Childhood overweight has received increased national attention as a social and health problem. Childcare providers play an increasingly prominent role in the lives of young children and are therefore important in initiating change. This qualitative study determined the role of childcare professionals in the prevention of childhood overweight.…

The British "Index for Inclusion" was selected to be used in three primary schools in the Western Cape Province in South Africa in order to develop a South African model to assist in the development of inclusive schools. The "Index for Inclusion" process entails progression through a series of five developmental phases and this…

One in five children living in the United States is an immigrant or a child of an immigrant, and 62% of these children are Latino. Through qualitative methods, this study identifies ways that Latino immigrant parents with adolescent children cope with their new environment and how that environment shapes their parenting practices. Two primary…

Schools in England are now being encouraged to "personalise" the curriculum and to consult students about teaching and learning. This article reports on an evaluation of one high school which is working hard to increase student subject choice, introduce integrated curriculum in the middle years and to improve teaching and learning while…

This paper discusses issues arising from three case studies of the ways people have become tertiary teachers in a polytechnic, a wananga (Maori tertiary institution) and a university in New Zealand. Despite institutional differences, the teachers gained most of their teaching knowledge and skills on the job, learning informally and experientially,…

This article describes a qualitative research study that explored how a middle school case-study class read and responded to "culturally conscious" African American children's books (Sims, 1982, p. 49). First, I relied on literary analyses conducted mainly by Sims (1982) and Harris (1995) to identify African American textual features contained in…

Recent research indicates that young girls are preoccupied with their body size and that the media may be a contributing factor. This study aimed to discover the impact of an interdisciplinary media literacy intervention curriculum on 4th-grade girls in an urban elementary school. The authors developed and implemented a series of lessons that…

Increased demands for colleges and universities to engage in outcomes assessment for accountability purposes have accelerated the need to bridge the gap between higher education practice and the fields of measurement, assessment, and evaluation. The "Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education" provides higher…

Intercultural understanding is a prerequisite for peaceful local and global citizenship, especially in South African society where prejudice and negative stereotypes were previously the order of the day because of official separatism. It is therefore crucial to teach intercultural understanding in South Africa. I report with commentary on a…

The focus on academic performance testing in elementary schools has caused a decrease in student experience in the arts. Visual arts (drawing, painting, sculpture, and collage) have been minimized in elementary schools. Without exposure to the special avenues of cognitive development and personal expression nurtured by visual arts, students are…

Teacher beliefs have become important constructs in educational research with the recognition that beliefs are the best indicators of teachers' planning, decision-making and subsequent classroom behaviour. In this movement many probes and strategies have been employed by researchers for effective data collection and analysis. This paper discusses…

Most conversations about ethics and professional behavior involve case studies and hypothetical situations. This study identifies and examines the most common concerns in professional behavior as reported by 303 student affairs practitioners in the field. Differences by gender, years of experience, organizational level, institutional type, and…

A science teacher and her mentor reflect on their participation in the Learning Research Cycle, a professional learning model that bridges research and practice in both university and public school contexts. Teachers do scientific research in scientists' laboratories, then bridge their scientific experiences with the design of new classroom…

A literature-based reading program was introduced to 98 students in 5 second-grade classrooms in an urban school district with a socioeconomic status ranging from middle class to disadvantaged. Students were primarily African American or Hispanic. Of the total, 22% had previously been classified as "at risk" as determined by state regulations. The…

This paper describes the Duke University Libraries' transition in early 1994 from its traditional hierarchical model to an organization emphasizing Total Quality Management (TQM) concepts such as self-managing teams and continuous improvement. Existing conditions at the libraries that played a role in the decision to switch included: (1) rising…