Three key ingredients contributed to the opening of Tigard-Tualatin (Oregon) School District's middle schools: a growing population, a new superintendent, and a committed board of education chair. Central administration can maintain an effective middle school by recognizing that young adolescents are unique, finding programs to address their…

Examines the language of mathematics textbooks, highlighting the depth of meaning found in their minimalist, technical styles. Indicates that instructors must guide students from the collection of rules and mathematical facts listed in the texts to an integrated totality of mathematical truth. (MAB)

This article urges educators of the gifted to look critically at both contributions of their field (for example, recognition of individual differences, stress on process and metacognitive skills, and commitment to high standards) and weaknesses (for example, narrowness of definition and identification, lack of program evaluation, and poor…

This essay suggests that gifted education is a strategy for singling out the children of the affluent for training in leadership and dominance, rather than focusing on advanced academic preparation. Gifted education is seen as being organized around the personal and social traits associated with the gifted themselves rather than academic rigor.…

This discussion of issues in gifted education focuses on the need to support effective practices that are also equitable. The article considers problems with defining gifted students as the "cognitive elite," the provision of qualitatively different programs to gifted children, and the need for challenging intellectual work and development of…

A survey of 293 faculty in 10 Australian institutions affected by the recent national reorganization of higher education explored their perceptions of the impact of systematic restructuring, including institutional amalgamation/redesignation, values of the new universities, and the nature of the new national system. Results reflect profound and…

This article first discusses various definitions of "difference" and then reviews some sociological theories providing a general conceptual understanding of the response to difference in today's society. It stresses the need to build communities and schools that support difference and develop cultural citizenship without polarizing…

Four lines of thought in philosophy that support the use of case studies and narratives to promote reflective teaching at the college level are examined. The four concepts include reflective practice or reflection in action; practical wisdom (contrasted with abstract wisdom); use of concrete cases for rational, practical decision making; and a…

Examines the attributes of a Christian university and presents the findings of a study that examined how professors at Loma Linda University School of Medicine (California) viewed their roles as teachers at a Christian university. Three philosophical models representing the university's teaching are discussed; questions for future research are…

This article analyzes the identification, evaluation, and education of gifted students in Spain. The lack of specific legislation normalizing the identification of and educational attention to gifted students is discussed, along with the debate over equality vs. equity, the development of identification procedures, and the need for teacher…

Outlines a method for helping graduate students develop a teaching philosophy statement, describes a teaching philosophy workshop held at the University of Waterloo (Ontario), and suggests tools for graduate students to explore on their own. Presents feedback on the workshop and tools in excerpts from reflective papers written by workshop…

Defines evaluation for adult religious education describing its four components (evidence, criteria, judgment, and improvement). Considers the scarcity of literature on evaluation in adult religious education noting the reasons for this scarcity. Provides an overview of evaluation addressing what, who, when, and how, and barriers and possible…

Presents conceptual analysis of U.S. and Japanese early education discourse, contrasting cultural assumptions and views of self that inform each context. Finds Japan holds progressive, child-centered but not developmentalist views that promote self in terms of cultural values; the United States emphasizes the individual child defined by…

Examines writing on educational theory in the 1950s, a time of presumed consensus, where essentialisms were taken for granted and homeostasis and homogeneity were held up as social aims, noting that the surface civility of the field hid underlying exclusions and tensions and that questions were not being asked about the lack of attention to…

States that, in Israel, different group perspectives, cultural values, and codes of behavior make various forms of cultural and conceptual (if not physical) violence inevitable. Argues that postmodern education should enhance the differences between perspectives, and develop a new set of sensitivities to highlight the consequences of different…