New technologies are slowly making it into the early childhood classroom; however, many families expose their children to these technologies before they encounter them in the formal school setting. Thus, many parents serve as the first teachers of technological literacy to their children. Or, as it is more frequent, parents and children learn…

Individual differences in academic success were investigated in a geographically defined whole-population sample of very preterm children with a gestational age of less than 32 weeks or a birth weight of less than 1500 gm. The sample consisted of 264 very preterm children (75.6% of German-speaking survivors) and 264 controls matched for gender,…

For decades, educators have wrestled with how to handle the increasingly diverse religions of an increasingly diverse student body. Sometimes, the line between church and state--what schools can and cannot do under the Constitution--can feel confusing and slippery. Today, religion has become a subject one high school teachers describes as even…

This descriptive study proposed to use the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to identify the learning styles of registered nurses who have returned to school, and to recommend teaching strategies based on commonalities of their learning styles. The MBTI was administered to 240 registered nurses who were enrolled in either a leadership course in…

This volume in the Applied Developmental Psychology Series consists of a collection of papers on current sibling research and theory. Prominent researchers and academicians in developmental psychology present reports on aspects of sibling relations in an effort to better understand individual and family growth. These scholars have dealt with…

The research described in this article addressed the question of why siblings commonly have different developmental outcomes despite their common beginnings. The studies analyzed behavioral development, especially through examination of deviant behaviors and intellectual development, by tracing siblings' different life histories. The work is based…

This guide for infant day care providers examines the importance of early experience for brain development and strategies for providing optimal infant care. The introduction discusses the current devaluation of day care and idealization of maternal care and identifies benefits of quality day care experience for intellectual development, sleep…

This brief paper summarizes guidelines for adapting instruction for advanced learners in inclusive, mixed-ability middle school classrooms. A rationale for differentiating instruction is followed by consideration of what differentiation is and is not. Characteristics of a differentiated class are enumerated, including: instruction is concept…

This report examined the participation of at-risk children in preschool programs, after controlling for selected individual, family, and geographic characteristics. A multivariate statistical technique, a logistic regression, was applied to data from the 1990 Decennial Census. This allowed an analysis of the relative effects of each of the…

This monograph reviews several approaches for describing learning styles and the instructional implications of an emphasis on learning styles for teachers. Several reasons for the importance of understanding individual learning styles are provided; such understanding leads to: (1) reduction of teacher and student frustration; (2) higher student…

In five experiments with over 2,500 subjects, we examined the hypothesis that cognitive processing variables measuring breadth of declarative knowledge and information processing speed were related to learning outcomes on a paired-associates task. Experiments 1 and 2 compared recall with recognition tests, Experiment 3 assessed the effect of…

This study was conducted to examine individual differences with respect to values underlying the assessment of teaching competence in order to enhance the effectiveness and fairness of assessment. Nine classroom teachers who were preparing to be mentors of beginning teachers and five teacher educators indicated the relative importance (expressed…

This fact sheet on Down Syndrome is offered in both English and Spanish. First it provides a definition and description of this syndrome, noting its etiology in a chromosomal abnormality. Incidence figures are then given. Typical characteristics of people with Down Syndrome are listed. Commonly associated health-related problems are noted,…

This study was conducted to identify a difference between preschool teachers' and school-based administrators' perceptions of critical issues and the numerical ranking assigned to those issues in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' (North Carolina) Chapter 1 Preschool Program. The study tested three hypotheses, and sought to ascertain what teachers…

An effective educational reform plan creates a compelling vision, develops a new policy environment conducive to change, and lays out strategies for involving educators, parents, business people, and community members in implementation. Traditional educational policy is biased toward the status quo, favors yearly, incremental policy-making,…