This study examines the manner in which a group of kindergarten children viewed their kindergarten experience, how those views changed over time, and the extent to which those views were affected by background variables and preschool experiences. Eighty-three randomly selected urban kindergarten children were interviewed three times over a 7-month…

In a study demonstrating that Black English was target for Hispanic boys acquiring English as second language, it was shown that extensive peer contact with Blacks was necessary but not sufficient for acquisition of two features of Black English (negative concord and distributive "be") and that choice of Blacks as reference played no role in…

Motivating students through preparing their writing for publication and then publishing it offers a better alternative to the task analysis method of teaching remedial writing to university students. One teacher's experiences at the Summer Bridge Program at Sonoma State University are described. (MLW)

To test a facilitative-constraint model, data about marijuana use was collected from 4,859 high school students in 2 rural southern Georgia counties. The model was useful for predicting frequency of use and classifying students as users, experimenters, and nonusers. Access to drugs and identification with drug-oriented groups were strong…

The purpose of this comic-activity book is to teach children how to be safe and how to deal with peer pressure. The book centers on the characters McGruff the Crime Dog, his nephew Scruff, and American Indian children living on a reservation. Scruff, who is a child figure, encounters situations that children may experience or worry about,…

This article describes the implementation of the cooperative development (CD) technique by two professors at a Japanese university. With this technique, colleagues work together by adopting the roles of "speaker" and "understander" to support each other's process of addressing teaching concerns. The skills required for CD…

The aim of this study was to assess the interrelations of social support and school attitudes as predictors of achievement across a culturally and economically diverse sample of preadolescent children. Parent and peer support were assessed along with parent and peer attitudes toward school. Achievement indices were the child's own attitudes,…

This collection of papers reviews the national debate over school choice, examining the benefits for parents, children, and schools and showing how properly designed choice programs can prevent the harmful outcomes choice opponents fear. The papers discuss why choice must be addressed in the context of the real-world performance of public schools,…

This study analyzed outcomes of an inclusive physical education (PE) program for Taiwanese kindergarten students designed to improve movement-related performance of all children within a diverse group and facilitate positive learning behaviors. Five children with mild disabilities, situated in a class with 14 typical peers, acted as the…

A study undertaken in Western Australia, the Western Australian School Effectiveness Study, explored the characteristics of effective high schools by investigating factors influencing science and mathematics achievement. A multilevel analytical model was used in the longitudinal study that focused on 1,024 students in 21 rural and urban high…

This paper explains how a World Wide Web site was designed to assist preservice teacher education students in reflecting upon their learning and to assist a teacher educator to reflect upon his teaching in university classes. The students reflected on their learning experiences in university classes using a three-phase reflective framework: (1)…

This book explores how standards are negotiated and created within classrooms, addressing how they actually play out in classrooms from the point of view of students and teachers. It follows the experiences of students and teachers at urban Powell High School who wrestled with curricula designed to expand their achievement. The book presents four…

A study investigated: (1) the effectiveness of a group contingency behavior modification strategy on behaviorally disordered students in a physical education class; (2) each student's response in relation to the group; and (3) the effects of age differences on results. The strategy increased time on task for both individuals and groups. (Author/PP)

A balanced triad among students, teachers, and curriculum, with each consisting of three equally supportive components, is shown to be the most important foundation for learning. Teacher components are self-esteem, superiors, autonomy; student components are peers, parents, motivation; curriculum components are design, materials, pedagogy. (MH)

Describes the basic principles of the Personal Discovery Approach to motivating students (individuation, tasks, journey, imagery, dreams) and program modules (survival strategies, autobiographical work, "Express Yourself,""Experimental Listening," value clarification, "Group Time,""Human…