This book is designed to help teachers become more knowledgeable, skilled, and effective in their work, explaining the importance of understanding students' interests, learning styles, and backgrounds in order to meet their unique needs and describing why having the ability to manage the learning environment, motivate students, and teach is itself…

This book includes practical scripts, games, activities, pictures, and circle time role plays and plans that teachers can use with children age 4-8 years to promote their social and emotional competence. Activities are based on the empirically validated Dinosaur Social Skills, Problem-solving and Anger Management Curriculum. The book features an…

The Alternative High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey (ALT-YRBS) is one component of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), which monitors six categories of health risk behaviors among youth and young adults. The 1998 ALT-YRBS measured priority health risk behaviors among students at alternative high schools. It used a three-stage…

The need for an environment conducive to achievement for diverse learners is especially challenging at the middle and high school levels, where more students with learning challenges are included in the general education program, but teachers tend to be less tolerant of disruptive and distractible behaviors. Thus, students who do not conform to…

In this article, the authors respond to Dr. Amada's comment on their paper. They feel that several of his points, though related to their topic, go beyond the scope of their paper, for example, reflecting on the potential for legal involvement when the intensity of the obsessive relationship warrants urgent intervention. In the latter case the…

Standardized rating scales are the most often used part of the multidimensional assessment of children's behavior. However, low cross-informant correlations raise concerns about the reliability and validity of the resulting scores. This study examined whether the manner in which behavioral constructs are measured differs across informants, across…

This guide for educators who work with discouraged and defeated learners recommends ways to prevent problems and offers approaches to develop positive attitudes. The introduction dispels common fictions about discouraged learners. Part 1, "Profiles of Our Other Youth: Discouraged and Defeated Learners," describes behavioral and life situations,…

Recognizing that inexperienced teachers may differ substantially from experienced teachers in their perceptions of student control, a study examined both preteachers' and experienced teachers' strategy selections when confronted with student misbehavior scenarios that reflected particular situational determinants. Subjects, 522 prospective and…

This document presents narrative descriptions of 14 selected programs for reducing truant and disruptive behavior in schools, as selected by a group of Virginia educators in a project sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education. Among the tools utilized in these programs are behavior modification using tokens, in-school tutoring, in-school…

This paper gives a brief outline of the Third Annual Paraeducator Conference. Papers include: "How to Stop Problematic Behaviors" (H. K. Reavis); "Using Incentives with Tough Kids" (W. R. Jenson); "How Do I Accurately and Successfully Dispute My Own Worst Thoughts?" (M. W. Egan); "IDEA '97: The Law has Changed:…

This longitudinal study used repeated measures analysis of variance (RM ANOVA) and latent growth curve modeling to examine behavior change in 228 elementary school students over grades 1, 2, and 3 who varied in risk status. Of particular interest were the developmental trajectories for behaviors along four dimensions as rated yearly by teachers on…

Focus group methods for studying opinions and perceptions of school violence are effective for understanding differences among individuals, but cannot report these differences in a concise manner. Traditional quantitative methods for analyzing data from school violence perception surveys allow for the concise reporting of data, but cannot…

This study examined whether teachers respond differently to various problem behaviors as a function of student gender. Prospective teachers (N=155) were presented with a description of a male or female student exhibiting either internalizing, externalizing, or solely academic problem behaviors. Participants indicated their likelihood of referring…

One of six staff development training manuals for career guidance infusion in the elementary school curriculum (K-6), this manual focuses on improving classroom behavior. It is divided into the following six major sections: (1) a list of the major goals and activities covered in the manual; (2) an overview chart displaying the goals, concepts,…

A program for increasing the social skills development of fourth grade students is described. The targeted population consisted of fourth grade students in a growing, low socio-economic status, urban community including a public housing development. The problems of poor social skills and disruptive behavior were documented through observations,…