A practicum project developed the core curriculum and core curriculum guide for an American literature survey course. Students enrolled in the course came from low socioeconomic backgrounds, exhibited problematic behavior, and evidenced poor study habits, as well as low reading comprehension skills and substandard language usage. Under these…

A study examined the views of six experts in the teaching of literature concerning ideal curricula in literature at the elementary school level. Data were developed from a detailed, written document in which the experts (three university professors who had made significant scholarly contributions in children's literature and three elementary…

This paper reviews the literature on the causes of job burnout, a condition which has been linked with high personnel turnover, friction with co-workers and supervisors, increased dissatisfaction with both the job and the organization, job withdrawal, decreased productivity and absenteeism. The paper discusses the communication skills necessary to…

Efforts were undertaken to develop a parental interview for determining parenting style of parents of children of all ages and children within several subcultural groups. The interview provided mothers with descriptions of common situations in the home and asked the mothers to choose specific responses representing the following parenting styles:…

Intended for practitioners, this book presents a curricular framework for classroom reading and writing experiences that help students understand how reading and writing relate to reasoning and learning. The two sections of the book are organized around three major components of curriculum and how each component was realized in three Indiana…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which problem analysis facilitated the subsequent processing of expository text, both for novices and a comparison group. A text on osmosis consisted of six-pages and was used as reading material. The ninth-grade students were considered novices because they were unfamiliar with the…

Nedelsky (1954) has suggested a procedure for determining the minimum passing score on a multiple-choice test. In this procedure expert judges estimate the probable score of a minimally competent examinee. The technique does not refer to the students' performance data. The purposes of this paper are: (1) to introduce a modification to the Nedelsky…

Arguing that the use of peer groups in a writing classroom theoretically supports the goals of the paradigm shift from emphasis on written product to writing process that has occurred in recent years, this paper examines the complexities confronting teachers who attempt to use groups for instructional purposes. Following a brief introduction, the…

Focusing on adolescent literature, this issue highlights the role of historian, writer, teacher, and reader in fact, fiction, and history. The following essays are included: "Doing the Literacy Tango" (J. L. Collier); "Biography and Books of James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier" (J. Bugniazet); "Fact, Fiction and History: The Role of…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Examination in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this reading test (to be administered along with a questions booklet) includes the following 10 short selections taken from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama: "Parents as People (with Children)" (Ellen Goodman); "Everybody Knows about the…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this questions booklet contains 80 multiple choice test items based on the ten selections in the readings booklet. The questions examine the students' skills in (1) understanding meanings, (2) recalling materials read, (3) understanding and…

Intended for students taking Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in English 33 in Alberta, Canada, this reading test is designed to be administered with a questions booklet. The following short selections taken from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and day-to-day functional materials are included: (1) "Interpreter" (Gary Hyland); (2) an…

The cognitivist view of composition suggests that if students are supplied with a set of writing strategies, they will learn to think in more complex and powerful ways, observing their own ideas and writing from another person's viewpoint. On the other hand, some social critics argue that composition teachers need to help their students enter into…

The Survey of Special Test Administrations was administered to people with disabilities concerning their responses to special testing accommodations, both for college testing and for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). The questionnaires were developed to evaluate testing accommodations for disabled people…

A pilot study attempted to document the existence and incidence of learning disabilities (LD) among primary school children in Botswana. The study also sought to identify effective identification procedures and to determine if LD students are unique to technologically-oriented societies. Data were collected on 620 children from 4 schools (2…