Efforts at one high school to reconsider its practices of ability grouping and explore alternative assessment and grouping practices are described. Assessment of the schools' practices found that students in lower ability groups had a less stimulating curriculum, fewer positive role models, lower motivation, lower expectations for themselves, and…

Play, possibly the dominant socializing agent for children's social competence and identity development, is heavily influenced by media-defined images. It is important for media images of minority cultures to be filtered by parents' reactions and comments in order to counter prevalent negative images. Children's interaction with the media is…

This book on aspects of modern foreign language teaching is written for trainee, new, and experienced teachers of students aged 11-16 and is intended as a practical source of information. The discussion of specific teaching issues includes implications for classroom practice. While not directly addressing Britain's new National Curriculum, it does…

The study focuses on the gendering of Australian school students through their participation in school. Specifically grades 7, 8 and 10 were studied. The initial group of 112 middle class students was studied by an ethnographic investigation of schooling practice in four classes of senior elementary school students for one year. Fifty-two students…

Despite a high attrition rate among urban teachers, some have remained and have proven to be effective with the urban population of learners. This paper determines the perceptions of urban teachers and university faculty of the role of an effective urban teacher and compares these perceptions to the natural behavioral styles of candidates for an…

Northwest Guilford High School, Guilford County (North Carolina), is an essentially rural, largely white school that serves about 1,200 students from all socioeconomic levels. An evaluation was conducted of a heterogeneous grouping project involving students in a 2-year sequence of algebra for those who scored below the 40th percentile on a…

The State Higher Education Executive Officers' Task Force on Achieving National Education Goals found four issues of immediate concern to higher education one of which was the role of higher education in accelerating school reform. This document presents a set of recommendations on that issue. Schools and universities must establish high learning…

This information packet contains nine articles that outline current trends in kindergarten retention/exclusion and their negative impact on student outcomes, particularly for high risk students. The 1980s saw increasing numbers of children required to repeat kindergarten, attend a transitional grade before first grade, or wait an extra year before…

Whether teachers, in the absence of standardized test scores, can adequately identify students who require remedial services or are at risk of failing a literacy test was studied. During the 1987-88 school year 22 fourth-grade teachers were asked to identify which of 530 students of various ethnic backgrounds would score in the top or bottom…

The California Legislature recognized the significant place of instructional materials in the formation of a child's attitudes and beliefs when it adopted "Educational Code" sections 60040 through 60044. The "Education Code" sections referred to in this document are intended to help dispel negative stereotypes by emphasizing…

During May of 1985, an external audit team was engaged by the Lorain (Ohio) City Schools to assess implementation of the seven correlates of an effective school. The correlates, developed by the Ohio State Department of Education, included: (1) a sense of mission; (2) strong building leadership; (3) high expectations for all students and staff;…

Two studies explored parental expectations and home computer practice in families with special needs children. The first involved 48 parents of special needs children, aged 3.6 to 14.5 years. On a coping instrument, a mood scale, and a difficulties and expectations scale, parents indicated that important concerns for their children included:…

Educating black male youth, especially those in the New Orleans (Louisiana) Public Schools, is a moral and civic imperative. Though black males represented 43 percent of the public school population in the 1986-87 academic year, they accounted for 57.5 percent of the non-promotions, 65 percent of the suspensions, 80 percent of the expulsions, and…

Ohio's Educational Assessment Program is briefly described, and extensive tables present the 1978 test results. The sampling design, test development, and setting of performance expectancy levels are discussed. Results are reported for the total test and for each objective. Comparisons between the average predicted, minimally acceptable, and…

Teaching French can be a rewarding experience, yet this has not always been the case in Canada, where French is one of the official languages. There is a general misunderstanding of the average child's life at school and of the time and effort needed to develop any control of a second language. Departments of Education, publishers, politicians,…