A study investigated the possible relationships among situation-specific affective variables, motivational-attitudinal variables, and level of language learning in 70 students who were enrolled in a series of beginning Japanese language courses at the university level. Variables investigated included language class risk-taking, language class…

This paper discusses a radically different set of assumptions to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged students. It is argued that disadvantaged children, when exposed to carefully organized thinking-oriented instruction, can acquire the traditional basic skills in the process of reasoning and solving problems. The paper is presented in…

The names of the county, school, principal, district, and superintendent; address; phone number; grades served; and number of students are provided for each of the 50 award recipients of the City Schools of Excellence Grant Program in New Jersey. These New Jersey schools are engaging in a thorough and intensive program of schoolwide improvement.…

This booklet offers a framework to help administrators understand the campus environment for minorities, and describes an approach to collecting the information needed to monitor change in that climate with an emphasis on the experiences and perceptions of minority students on campus and the need they express for a more hospitable campus.…

This study examines responses to a survey that assessed perceptions of racial relations in schools to highlight areas that would benefit most from school attention. The Racial Climate Survey was administered to 2,882 students and 377 teachers/administrators in a large school district in Florida. An exploratory factor analysis of the 12-item survey…

This report summarizes the ways in which children in developing nations have been adversely affected by their environment and what changes could be made to mitigate these circumstances. Chapter 1 discusses the environment, children, and future generations, pointing out the special needs children have now and will have in the future, the role of…

This publication summarizes the findings of a 3-year study concerning the effectiveness of instruction that emphasizes meaning and understanding. In particular, the instructional approaches embedded the teaching of discrete skills in context and drew connections between academic learning and students' home lives. These strategies were applied in…

Presenting syntheses of research on effective instruction in 30 program areas, this paper is designed as a resource to assist teachers in expanding and refining their repertoire of teaching strategies and to guide instructional planning and decision making. For each program area, the paper presents a "finding" (a one-sentence statement…

The Polish instructional materials in this volume are designed to accompany the "Reading Authentic Polish" workbooks. Their purpose is to familiarize students, in the classroom or through independent study, with spoken Polish in real-life situations. All materials were taken from Polish radio and television in 1991-92, a period of rapid…

This module is part of a training program for foster parents and foster care workers offered at Colorado State University. The module's learning objectives address: (1) the position of the foster child as an outsider in the foster family; (2) foster parenting experiences with children from birth to 18 years of age; and (3) the process of…

A case study was done of the Boston University management and operation of the Chelsea (Massachusetts) school system including perceptions of key participants and outcomes of the first year of the partnership. Despite unanticipated levels of hostility between various groups and slow funding, which slowed some first year objectives, the project…

An emerging U.S. employment system is the Security, Employee Involvement, and Training (SET) system. The system is characterized by the following: (1) a high degree of employment security based upon flexible job assignment; (2) employee involvement in problem solving and continuous improvement; and (3) continuous training of all employees. Case…

The project described in this report was designed to develop curriculum materials on gender equity issues for prospective teachers in education programs both at the University of Alaska and nationwide. Practicing teachers, together with university researchers, developed 10 teaching cases which present real-world classroom difficulties centering on…

This paper describes an evaluation of a prevocational Work Experience Project called New Leaf, which offers unemployed homeless men and women the opportunity to acquire essential work-related social and employment skills in connection with vocational and educational services and drug-free treatment in a therapeutic community. The evaluation covers…

In 1992, the Community College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CCSEQ) was administered in class to a randomly selected group of 1,062 students at the two-year regional campuses of Kent State University (KSU). Specifically, the study sought to provide information about the characteristics, experiences, involvement, gains, and satisfaction of…