Describes reforms at a Bronx intermediate school which registered large gains in students' comprehension performance. The success depended on active, engaged learning, intensive assistance for low achievers, personal development of students, coordination of instruction, availability of instructional support personnel, outstanding leadership, and…

Describes a study that examined increasing peer interaction in an asynchronous learning environment by investigating the effect of a teacher's discourse style on the level and quality of student participation in a computer-mediated discussion. Three discourse styles (i.e., questions, statements, and conversational) are studied, and further…

This study of diversity within a Catholic high school in a midwestern city examines the effect of the "caring community" on the achievement of African-American and other minority students. Through teacher, student, and parent interviews, analyzes caring and helping offered, uses of humor, and involvement in school activities. (JB)

Explores violence and weapon use among high school students. Both are on the increase. Schools have a responsibility to stop the overflow of street crime into the schools, but they cannot accomplish this without the help of parents. Parents must learn how to teach their children alternatives to violence. (SLD)

Demonstrates how several factors interact to diminish the chances of academic success for the children of public housing, and suggests how these chances might be improved. A first step is renewed commitment to housing conditions. Reduction of class size is a strong option for increasing achievement for children. (SLD)

Interviews with four African-American recent high school students in a predominantly black rural North Carolina town focus on the individual's perceptions of society with regard to definitions and decisions about education. It is evident that school is regarded differently by those who graduate and those who drop out. (SLD)

Presents the results of a qualitative study of the effects of desegregation on four African-American teachers in a rural, predominantly African-American town in North Carolina. Desegregation resulted in removal of the town's school and the consequent departure of the unique presence, pedagogy, and caring of the African-American teachers. (SLD)

National data comparing public and private schools show many systematic differences in source of support, degree of parental choice, student populations, teacher qualifications and salaries, school and class size, professional autonomy, instructional practices, and support services. Larger and better financed than most private schools, public…

Describes a software shell, STAR.Legacy, designed to guide attempts to help students learn from case, problem, and project-based learning. STAR.Legacy supports the integration of four types of learning environments: learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered, and community-centered. Describes how a STAR.Legacy constructed for an…

Schools desiring to set, enforce, and realize high academic standards must join with allies who set high expectations for preventing and addressing health impediments to learning. Health and learning outcomes (and inequities) are driven by powerful, remediable social environments, not by individual "lifestyle" choices. "Access"…

A study investigated the phenomenon of learner autonomy in six graduate students in a course in English for academic purposes. Students were developing skills in discourse intonation using a CD-ROM program, designed to encourage autonomous learning. Student interview data suggest that development of explicit knowledge of the language system can…

Discusses results of a study of at-risk eighth grade students that investigated whether a constructivist multimedia learning activity after a social studies unit would show greater social studies knowledge and more positive attitudes toward and self-confidence in learning. Describes instruments used to measure student achievement and the…

A survey of 1,249 Queensland University of Technology (Australia) students concerning their learning environment found that they feel effective teaching is relevant, experiential, and interactive, while ineffective teaching lacks structure, is inappropriately paced, lacks variety, and occurs in a classroom with inadequate discipline. Implications…

Presents a collection of cantankerous opinions criticizing political correctness, abstract art, sympathy for AIDS sufferers, and arts advocacy. Contains a briefly coherent passage advocating serious and rigorous formal study. The rest amounts to little more than a conceptual mapping of rancorous reactions to the current state of affairs. (MJP)

Recommends ways that cross-cultural content can be effectively presented in general psychology courses. Includes avoiding the marginalization of cross-cultural materials and perspectives, using accurate terminology to make cross-cultural comparisons, and raising awareness about bias within the cross-cultural literature. Offers relevant examples…