Introduces six articles on interventions, practices, beliefs, and contexts designed to facilitate early adolescents' school achievement and overall development. The articles focus on middle school reform, separate schooling for African American males, ability grouping, teacher roles, interdisciplinary programs, and the role of cooperation and…

A study investigated the influence on critical-thinking skills of part-time and full-time student status. Subjects were 2,076 first-year students at 2- and 4-year colleges. Full-time students developed a higher level of critical-thinking skills than did part-time students, even controlling for other factors. Full-time two-year college students…

Discusses interconnections between the following two national reports: (1) Involvement in Learning; and (2) The Student Learning Imperative. Reviews recent research on student development in order to demonstrate how student affairs professionals can use this information to enhance learning. (SNR)

Presents six principles to guide institutional efforts to enhance student learning and personal development by more purposefully integrating curricular goals and outcomes with students' experience outside the classroom. Implications for practitioners and graduate preparation programs are discussed.(Author/SR)

Summarizes some of the major findings from the first year of the federally funded National Study of Student Learning. Discusses the implications of those findings for higher education policy and practice.(Author)

The student development movement may have represented a digression from the central educational mission of higher education. The Student Learning Imperative is the latest attempt to redirect student affairs into a realignment with student learning. This article offers practical suggestions for conceptualizing the content, methodology, and…

Discussion of the need to include affective components in the education of gifted students considers: development of interpersonal and emotional intelligence, the need for an affective curriculum component, the role of the teacher to address the social and emotional needs of gifted students, and inclusion of affective learning in multidisciplinary…

Explored the views of beginning teachers who had graduated from an extended teacher education program which highlighted reflection, inquiry, leadership, diversity, and schoolwide leadership projects and action research in the fifth year. Periodic post-graduation interviews indicated that their preparatory experiences, particularly fifth-year…

This study investigated the utility of the self-regulation model of decision making for explaining and predicting adolescents' academic decision making. Measures included an assessment of decision-making skill; academic goals; select scales of Learning and Study Strategies Inventory; and teacher ratings of achievement behavior. Adolescents'…

Asserts that assessment tools created by instructors or counselors can be effective in exploring students' individual needs and providing a foundation for appropriate interventions. Presents a Student Information Sheet, which elicits basic information, and two measures created to explore academic self-concept and students' self-concept related to…

Examines the status of Tech Prep in the North Carolina Community College System and compares the attitudes of senior administrators and faculty toward Tech Prep programs. Discusses four research questions regarding college and faculty involvement in Tech Prep and finds that, in most cases, it has not yet made substantial changes within community…

Reports on Miami-Dade Community College's experience with service learning and the "America Reads" program, which have proven to be effective and important ways to help fulfill higher education's commitment to community building, scholarship, and civic responsibility. Outlines some of the keys to success in building a successful service…

Asserts that there is a need to provide students with an array of life skills, including the ability to be productive citizens contributing to the good of one's community. Examines the nature of ethics education in a college curriculum--the justification, other than pragmatism, for providing this kind of education; ways of providing ethics…

In northwest New South Wales (Australia), the Ngali Dhiirrali Project uses a "can-do" approach to talent development among gifted Aboriginal students, featuring identification of a wide range of student talents, provision of school support and enrichment programs (particularly outdoor "culture camps") by in-school mentors…

States that for faculty to make effective referrals to academic support programs, they should be knowledgeable about services and describe them to students in their classes early in the term, they must endorse the use of the service and repeatedly encourage students to attend, and they must make their referrals personal. (VWC)