Children's conceptions about literacy at the end of the first grade were studied. Children learned in one of three language arts curricula. Their skill levels were then compared, and suggestions were made for teachers to help children see reading and writing as holistic skills, beyond their functional necessity. (JL)

Telephone interviews with 48 parents of young adults with mental and physical disabilities found parents identified their greatest planning needs in the areas of living situation, socialization, and employment. There was a positive relationship between planning for adult needs and family functioning. (Author/DB)

Asserts that the nurturant socialization of children is considered the irreducible, essential, and definitive function of families. Notes that there have been major changes in family structure and patterns in the past 20 years and considers some recent family trends and projections, looking at the possible consequences of these trends for child…

Recent research (including a longitudinal study comparing direct instruction, nursery school, and High/Scope models) has shown that the child-initiated approach outstrips teacher-directed activity in fostering some aspects of social development. Adolescents from the High/Scope and nursery school groups had half as many delinquencies as the direct…

Illustrates, with data from a sample of U.S. middle-class families, how the structuring of the child care environment is related to culturally defined parental goals and attitudes toward development. Mothers' child care practices seemed to reflect the mothers' emphasis on cultural values such as independence and exploration to further cognitive…

Research and literature on educational change, teacher effectiveness and leadership are reviewed to provide a context for describing teacher-leader programs. Qualities of effective leadership are discussed. Suggestions for developing and reviewing teacher leader programs are given. (JL)

Provides historical perspective on moral education, discusses links between morality and religion, and recommends several actions to help develop morally mature individuals to ensure the existence of a just and caring society. Insets detail characteristics of morally mature persons and list members of the ASCD Panel of Moral Education. Includes 14…

An ethnographic approach is used to determine how anger and aggression relate to the native childrearing theories held by child caregivers from an urban, working-class neighborhood. The three socialization contexts identified were the caregiver's life experiences, childrearing ideology, and childrearing practices. (JS)

Offers a proposal for integrating the Gestalt goals of self-responsibility with a feminist perspective that places value on the web of relationships in women's lives and focuses attention on the environmental constraints and socialization that affect women's choices. Discusses Gestalt techniques for enhancing women's growth and examines…

Because children are subjected to undesirable and confusing socialization messages from peer networks and the media, schools are now paying more attention to students' social development needs. To counter schools' hidden curriculum and help students cope with stress and avoid serious interpersonal difficulties, an eight-step Improving Social…

Presents findings on relationships between Black children's self-perceptions, their achievement, and teacher's perceptions. Reports that factors influencing Black student achievement are not as singular or as insular as previous research has suggested. (KH)

Explores the relationship between educational crisis and cultural crisis. Maintains that cultural change must come from within a society as well as from carefully adapted borrowing. Educational innovation must be a part of this process. (JDH)

Thirty boys and thirty girls in each of four age groups evaluated fathers' discipline techniques over a range of situations in which a culprit was described as having transgressed. The techniques consisted of induction, physical punishment, love withdrawal, and permissiveness. Evaluations were determined more by the nature of the child making the…

Discusses the nature and dynamics of conservatism in relation to the politics of education. Argues that, because the state has replaced society and the workplace as the locus of class struggle, implementation of conservative educational and fiscal policies face barriers created by popular resistance and failures within the New Right itself. (KH)

The sex-typed and sex-neutral activities of 54 preschoolers and their peers' negative and positive responses were recorded during free-play periods in three mixed-age day care classrooms. Each child was observed for a total of 100 minutes of peer interaction. (Author/RH)