The problems of rural children are discussed. Rural children are threatened by many of the same social and health problems that urban children face, complicated by distance, which affects access to health care and other services. Recommendations are made to assure that rural children receive the services they need. (SLD)

Studies school-site administrators' understanding about ways of gaining/maintaining power, control, and predictability. Multisite study data concerning assistant principals identify rules of the game for four micropolitical (site-level assumptive world) domains. Assumptive worlds create avoidance of value conflicts and risky change, group-think…

How students' ethnicity perceptions affect the educational process is ethnographically studied through interviews of about 50 students attending a multiethnic high school in a California city. Ethnicity's relevance varies depending on social situations and students' interpretations of events. Denial of one's ethnic identity centers around…

Data from a longitudinal study of adolescent development of approximately 2,300 sixth and seventh graders (the Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions) provide a basis for the hypothesis that optimal developmental outcomes should result from an environment that gradually reduces adult control as the child's desire for autonomy increases.…

Reviews research on literature discussion groups, which suggests that groups allow readers to bring personal experiences to and take meaning from books, and young readers come to deeper levels of understanding. Discusses the use of literature groups in a kindergarten classroom, focusing on the teacher's use of and responses to literature, and the…

Examples from related case studies illustrate possible consequences of a social constructivist approach to learning and teaching mathematics. Discusses student tasks that promote flexibility in mathematizing subject matter; constructive versus Euclidean geometry approaches; working with real-life mathematics problems; and product versus process…

Problems of fit among five streams of educational reform and prevailing configurations of teachers' professional development are identified. It is argued that the dominant training-and-coaching model is not adequate for the requirements of present reform initiatives. Criteria are presented for assessing professional development policies and…

In spite of prevailing opinion, U.S. cities are alive and well and continue to play a major role in the nation's social fabric. The federal policies of recent years must be reversed to keep cities functioning as the place where the United States reimagines itself and learns to manage difference. (SLD)

There is little likelihood of significant new funding for cities. The future may require real decentralization in the ways we live, with fundamental restructuring of political and economic institutions. A system of communities structured locally around new institutions and supported by regional planning might sustain a different culture. (SLD)

Effects of recent changes in Australian higher education on everyday academic work are examined, including changed emphases in teaching, research, administration, and public service and new demands associated with allocation of time, self-regulation, fragmentation of work into more discrete tasks, greater uniformity of effort, recruitment…

Teachers of low-achieving homogeneous, high-achieving homogeneous, and academically heterogeneous classes in elementary and junior high schools in Israel were interviewed to determine their allegiance to academic, personal, and social goals for students. In contrast to results of U.S. research, academic goals dominated for teachers in all…

Discusses ongoing ethnographic research on interpersonal caring at an inner-city elementary school. Analyzes the perceptions of teachers, parents, teaching assistants, and students concerning how they describe what acting in the best interest of others means. Considers issues that may hinder the construction of shared meaning. (JB)

Develops a framework for promoting effective coaching, in the sense of encouraging children's achievement, in community settings for children of different ages. Effective coaches perform the following tasks: (1) teach; (2) assess performance; (3) structure the learning environment; and (4) provide social support. (SLD)

A unit in a college course on technology and human values involves the students' questioning of traditional Western values as they relate to technological rationalism, calling dominant ideology into question. The approach is based on Paulo Freire's problem-posing pedagogy, and incorporates analysis of selected paintings from the Futurist movement.…

An activity in which students describe the worldwide geographic distribution of petroleum, identify and locate the countries that make up the Middle East, and name the countries that import oil to meet their domestic needs is presented. Discussion questions and answers are included. (KR)