Proposes self-directed study and an evaluation and grading system to replace traditional method of grading on the curve. (DS)

Reports on a study of teacher expectancy showing that teachers give "talented students more opportunity to participate in class, thus increasing their skills, while low achievers are relatively ignored. (MH)

Operating a rented storefront with an open door, architects establish community action as an integral part of the design process for an innovative and sympathetic middle school. (Author)

Agreements are reached between individual students and teachers about what needs to be learned, the best ways to learn it, and when. (EJS)

A controversy has arisen about the implications of the phrase "least restrictive environment" for the physically handicapped. School decision makers must consider carefully whether or not less physically restrictive settings may be more psychologically restrictive. (SK)

Eight severely mentally handicapped adults were taught two adjective concepts--one adjective using group training and one adjective using individual instruction. Although group and individual training were equally effective in terms of rates of acquisition, generalization was 45 percent greater when exemplars of each adjective concept were taught…

Offers suggestions for systematizing over-the-shoulder reading conferences during class time. (MKM)

Describes the Writing Place at the State University of New York, Buffalo, a center to which students from all disciplines can go to receive individual help with specific writing problems. (FL)

Computer-managed instruction can be used to evaluate the cognitive progress of individual students without negatively influencing their achievement. (JD)

Authors discuss the Personalized System of Instruction-what it is, how it can (or cannot) be evaluated, and some problems which may be encountered with its use. (Author)

This study compares the teaching of problem-solving skills to preschool children in individual and group settings. Subjects were 8 girls and 7 boys of 3 years, 6 months to 5 years, 10 months of age who attended a university laboratory preschool. There were two experimental groups and one comparison group. Children were presented with a problem…

Reviews current school reform efforts and educational trends such as individualized instruction and humanistic education, criticizing them for contributing toward a potential polarization of society. Concludes that such movements may be overemphasizing a reverence for diversity at the expense of the need to cope with its effects. (EH)