Performance assessment can help educators develop ways to reveal individual students' distinctive features and secure information about learning. These opportunities will be wasted unless the public's attitudes and expectations toward schooling are changed. Attitudes cannot change without revising policies inhibiting school children's educational…

Summarizes the recent report on college athletics by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which cites nine unfavorable results of athletic development on college students and examines administration of athletics, its excesses, athletic participation and its relationship to student health, the role of coaches, collegiate…

A British industrialist and educator comments on how a college education should prepare individuals for the world of work and decision making, noting the importance of self-discovery, the relevance of multiple intelligences, the deception of competition, the similarity of learning and working, and the value of reflection. (MSE)

Small colleges are under increasing pressure to spend on upgrading technology to win a real or imagined technology race against other institutions. However, the process of making this decision should be coordinated and focus on return on investment; strategic match of technology and mission; competitive advantage; knowledge of real needs;…

Examines the effects and implications of embedding the element of competition in computer-assisted cooperative learning situations on student cognitive, affective, and social outcomes. Results of statistical analyses of Taiwanese fifth graders show that cooperation without inter-group competition engendered better attitudes and promoted more…

States that the U.S. economy exhibits a voracious demand for information technology (IT) certification programs and, it is claimed, the U.S. system of education isn't producing them. Explains that most IT certification providers operate outside the formal postsecondary education system, do not participate in federal student aid and reporting…

Explores how two high-achieving adolescent girls reacted to a teaching intervention designed to foster collaborative group work focusing on aspects of their cultural practices in interpersonal relationships. They were primarily influenced by a competitive individualized ideology, not appropriate for the project, but not deviant from the school's…

Introduces six articles on interventions, practices, beliefs, and contexts designed to facilitate early adolescents' school achievement and overall development. The articles focus on middle school reform, separate schooling for African American males, ability grouping, teacher roles, interdisciplinary programs, and the role of cooperation and…

A high school vocational education teacher who customarily had students participate in cocurricular competition through the Future Farmers of America examined students' feelings about competition. Students revealed that winning was not the only important factor, though they wanted to feel well-prepared before competing. They appreciated the…

Weary of fighting with other districts for the best teachers, Fairfax (Virginia) County Schools adopted a more cooperative approach. The district is pursuing professional-development school agreements with four area universities. Similar recruitment partnerships are under way in Cleveland, Ohio; Tolleson, Arizona; and Olathe, Kansas. (MLH)

Alfie Kohn, former teacher and current educational theorist and writer, discusses his views on teaching, learning, and parenting. He addresses the problems of reward-based education, the negative effects of competition on learning, and capitalizing on the naturalness of altruistic behavior in humans. He stresses the importance of treating children…

Presents an action plan for the many developmental educators who have been enraged by the entry of private companies into the developmental education field. Asserts that developmental educators should combine the best that learning assistance has to offer with the best that the private companies have to offer, within a framework and language that…

Describes four spaces of network learning models which are designed to integrate the Internet into education. Topics include learning technology; network learning environments; project-based learning; community-based learning; learner location; including distance learning; teacher-centered versus student-centered; interaction, including…

A meta-analytic review of all adequately designed field and laboratory research on the use of incentives to motivate performance is reported. Of approximately 600 studies, 45 qualified. The overall average effect of all incentive programs in all work settings and on all work tasks was a 22% gain in performance. Team-directed incentives had a…

Searching for ways to help students feel more connected to one another and to the school community as a whole, a junior high school implemented the social house approach. Social houses divide students into multiple social units, rather than into separate academic entities. Each unit has its own identity and theme.The different groups mix during…