Improving at-risk students' low self-esteem, changing the negative feeling that at-risk students have about themselves, and helping at-risk students to become empowered to do something about their poor achievement in school were the major undertaking of this project. A formalized self-esteem assessment tool, the Coopersmith Self Esteem Inventory,…

The Motivate and Stimulate for Excellence project was designed to provide academically above-average primary and intermediate level elementary school students at 10 project schools with enrichment activities to enhance their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Process and product evaluations assessed the extent to which project…

Stress is a part of everyday life for adolescents with puberty as stress affecting sixth grade students (N=27) was addressed in a junior high school with a program designed to reduce stress through problem solving. Two evaluation devices, the Barksdale Stress Evaluation and the "My Stress Level" Test were used for pre- and post-test comparison. In…

Over a l0-week period, an elementary school teacher designed and implemented a practicum study intended to help a target group of 24 kindergartners develop crucial mathematical problem-solving skills and to prepare them for taking the Stanford Achievement Test. The objective was addressed through implementation of direct instruction, modeling,…

This practicum was designed to improve preschool, kindergarten, and first grade teachers' group decision making skills in order to encourage program continuity from grade to grade in schools in a culturally diverse metropolitan area. A second aim was to use shared skill building to reduce isolation and improve problem solving among preschool and…

This paper describes a program in which community members (retired citizens, parents, and others) provided tutorial services over a 12-week period to five learning disabled primary grade students in a resource room program. Comparison of pretest and posttest results showed a greater than 20 percent increase in reading scores. Weekly spelling test…

A practicum was conducted at a small, private elementary school to introduce strategies that would reduce kindergarten classroom disruptions and playground disturbances due to fighting, verbal confrontations, and disregard for authority and rules. A survey conducted at the school revealed that kindergarten teachers handled a daily average of 10…

Many children enter school demonstrating excessive aggressive and impulsive behaviors, causing classroom disruption and interpersonal conflict. This intervention was designed to help first graders achieve social competence through conflict resolution training, problem solving, and anger management techniques to reduce aggressive and impulsive…

This practicum project evaluated the effectiveness of a peer counseling, mentoring, and tutoring program to enhance the transition of students from elementary to middle school by reducing behavior problems and absenteeism, and by enhancing students' ability to deal with academic or peer difficulties. The problem of adjustment to the transition…

The project described in this paper attempted to provide vocationally tracked high school students with the literacy skills needed to compete successfully in today's high-technology work force. This attempt was carried out by: (1) assisting students in establishing their vocational objectives in order to focus on specific literacy requirements;…

This practicum report analyzes a driver and student training program developed at an elementary school to improve students' bus conduct. Seventy percent of students require transportation by school bus. Except for chronic bus misconduct, discipline has not been a school concern. It was hypothesized that the lack of a comprehensive program…

The project attempted to improve the social problem solving skills of second to fifth grade children with learning disabilities and/or attention deficit disorders, and to offer support to their parents and improve parenting self-confidence. Both the parent group (N=9) and the children's group (N=5) used the Rochester Social Problem Solving Skills…

The practicum reported here addressed the difficulty some newly-immigrated Spanish-speaking, limited-English-proficient high school students experience in adjusting to a new culture, putting them at risk of dropping out of school. A program was designed for this population in a suburban high school with a substantial and increasing immigrant…