For an entire school year, two low-achieving severely learning disabled third-grade students ("Billy" and "Bonny") spent 30 minutes each day working with a Resource Room teacher on a variety of holistic activities. Activities were added, discarded, or modified to maximize the children's motivation and success. "Cut-up sentences" were used early in…

A study investigated the effects of the literature-based reading instruction on the reading achievement of Mexican-American first graders in Spanish. Using a posttest-only control group design and "t" test for independent samples, results indicated that after three months the experimental group of 30 students (attending a 100% Hispanic…

This speech addresses the restructuring of special and regular education into one integrated system in a third generation of school reform. Six serious issues demonstrate the need for reform: (1) poor quality of disability identification and evaluation; (2) a classification system governed by fads rather than student needs; (3) minimal…

This study was conducted to find out how well mathematics majors at the University of Northern Iowa were prepared in the foundations of effective teaching practices and how well they performed during the student teaching experience. Data were gathered from mathematics student teachers (N=22) who were observed, interviewed, and asked to keep daily…

Noting that most home-schooling materials adhere to conventional schooling at the cost of creativity, this handbook provides guidelines for building a successful home school curriculum, one that avoids student resentment and parent burnout, targets children's interest and motivation, and understands how a child's developmental stages contribute to…

National assessments of student academic achievement in various subjects and grades are conducted each year in France. However, there is no formal evaluation of student performance in various cross-curriculum domains, such as study skills, self-image, interest in learning, cooperative attitudes, social competence, or civic knowledge and values.…

This book presents the results of a study of the factors contributing to a lack of academic success for Hispanic-American students. About 500 professionals and parents from 19 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Ecuador answered a 400-item questionnaire that explored cultural and contextual traits and suggestions of how…

A study investigated the efficacy of using the Language Experience Approach (LEA) with a 15-year-old special education fifth-grade rural black student who did not seem to benefit from traditional skills training procedures. The subject was reading below the first grade level and was a sole survivor of two parallel single-subject design studies.…

This report presents seven studies commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education to examine the issue of the rapid rise of college costs during the 1980s and the ability of American students and families to afford higher education. The seven papers are as follows: (1) "The Ability to Afford Higher Education: Past, Present, and Future"…

The question examined in this paper is: what is known exactly about variables that affect long-term retention of knowledge learned in school? U. Neisser (1982) asserts that "it is difficult to find even a single study, ancient or modern, of what is retained from academic instruction." Further, popular belief holds that much of the knowledge…

As part of a practicum, an intervention to reduce the attrition rate of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students was developed and implemented. The 12-week program consisted of direct instruction in English to limited-English-speaking students in conjunction with a cultural activity, the learning of two American square dances. The target group…

This paper presents a study that assessed whether attributional retraining is an effective method for enhancing academic achievement in at-risk college students. Attributional retraining was provided to college students (N=198) who had previously performed either poorly or well on a test. Attributional retraining and previous performance (low or…

A year-long study examined the effects of a computer-based reading project on students' attitudes and performance in reading and writing. Subjects (73 "at-risk" eighth-grade students in an inner-city school in Paterson, New Jersey) were randomly divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group used a software package…

This report is based on presentations given at the workshop arranged jointly by the DELTA (Developing European Learning through Technological Advance) Unit of DG XIII/F and the Italian based Datamont spa. The workshop addressed three principal themes: markets for technology-based learning, standards and conventions for technology-based learning,…

This guide outlines a practical six-step procedure to plan education for adult learners. The first chapter outlines the instructional planning procedure, which integrates existing knowledge about how adults learn and the principles of designing instruction and examines the principles of adult learning. The next six chapters describe the following…