By perpetuating habits, values, and attitudes that successfully mediate the interaction between the individual and the social environment, the Afro-American home environment prepares children to live in a society that devalues individuals whose social and ethnic origins differ from the accepted norm. Afro-American families stress social rather…

In this nationwide opinion survey, high school seniors generally rated their teachers and schools highly, though academically successful students gave higher ratings. Dissatisfactions with school environment concerned discipline and drug problems, and seniors wanted to offer solutions. Data are related to grades, socioeconomic background, and…

Describes a secondary analysis of a national assessment of educational progress in science which was conducted in 1981-1982 with students of age nine. Suggests that elementary school students' achievement and attitude are influenced jointly by a number of factors rather than by one or two dominant ones. (TW)

Reviews how medical teachers can assess the climate or overall ambience of their medical education environment. Suggests climate research studies that medical teachers might undertake. Presents some methodologies that might be employed in such studies. Promotes action research by medical teachers to improve the quality of medical education. (TW)

Discusses the young child's home-community links and less strong school-community links. Examines reasons for schools becoming isolated from their communities. Emphasizes importance of teachers finding ways to relate child's learning to the community and finding ways to let parents share in their children's learning at school. (LFL)

British education seems to be quite narrow and specialized, contrasted with U.S. education. The English system is based largely on testing and more fully reflects its social structure (more class oriented and less flexible than in the U.S.). (MLW)

Discusses the role of temperamental individuality in the school setting and focuses on the importance of temperament for children's adjustment in school. (HOD)

An environmental intervention model to improve the learning environment in Black colleges is proposed, including a skill development component, revitalized testing, an integrated reading program, junior-level comprehensive examinations, and an analytical reasoning course. (MSE)

Over the past 30 years, the rate of childhood obesity has more than doubled for preschool children aged 2 to 5 years and adolescents aged 12 to 19 years, and it has more than tripled for children 6 to 11 years of age (Institute of Medicine, 2005). At present, approximately 9 million children over 6 years are considered obese (Institute of…

Over the last several years, an understanding has been developing within the literature as to those elements which can best combine to produce increased student achievement within a small school environment. Many see such elements as, relationships, standards, rigor, student engagement, and others as part of a comprehensive whole. What is not…

Today's schools are responding to the pressing need for positive student-teacher relationships that promote successful learning and prevent dropouts and violence. To meet this challenge, many secondary schools are reorganizing around smaller schools or "houses" and structuring longer blocks of learning time. Authors Elliot Y. Merenbloom and…

Leaders need to be responsive to different ethnic, linguistic, and religious subcultures or they will place many students at risk of being excluded from the benefits of a high-quality education. By valuing diversity and preserving the cultural dignity of students, cultural proficiency enables educators to create an inclusive and instructionally…

Environmental factors currently affecting today's community colleges either will cause irreparable damage to their fiscal health and organizational structure or contribute to their rebirth--transforming systems and processes to meet current and future challenges successfully. Community colleges are facing challenges on many levels: (1) In 2003,…

This paper briefly describes two projects--one in the United States, one in England--that studied professional learning communities (PLCs). Part I of the paper describes the two projects. The American project is called the Creating Communities of Continuous Inquiry and Improvement project. The purpose of this study was to document and examine…

Tacit knowledge, the knowledge that workers possess but do not articulate, is associated with terms such as "skill,""know-how,""working knowledge," and "expertise" that are used to describe knowledge about and ability to perform work. Learning that takes place through apprenticeships draws heavily on tacit…