Describes outdoor education students' developmental needs for belongingness, acceptance, care and friendship, praise and recognition, responsibility, self-respect, creativity, achievement, and new experiences. Explains how upward, outward, forward, and downward models of personal growth can be linked to developmental needs to enhance and evaluate…

Examines why curriculum planning falls short in site-based management and what can be done about it. Alternative curriculum-planning strategies include holistic planning, construction of thematic units to suit students' individual differences, and a multifaceted, cross-functional approach. Adapting corporate innovations and pursuing strategic…

Argues that the concept of best practice is an illegitimate importation from an inappropriate paradigm, and its use threatens to undermine the very values that its proponents espouse. After explaining best practice, the paper presents an alternative vision, suggesting that the future of educational practice and theory lies in the development of…

Investigated definitions and perceptions of multicultural education among 103 preservice early childhood education students. Found that students' definitions illustrated minimal understanding of multicultural education, limited to race and ethnicity. Most students constructed their definitions from college courses. Participants witnessed…

Common factors contributing to teachers' resistance include risk aversion, craft expertise, and autonomy and isolation. Leaders' problem is to create ownership, not buy-in. Principals cannot make change alone or by edict, but must nurture engagement and commitment and motivate groups to learn and solve problems cooperatively. (MLH)

School-effectiveness research (SER) has been criticized for being a socially and politically decontextualized body of literature that supports inequitable reforms. Critics rightly address several problems within the SER field: overclaiming (that furthers the Right's political/social agenda), continued undertheorizing, and inability to control…

A retired teacher and administrator advocates charter schools, but feels a solid research base is needed before rushing into them. Many charter school founders don't know what it takes to run the business aspect of schools, and Alaska's legislation has no oversight or accountability provisions. Charter schools need seasoned leadership,…

Makes the case for analysis, reflection, and debate about doctoral education in composition and rhetoric at this historical moment. Maintains that the number of established graduate programs in composition and rhetoric calls for a pause for critical reflection. (TB)

Explores how internship learning differs from classroom learning, using a theoretical framework of legitimate peripheral participation and a sample of 36 students enrolled in a Connecticut administrator-preparation program. Both mentors and interns felt the internship was an invaluable, "real" experience. Five themes emerged:…

A longitudinal investigation of the ways policymakers and practitioners in California, Michigan, and South Carolina view curricular reform in elementary mathematics and literacy instruction shows the complexities involved in "updating" teachers' professional development. Curriculum standards and frameworks are no substitute for the…

Describes the development of a graduate education technology course at the University of Massachusetts based on a service-learning model in which the goal was to apply academic theory to the practical requirements of a resource-strapped school district by assigning advanced graduate students to address educational technology needs. (Author/LRW)

Adventure educators have a role in bridging the gap between ecophilosophy (the philosophy of humanity's relationship with nature) and its application to everyday work. Summarizes three reasons for the philosophy-practitioner gap, suggests a framework for bridging the gap, and describes educational strategies by which adventure programming can…

Studies the ways in which three graduate students applied theoretical and pedagogical tools in a collaborative independent study course. Concludes that the students' use of research tools was more consistent with the teacher's understanding of profitable uses than was their appropriation of the conceptual tools advanced in the course readings. (TB)

This article focuses on strategies that can be used to evolve an evidence-based practice. It describes methods for gathering research information, for reviewing studies critically, and for summarizing information for practice using a model supporting evidence-based practice. An example of the application of these strategies to early intervention…

Summarizes four perspectives that education and school-reform writings fall into: technological, psychological, ideological, and sociological. Focusing on the ideological perspective, briefly discusses the work of Paulo Freire, Ira Shor, and Henry Giroux, theorists representative of this perspective. The dimensions of complexity, diversity,…