During the winter and spring of 2003, the Survey Research Laboratory conducted a survey of residents of the Ida Wells and Madden Park housing developments on Chicago's near-south side. This article reviews existing research findings on using indigenous interviewers and reports the findings about the benefits and challenges of using residents as…

This paper proposes that learning and teaching for pupils with severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties could be enhanced by a closer focus on emotional factors and on the careful identification of what is meaningful for them. Phil Goss, senior lecturer in counselling and psychotherapy at the University of Central Lancashire draws on…

This study explores three teachers' perceptions and developments as a result of experiencing learning and teaching in a knowledge-building community (KBC). To understand the teachers' views, in-depth interviews were conducted. The transcripts were coded using a grounded theory approach. The findings indicate that KBC is reportedly viewed by the…

This paper reports a phenomenographic investigation into students' experiences of learning through discussion--both online and face to face (F2F). The study context was a second-year undergraduate course in psychology for social work in which the teacher had designed discussion tasks to begin in F2F mode and to continue online. A combination of…

The purpose of this paper is to deconstruct the new racist discourse within an urban charter school. The authors focus upon how the new racist discourse relieves Whites, "of any semblance of social responsibility and commitment" (Giroux, 1999). As multiculturalism and political correctness are being taught and encouraged in the society to work…

Indigenous-language education is critical in the rural and small-town communities with mixed native and non-native populations that constitute the headwaters of many dying tongues. Emerging from interviews conducted in 2002 and 2003 on the Flathead Indian Reservation with 89 study participants holding diverse perspectives is the need for a…

Guided by a social capital framework, this qualitative study examined the role of protective agents, namely parents and siblings, during the college choice process of 20 Chicana seniors attending a large urban high school in California. Despite previous research showing that Mexican parents hold a high value toward the importance of an education,…

This article seeks to contribute to the emerging body of research on learning to teach a second language (L2). Specifically, it examines the learning-to-teach experience of a preservice German language teacher from her own perspective illuminating the contextual, biographical, academic, and cognitive factors affecting her development (Freeman &…

"Laddish" attitudes and behaviours are central to current discourses on boys' "underachievement," as they are seen by many people to impede the progress of some boys in school. Whilst the vast majority of concern about "laddishness" has, to date, focused upon boys, according to media reports there are now good reasons…

Using in-depth interviewing, participant observations, and the review of historical and curricular documents, this paper describes and analyzes two Latino community-based small high schools--the Dr Pedro Albizu Campos High School (PACHS) and El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice (El Puente). The findings suggest that these schools are successful…

At least since the early 1990s, educators in inclusive schooling as well as scholars in Disability Studies have critiqued prevailing notions of intellectual ability and have suggested the importance of interpretive communities for constructing student competence (Biklen, 1990; Goode, 1992, 1994; Kliewer, 1998; Kluth, 2003; Linneman, 2001). This…

Due in large part to the trends towards economic globalization, English has become the most widely disseminated and ubiquitous international language. The purpose of the study was to investigate what Taiwan's EFL teachers at the elementary level believe about the policy of English as a compulsory subject and how they perceive the benefits and…

In a 3-year longitudinal study, the authors examined the effect of Direct Instruction (DI) on students' reading achievement, teacher perceptions, nature of the classroom, and special education referral rate. Urban and suburban students completed the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests in the fall of Grade 1 and spring of Grades 1, 2, and 3. Teachers…

This article reports on the findings of a questionnaire survey of 142 educational psychologists from England and Wales on their approach to the assessment of children with learning and behavioural problems. Participants were asked to report on the frequency with which they used a variety of approaches to assessment, including interviews with…

Reading comprehension of fourth and sixth graders was promoted with reciprocal teaching in three mainstream classes, and three special classes for pupils with specific language impairment (SLI). Four cognitive strategies were used to enhance these pupils' reading comprehension skills. Six coordinated, 5-week interventions were held during regular…