Mapped existing literacy practices in early childhood classrooms and explored the understanding and perceptions of staff and families. Rated classrooms and staff. Identified five staff concerns for providing environmental support for early literacy development and noted staff belief/practice differences between low- and high-ranking classrooms.…

Relates personal experiences to the challenges of the inclusive classroom. Details recommendations for inclusive classrooms, including the following: value each child's uniqueness; individualize expectations and goals; adapt the classroom environment to support children's needs; tailor staff responsibilities to support children's needs; and…

Analyzes the concept of "knowledge base" in education. Describes the process and methods of inquiry into the nature of selective and universal schooling. Delineates the distinctive nature of teaching and learning based on the analysis of differential treatment of learners' individual differences and motivations of the two kinds of…

Examined the relationship between students' perceptions of a problem behavior prevention program, All Stars, and changes in program variables-bonding; normative beliefs; ideals; and commitment. Three factors-Program Enjoyment, Student Engagement, and Teacher Relationship-were used to predict changes in four variables. Results indicate Student…

Undergraduate students (n=53) in an introductory educational psychology course at the University of South Florida completed the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule and were randomly assigned to cooperative learning groups. Comparison with final course grades indicated that student course satisfaction and grades were related to student needs for…

Explores the changes in the juvenile court system, in particular, the juvenile waiver and sentencing laws, as it transformed from a social welfare agency into a type of criminal court system for young offenders. Addresses whether states should create an integrated juvenile and criminal justice system. (CMK)

A Colorado elementary school used its assessment program to measure everything that affected student performance; they then changed or cut anything that did not improve achievement. Teachers routinely instructed and pretested each child at his/her achievement level. The result: high gains on the 1998 Colorado State Assessment. (MLH)

This longitudinal study examined role of maladaptive self-regulatory beliefs as vulnerability factors for academic and emotional difficulties during transition to middle school. Findings indicated that maladaptive self-regulatory beliefs predicted individual differences in perceived school-related stress and depressive symptoms during transition,…

Asked Dutch university and Russian high school students to sort statements in terms of moral sophistication to investigate hierarchical stage structure of moral stages. Found that sorting statements representative of stages below one's own was straightforward; sorting statements above one's stage was difficult, suggesting that reflective…

Researchers ascribe attributional processes a central role within the framework of motivational processes in educational contexts, a point that has been proved by an extremely wide range of empirical evidence. Therefore, it is beyond any controversy that a functional attributional style has positive effects on a series of personal traits and…

This article reports the findings of a 3 year research project which investigated disciplinary variation in student writing. Within an Open University course in the history of science, students from an arts background were found to achieve significantly higher grades than those from a science background. Textual and interview data suggest that…

Elementary school children, some of whom were nonnative speakers of English, learned to add and subtract integers in a discovery-based multimedia game either with or without verbal guidance in English or optionally in Spanish (Groups G--verbal guidance and No-G--no verbal guidance, respectively). Group G members chose to listen to verbal…

Children's social networks often include close family members, extended family members, and friends, but little is known about interindividual differences in the patterning of support from these sources. In this study, we used person-oriented analyses to differentiate patterns of support for children undergoing the transition to adolescence.…

In a short-term longitudinal study of 432 first-grade children, we examined whether gender interacted with contextual differences (school-level poverty) and individual differences at school entry (behavioral problems, emotional problems, and social competence) to predict changes in peer physical and relational victimization and receipt of…

Individual differences in temperament and personality influence children's development of self-regulation, social relationships, and adaptation within varied contexts. For young children with disabilities and/or family poverty, early school experiences provide both significant challenges and opportunities. In this study, teachers rated the…