Presents three cases of novice teachers and how they make the choice between covering the curriculum and fostering their students' understanding. Recommends that supervisors provide opportunities for their teachers to identify their metaphors and associate them with their beliefs and actions, to make alternate metaphors explicit, and to support…

Investigates a multidimensional approach to perfectionism using three dimensions: self-oriented perfectionism, other-oriented perfectionism, and socially prescribed perfectionism. Results based on 178 first-year postsecondary students suggest that both personal standards for academic achievement and appraisals of standards held by significant…

Examined optimism, generalized self-efficacy, and interactions between these variables, along with member expectancies for group, as predictors of growth group outcomes. Results based on student responses (N=19) indicate that the ability of initial expectancies to predict outcome depended on the level of generalized self-efficacy. (RJM)

Examines the work of one urban teacher network, analyzing ideas about educational equity and inequality evolving from its professional development practices. Using archival and ethnographic materials spanning 24 years, the article explores how the network's oral inquiry process makes visible two different, but interrelated ethical obligations…

Identifies myths about the poor, such as attributing poverty to the breakdown of family, and responds to them with arguments from Richard Weissbourd's book "The Vulnerable Child: What Really Hurts America's Children and What We Can Do About It." Argues for using professional material like Weissbourd's book to better articulate and…

Studies validity and usefulness of kindergarten through second-grade teacher judgments of students' literacy competency based on alternative assessment techniques. States that 136 kindergarten children were followed through second grade; each year their teachers and principals were interviewed about assessment data for literacy evaluation.…

Explores the relationship between white racial identity attitudes and expectations about counseling. Results indicate men and women differ in their expectations about counseling and their levels of white racial identity attitudes. There was no significant relationship between them, however. Results are examined in relation to previous findings in…

Business students (n=59) used a behavioral expectation scale to rate their own operations management skills at the beginning and end of a course. They evaluated their skills in managing quality, productivity, and responsiveness significantly higher after the course. Critical incidents corroborated the results. (SK)

Argues that colleges need more than new techniques to engage students; they must transform college culture. Stresses that teaching and learning be the main topic of conversation, and that such conversations should be more informed and more information-based. Teaching itself can be viewed as substantive, intellectual work. (RJM)

Details the struggles of a disadvantaged gifted nine-year-old boy and the effect his relationship with the gifted education teacher had on the student's school experience. The interventions that influenced the boy's success are described and the importance of providing at-risk youth with intellectually challenging experiences is emphasized. (CR)

Discusses how the absence of equal resources for schools or adequate support for families must not prevent educators from eliminating the gross inequalities brought about by assigning our least-qualified teachers to the neediest students, tolerating shoddy practice, steering students to inferior curricular choices, and generally miseducating the…

An ethnographic study included observation and interviews with 40 Head Start staff and 50 parents. Teaching and learning were affected by the sociopolitical context in terms of capacity (lack of resources affected expectations of parent involvement), power relations (allocation/withdrawal of resources), and connection (when parents and staff…

Surveys of 371 European American, African American, Mexican American, Vietnamese American, and Armenian American adolescents in ethnically diverse high schools in Los Angeles found that most adolescents set high goals for the future and expected to reach them. Compared to European American adolescents, minority group adolescents attributed…

Presents findings from the "2003 Graduating Student & Alumni Survey," conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Results reveal that most students: view the economy as the greatest job-search obstacle; are realistic about what they expect of the job market; and were realistic in their salary expectations. (GCP)

Findings are discussed from a study in which classroom behavior of three fifth grade teachers was observed. Their respective classroom environments were labeled: "learning-oriented,""work-oriented," and "work-avoidance." The affect of these environments on achievement test scores and guidelines for implementing motivational strategies employed in…