English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) students attending mainstream university courses for the first time struggle with language proficiency issues and have to adjust to unfamiliar pedagogical concepts, including an emphasis on critical thinking. The purpose of this paper is to determine to what extent and to what degree ESOL and…

Two concepts have been confused: equality of opportunity and equality of ability, which has led us to link intellectual giftedness with elitism. This linkage undercuts the ability to nurture and benefit from the gifts of the gifted, an important issue in rural places experiencing either withering economies and loss of population or an influx of…

This review investigated the available literature on diversity and its relationship to teacher thinking. The literature review produced 36 studies, from which five categories emerged: beliefs teachers hold about student diversity and student performance; effective teaching in diverse settings; the impact of teacher experience on teacher cognition…

This report presents findings from an investigation of the perceptions, hopes, and fears of educators as they work toward including students with disabilities in Minnesota's High Standards. The findings are from questionnaires and interviews that were conducted from January to March 1999, with 90 educators across all grade levels from ten schools…

This paper suggests that students and their learning should become the focus of everything that college faculty do, examining what is currently known about student learning and where this knowledge comes from. Two large volumes have been published on what is known about student learning in college. A distillation of what is known can be extracted…

The growing belief that North Carolina's schools need to be up to international standards led the Public School Forum of North Carolina to launch its twelfth Study Group, addressing three questions: (1) What would it take to bring North Carolina's teaching of mathematics and science up to internationally competitive standards?; (2) How could North…

A meta-analysis of 77 studies on teacher expectancies led to the following conclusions: student attractiveness, conduct, cumulative folder information, race, and social class were related to teacher expectancies. Student gender and the number of parents at home were not related to teacher expectancies. (Author/LC)

The relationships among people's satisfaction with current living conditions, expectations concerning future conditions, and prospective mobility are examined for residents of large cities. Research results show that efforts to enhance expectations of improved physical conditions will help to nullify outmigration from central cities as well as…

Discusses transfer students, difficulties and expectations from four year colleges, and reasons why half of them never finish baccalaureate degrees. It is suggested that transfer programs emphasize clear information, speedy processing, separate orientation, and communication with two-year colleges. (JAC)

Ninth-graders read a passage for a test to be taken the next day, anticipating a recall test, a multiple-choice test, and a retention test. Half received either a recall or a recognition test regardless of prior instructions. Subjects did better on the recognition tests in all conditions. (Author/RD)

Two experiments examined the possibility that student expectations regarding teacher competence can be communicated to the teacher and bring about expected behavior. Results showed significant differences in student attitudes, performance, and nonverbal behavior according to expectation. Positive and negative nonverbal student behaviors had…

Identifies hindsight bias as the tendency to exaggerate one's ability to have foreseen the outcome of an event after learning the outcome. Describes a class project where students predicted the verdict of the O. J. Simpson trial one week before the verdict and hypothesized a jury response a month later. (MJP)

Presents data on values and behaviors of students before they arrive at dental school, particularly regarding cheating, and examines how these are related to the values and behaviors expected of them in professional school. Discusses faculty's role in prevention and treatment of academic dishonesty: structuring an environment to prevent…

Examined changes in one elementary physical educator's pedagogy and content as a function of experience. Interviews and observations of the educator's teaching in years 2 and 6 indicated similarities in pedagogical organization of lessons but differences in content. Managerial and instructional routines and professional isolation remained the…

Demonstrates the usefulness of classroom assessment in reducing the number of underprepared students. Recommends that faculty use classroom assessment techniques very early in the semester to determine students' knowledge level. Maintains that a vast dichotomy exists between teachers' assumptions regarding students' knowledge and what they…