This paper explores the insights of five social theorists regarding families, schools, and parent-teacher relations. The five theorists are: (1) Urie Bronfenbrenner, a child psychologist and advocate of public policies that support families, who argues that frequent, positive communication between parents and teachers creates the optimal…

What difference should sociocultural difference make in early literacy theory and practice? In response to this question, this paper argues that such differences should lead to a reconceptualization that highlights the social nature and cultural meaning of child literacy development. Drawing on a recent ethnographic study of child composing in an…

This paper explores how various perspectives influence inquiry in education. Normative perspectives function as implicit theories of inquiry as a researcher undertakes formal inquiry, and such theories should be acknowledged. Epistemological as well as methodological issues raised by conceiving of such theories as normative rather than merely…

This booklet explores the use of national standards to structure work-based initial teacher training for teachers working within British further education colleges. Section 1 examines the following aspects of the use of Training and Development Lead Body (TDLB) and Management Charter Initiative (MCI) standards for initial teacher training: reasons…

Intended to guide writing teachers through the complexities of evaluation, the essays in this collection represent a variety of approaches to evaluation. The essays display, however, some common beliefs about what is fundamentally important to writing teachers' work--specifically, the need: to distinguish between "grading" and…

This study compared the ideas of researchers with those of practitioners in higher education regarding what is considered significant and useful literature in terms of content, methodology, and format. The findings were interpreted in terms of theories of action research and the quality movement. Data were compiled using focus groups of…

Educational researchers and practitioners have long advocated adopting a culturally appropriate curriculum to strengthen the education of Native youth. Such an approach uses materials that link traditional or cultural knowledge originating in Native home life and community to the curriculum of the school. Deeply imbedded cultural values drive…

Organized as a text for undergraduate and graduate students, this book presents the principles and practices of outdoor leadership in a variety of adventure applications: recreational, educational, developmental, and therapeutic. The introduction addresses the need for effective outdoor leadership and examines current research. Part I,…

This paper presents four philosophies of science teaching for teachers to use that encourage optimal learner achievement. Information is provided on an experimentalist or problem solving approach, an idealistic or subject-centered science curricula, a decision-making approach, and criterion-referenced procedures for learning. Two psychologies of…

This monograph reviews the research in linkages between schools and families of children with disabilities. An introductory section offers vignettes showing a typical school/home relationship of a family with a Down syndrome child in either 1958, 1978, or 1998. Part 1 considers what research has found about family functioning in terms of the…

The New Mexico School for the Deaf was awarded a five-year federal grant to implement and test a proposed bilingual/ESL model for students with deafness acquiring and learning two languages. The Star Schools project also was tasked with designing an effective system of staff development within residential schools for the deaf to guide teachers in…

This document contains five papers from a symposium on advances in qualitative research in human resource development (HRD). "Case Study and Its Virtuoso Possibilities" (Verna J. Willis) asserts that the case study method is particularly well suited for research in HRD because its creative and investigative possibilities have not yet…

The 18 author contributed papers examine orientation programs for foreign college and university students studying in the United States and for U.S. students preparing to study abroad. The marriage of theory and practice in addressing the two major issues of: (1) lack of agreement on standards for orientation; and (2) the common lack of student…

Cognitive apprenticeships have three essential characteristics: (1) they make use of the learner's prior knowledge; (2) they allow that learned procedures for solving problems may be modified in new situations; and (3) they acknowledge that individuals generate their own solution paths, often through a collaborative process. Preservice elementary…

A lecture series was conducted in 1989 to present information on learning theories by learning theorists. This document contains short texts of the lectures; full texts are available on request. In lecture 1, Robert Chase discusses educational reform and Bonnie Guiton examines educational goals from the perspective of White House policy. In…