Comparison of tasks, job control, and work-related personality traits of 255 British headteachers and 20 elementary school principals in Texas showed that context factors of the jobs were similar, but that British headteachers presided over smaller school organizations and functioned more like executive officers than did Texas counterparts. (SLD)

University researchers developed a survey to assess resources, curriculum development, and inservice needs related to social education in Victoria. Responses from 37 primary schools (21% response rate), indicate significant gaps between policy and practice in many schools, huge differences in confidence concerning curriculum areas, and a strong…

To achieve a substantive level of professionalism, experiential education should extend authentic educational practices to help mainstream educators provide meaningful learning. This can be accomplished through information sharing among colleagues and efforts toward philosophical clarification, theory building, and research. Rituals and collective…

A survey of 39 school districts serving large numbers of culturally diverse students found that many districts listed gifted students from ethnic/linguistic minorities or economically disadvantaged as important underserved populations. Alternative identification procedures were primarily intended to expand the assessment basis, and factors…

Explores how the school classroom context influenced the expression of one prospective science teachers' beliefs about science and science teaching. Using the comparative method of data analysis, four interrelated categories of a student teacher's experience were generated: (1) beliefs about teaching science; (2) constrained teaching and…

Explains why structural change is an important theme of educational reform, and explores the complexities of structural change in reform efforts and their effects on teaching practices and student learning. The implications of these complexities on the relationship between structure and practice and on future educational reform research are…

This article first notes differences between least restrictive environment (LRE), inclusion, and mainstreaming. It then discusses the LRE mandate of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, reviews federal cases that have ruled on the application of the mandate, and concludes with an examination of principles from these cases and their…

Ninety-three elementary school children were interviewed about fairness of selected practices for influencing motivation to learn. Responses reflected their purposes for learning and their definitions of learning. Children held diverse views and valued different rewards, suggesting that teachers should treat students as thoughtful moral agents…

Describes the use of life histories as a means for making sense of personal events and their application to education. Distinguishes three models for the use of life histories in education: the biographical model, the autobiographical model, and the dialectical model. (22 citations) (MAB)

Describes how the DeVry Institute of Technology (Illinois), a for-profit educational institution, outperforms the federal government's plan in providing job training by offering quality technical education to working-class students. The author compares total degree costs, explains the school's curriculum and educational practices, and explores the…

Speculates about connections among educators' ideas of best practice, school organization, and policy. Develops six principles of best educational practice. These connect to organization and policy through resolving four recurring problems: how students are grouped, how teachers' work is defined, how content is allocated to time, and how student…

A study of 20 North Carolina elementary schools shows that changes in California Achievement Test scores over a 2-year period do not correlate with changes in effective schools correlates. Results suggest that prescriptive use of the effective schools practices may be misguided. (SLD)

Failure to reorganize rural schools in England in the 1920s-1930s left schools outmoded in buildings, curriculum, and teaching methods. Politically influenced policies were masked by the fashionable movement dedicated to study and enjoyment of the countryside. (SK)

This editorial addresses issues in the social validity of curriculum content for children with severe disabilities and notes the empirical validation of educational practices over the past 15 years. It also introduces four papers comprising a special feature titled "Meaningful Outcomes for Students with Severe Disabilities." (DB)

This commentary points out the need for a working definition of "appropriate education" so that parents of children with disabilities have realistic expectations and educators know what is expected of them in providing services. Educators must ensure that court actions do not make "regular education" children second-rate citizens. (JDD)