This action research project investigated a modified integrated curriculum for students in a multiage classroom who lacked personal and social skills. The lack of such skills in the prekindergarten through first-grade students was documented by means of teacher observations, summary reports, daily behavior reports, student portfolios, discussions…

Second Step, a research-based violence prevention program for kindergarten through middle school aged children, was implemented in several Jefferson County Public Schools. The objective of Second Step is to increase children's ability to identify with how others are feeling, take others' perspectives, and respond empathetically while decreasing…

Noting studies showing a critical link between students' relation to the school environment and their academic performance, attendance, attitudes, motivation, and post-high school success, particularly for at-risk students, this guide compiles widely recognized strategies to develop students' sense of connection to their school environment. The…

The challenges of early adolescence are intensified for girls of color who live in disadvantaged urban communities. One response to the needs of these girls comes from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), a youth development organization that has a long-standing presence in innercity neighborhoods. A gender equity initiative designed to…

Analyzes patterns of polarized socialization among Black and White students in an urban high school in a northeastern industrial area. Finds that polarized socialization occurs under educational and social conditions such as sectioning in schools and residential segregation in the community. (AOS)

The paper reviews research on early education of preschool handicapped and nonhandicapped children, conducted from 1971 to the present, to determine the effects of integration on developmental outcomes, peer interaction, and social attitudes toward the handicapped. Among conclusions drawn are that developmental outcomes have not proved superiority…

Steps being taken by institutions to develop policy on sexual harassment on campus are discussed, including the issues of legal liability toward students, definitions of harassment, policy statements, grievance procedures, sanctions imposed, recordkeeping and reporting, students harassing other students or faculty, and sensitizing seminars for…

The relative effects of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic goal structures were compared on achievement and the acquisition of high-level cognitive reasoning strategies. Results indicate that cooperative interaction, promoted higher achievement and the discovery of superior cognitive reasoning strategies. (Author/GK)

This paper explores group cohesiveness, class discussion, and group size in relation to classroom environment and the cognitive-personal growth outcomes of classroom learning. Implications are drawn from the research on cohesiveness for teachers who employ open classroom techniques. (Author/SJL)

Analysis of self-report data from middle class adolescents shows that both peer relationships and elements of adult-child conflict affect the probability of vandalism. The strongest factors are peer-related, possibly because vandalism may be seen as a way of establishing positions within peer hierarchies. (Author/MC)

Small-group cooperative learning methods have improved achievement, low and high level cognitive learning, race relations and mutual student concern. Most of the research focuses on four approaches: Teams Games Tournament (DeVries), Student Teams Achievement Divisions (Slavin), Jigsaw (Aronson) and Small Group Teaching (Sharan). (Author/CP)

Chronicles the development of collaborative teaching efforts in higher education, in a context of declining resources. Outlines models of team coordinated teaching and team teaching, and identifies four dimensions of collaboration: integration, interaction, active learning, and faculty autonomy. Offers a model of collaborative college teaching…

Two-way compressed video, a new technology that allows video communication between sites, promises to revolutionize teaching, faculty hiring, and intellectual exchanges. Its potential for almost unlimited connectivity among institutions, groups, and individuals is enhanced by its relatively low cost in comparison with other video technologies.…

Results from a self-report study of 1,139 Hong Kong secondary school students show that an equation containing peers' deviant behavior, peers' disapproval of deviant behavior, frequency of media exposure, preference for violent and obscene content, imitation of media characters, parents' deviant behavior, and teachers' negative evaluation…