Researchers and policymakers have pointed to the lagging scores of eighth graders on international, national, and state assessments as evidence that students are not prepared to meet high academic standards and that middle grades reform is needed. In response to these concerns, educators have introduced reforms designed to provide middle-level…

Abundant research chronicles the backgrounds and characteristics of community college students assigned to developmental reading. Many are members of underrepresented groups and first in their families to attend college. English may not be their primary language. Developmental students often struggle with learning disabilities. Nontraditional…

This document contains computer skills curriculum for the public schools of North Carolina; these lesson plans are designed specifically for grades K-8 and focus on the societal impact of technology. The lesson plans for each grade include a list of materials needed, lesson time, teacher preparation activities, outline of activities, and…

Research on school effects has shown that differences within schools have more influence on educational outcomes than do differences between schools. This chapter explores the implications for educational equity of ability grouping. Concerns about equity are organized by placing them in the context of the meaning of educational equity that implies…

The junior high school, typically grades 7-8 or 7-9, offers a program that is "not-quite-yet-but-trying-to-be" a high school. The organization of the middle school (commonly the grades 6-8), however, is based on a philosophy of education that was specifically designed to meet the special needs of a preadolescent learner; middle schools incorporate…

The purpose of this study was to examine for the middle grades how students' cognitive reasoning level contributes to the variability of their achievement test performance. While previous investigations have indicated that measures of reasoning development are associated with measures of achievement, few such studies have attempted to control for…

Public education is facing a crisis of major proportions, but the things that are basically wrong with schools are not those being emphasized in current proposals for change. This paper identifies two basic defects in the American system of public education: (1) there is too little attention to individual differences; and (2) there is too much…

Part of a series of studies on higher education in different countries, this paper examines internal differentiation of Japanese higher education and the problem of coordination, using a comparative perspective. The crucial difference in the division of universities by subjects among different nations has been between chair and department…

The statewide survey examined whether there were difference (1) in the drinking/driving attitudes and self-reported behavior of high school students, (2) between those defined as "alcohol involved" and the "non-involved", and (3) between the Wichita youth compared to the remainder of the youth from throughout Kansas. Data were…

The knowledge explosion, the growth of technology, and the development of new teaching methodologies seem to the author to have led to a sense of unrelatedness, insignificance, and a loss of personal identity. The implications of this position for language teachers are viewed in terms of communication and motivation. Weaknesses of the scientific,…

The role and training of an educational consultant who is to become an "agent for innovation" is the subject of this report. He is seen largely as guiding and evaluating externally generated innovations in language programs and aiding the generation of innovation from within the school in the same subject area. Emphasis on design and articulation…

The problem of teaching culture in language classes is reflected in the criticism directed to the current Part 4 section of the Regents foreign language examination given in the State of New York. This paper, the result of a panel discussion on culture, proposes changes in the examinations and proposes new directions in the study of culture.…

A 100-item bibliography with abstracts of books, newspaper articles, and periodical articles in English and French published predominantly in 1970 offers information on various aspects of education in Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. Emphasis is placed on sections dealing with educational organization in primary, secondary, vocational, and…

The teacher's attention is focused on selected elements of Spanish culture which may be taught integrally with instructional materials found in the first-year Spanish texts "Entender y Hablar", "La Familia Fernandez", and "A-LM Spanish, Level One". Items are cross-referenced for 42 cultural concepts ranging from nicknames to streets, roads, and…

The procedure described for evaluating foreign language programs is based on the interaction of teaching and supervisory personnel, materials (administrative guides and texts), and students. Discussion includes techniques to formulate instructional objectives in behavioral terms with specific reference to foreign languages, distinguishing between…