Student engagement is one of the most promising concepts in educational research today, as it has been positively correlated to a host of desirable outcomes and negatively correlated to a variety of undesirable outcomes. While there has been tremendous progress in advancing our understanding of student engagement including the developing of…

In this powerful new book, James Rickabaugh, former superintendent and current director of the Institute for Personalized Learning (IPL), presents the groundbreaking results of the Institute's half-decade of research, development, and practice: a simple but powerful model for personalizing students' learning experiences by building their levels of…

In early November 2013, the authors started talking about visiting the Hurley School, a dual-language school in Boston, Massachusetts. The Hurley School had spent considerable time transitioning to the Common Core State Standards on literacy, but little time addressing the shifts in math. They worried that math classes were no longer rigorous…

Even evidence-based instructional methods may not be sufficient for closing achievement gaps. If teachers are not maximizing instructional time, achievement gaps are likely to widen over time; therefore, instruction need not only be effective but efficient as well. The purposes of this article are to (a) provide practitioners with a broad…

Offers seven ways of circumventing or defusing issues of censorship in the English classroom. (RL)

This monograph proposes that sex equity should be infused and integrated into all aspects of the vocational curriculum until equity is accepted as an integral component of the educational process. It suggests that the leadership will come from vocational supervisors, vocational teachers, the Board of Education, state department staff, and officers…

Five guidelines are suggested by which instructional developers might produce large, meaningful, and lasting changes in teachers' performance. These are illustrated by a case study which involved nurse educators. Estimates of their successful application in this setting are described. (Author/JEG)

An overview is presented of systematic behavioral analysis as a method for modifying both social and cognitive behaviors through reinforcement. Various techniques are explained: response differentiation, shaping, chaining, fading, extinction, timeout, and response cost. (SJL)

Five approaches to attitude change are discussed: classroom instructional models, role-playing, personal contact, media presentations, and social participation. How social studies teachers can use a combination of these approaches to improve student attitudes towards their peers who are handicapped is discussed. (RM)

Several indirect methods of encouraging change in teaching behaviors are offered to assist supervisors in guiding teachers toward professional autonomy. (DF)

Power, force, influence, and authority are motivational controls used by teachers to cause behavior changes in students. Examples of how these controls are used in educational settings are explored in this article. The use of authority is recommended as the control that effects the most meaningful behavior change. (DF)

Nearly 40% of all fourth graders in this country cannot read at grade level, and this number rises to 60% for children from poor families. This gap in learning increases as students go through grade school and is a primary reason for failure. Ironically, this problem comes at a time when there is research to demonstrate that nearly all children…

The success of Charles C. Fries' Oral Approach to teaching English as a second language (ESL) as promoted in Japan by the English Language Exploratory Committee in the late 1950s and early 1960s is examined according to Jack Richards' four major factors that affect the course of a teaching method: appeals to facts; appeals to authority; form of…

An inservice course is outlined for elementary school teachers on behavior modification and open classrooms; results support the observation that inservice courses for teachers are a reasonably efficient, effective, and economical way to change teacher behavior. (MB)

The advent of the European Community will cause important changes in European life and create more diversified language needs. The schools must be prepared to respond to this new dynamic, rethinking of foreign language education objectives, renewing curriculum content, and rejuvenating methodology. (Author/MSE)