history of zero tolerance policies, discusses the breadth and scope of zero tolerance policies in U.S. public schools, examines unintended consequences of zero tolerance policies (especially those conflicting with basic philosophical tenets of the public school system), and makes recommendations for creating and implementing…

The joint Education Department of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, Minnesota, developed a behaviorally oriented framework for assessing teacher candidate dispositions. They created an instrument to use in a behavioral assessment of all applicants to the teacher education program. This assessment involved an interview with…

This action research project sought to incorporate character development education into a kindergarten classroom, with a focus on respect, responsibility, and cooperation. A behavior checklist was used by the teacher and parents to demonstrate the need for character education and to document improvement. Anecdotal records were also kept throughout…

In spite of the impressive gains in the total number of awards earned by minority students, a comparison of the percentage distribution of the major ethnic groups at different points in an academic career shows that not all groups are progressing consistently. This report on the academic outcomes of students in the Florida Community College System…

This report evaluates the performance of the California Academic Volunteer and Mentor Service Program, addressing an assessment of the impact of mentoring on middle school and high school student achievement, attendance, and behavior. The program's goal is to use volunteer mentors to provide support to children at risk of academic failure and…

This book provides K-12 teachers with concrete, step-by-step guidance on how to improve student behavior through positive classroom management. It explains how to take control of the classroom, offering an alternative to threats, rewards, and punishments. The book is divided into an introduction and three sections with seven chapters. The…

This ethnographic case study investigated the challenges of six elementary teachers who attempted to embrace, comprehend, and apply elements of cooperative learning. The study examined solutions that teachers found effective in dealing with problems they encountered when using cooperative learning. Over the course of 1 year, researchers collected…

This paper reports on a case study that was part of a 3-year longitudinal study about classroom discourse during a learning sequence related to environmental values and concepts. The lesson was planned and enacted by students in a fourth grade classroom during a field study. Whole class and small group classroom conversations and a field trip to a…

This study investigated practices, attitudes, and behaviors that experienced teachers used to motivate middle school students. Participants were 10 teachers from one Virginia middle school. The teachers' classroom behaviors and teacher-student interactions were observed. Teachers completed interviews that asked about: their definition of…

This study compared the instructional decision-making of expert and novice special educators in familiar instructional settings, investigating whether they differed in how they allocated attention to different instructional themes in the classroom. Participants were 38 expert special educators and special education student teachers. Student…

When a University of Louisville Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) director, a team of graduate students, and an instructor designed a free summer computer camp program for disadvantaged middle schoolers, they imagined that the middle schoolers would respond to the first instruction as if the educators had restrained them in technological and…

School psychologists are increasingly expected to become more involved in health related issues. It has been suggested that the frequent visitor to the school nurse (FVSN) is often the student with a high need for security, nurturance, and attachment to an adult at school. This paper focuses on children and adolescents who do not have a chronic…

Noting that the inclusion of young children with disabilities in early childhood programs has important short-term behavioral and social benefits for such children and their families and that arguments for an "ethic of inclusion" have emerged within the field, this paper maintains that much remains to be learned about the nature of early childhood…