One challenge for composition instructors is to determine exactly, or even approximately, what objects and rituals must be observed for students' words to fall with the "true." Another is to successfully communicate these objects and rituals to their students through the various techniques of discipline. The arbitrary nature of…

As a result of a recent College Board Admissions Testing Program Achievement Test scaling study, L. L. Cook and others recommended that the practice of sampling only high school juniors taking the achievement tests in June might be expanded to include sophomores and that a two-stage scaling procedure be evaluated. The two-stage procedure would…

This paper proposes a definition of intellectual character in which metacognition plays a key enabling role. Two necessary, if not sufficient, conditions for being said to have intellectual character are having high intellectual standards and habitually checking one's thinking against those standards, or being metacognitive. Four questions…

This book presents essays written by school reformers that discuss the reform movement and examine the partnership that inspired the creation of small, intimate school communities known as charters. They also reflect on the comprehensive changes that inform each charter and the personal and collective struggles to institutionalize these new…

Teachers perceive classroom management to be one of the most enduring and widespread problems in education. This paper presents findings of a study that continued efforts to refine the Attitudes and Beliefs on Classroom Control (ABCC) Inventory. Formerly called the Inventory of Classroom Management Style, the ABCC is an instrument designed to…

Learning cannot take place in an atmosphere of fear or intimidation. The goal of today's schools must be to develop strategies and provide resources that will reduce acts of student violence in both number and intensity. This paper identifies the characteristics of well-disciplined schools: clearly identified relevant curriculum goals, an emphasis…

This paper presents findings of a study that explored the effects of assignment to an inschool suspension (ISS) program on high school students' academic performance. The study compared the before- and after-ISS grades in English and science of 32 ninth- and tenth-grade students who had spent a minimum of 5 days in an ISS program during a 6-week…

This paper presents classroom management practices that can be used to avoid the "revolving classroom door." In the revolving classroom door, misbehaving students are sent to the principal, and eventually returned to the classroom with no gains in student behavior or opportunity for learning. The paper begins by discussing the meaning of classroom…

Both writing and critical thinking are based in context; students write and think best about subjects in which they are knowledgeable. Neither can therefore be regarded as a generic basic skill. Linear conceptions of learning which permeate both informal and formal views of education, writing, and critical thinking set students up for failure.…

The major in most colleges has been criticized as little more than a gathering of courses taken in one department, lacking structure and depth or emphasizing content to the neglect of inquiry on which the content is based. This report, based on the "Re-Forming Majors" project of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, presents…

The way job positions in English studies are conceptualized, advertised, applied for, and awarded is defined by the conventional contours of literary study. The precision with which the "Job Information List" breaks down literature positions by national and historical categories reflects the desire of a great many departments to hire and…

Approval plans are widely used in academic libraries to acquire current books soon after publication without time-consuming, costly title-by-title ordering. However, return rates of unselected books to the approval plan vendor are sometimes unacceptably high. Wright State University Library attempted to moderate their high approval return rates by…

In a time of continually shrinking budgets, first year composition programs in Canadian universities, particularly the University of Waterloo, Ontario, have proven to be vulnerable to budget cuts. In 1980, each teaching assistant had one class of about 22 students and there were over 20 tutors in the writing center. In 1992, each teaching…

Courses in communication theory in the 1990s may emphasize the social sciences, critical theory, or both, depending on the orientation of the professor. The modern field of communication in the United States arose after World War I in response to increasing technology and the progressive, pragmatic philosophy that has dominated American life.…

This research paper critiques the philosophical basis, developmental appropriateness, and effectiveness of a school honor system and questions whether a school honor system is still an appropriate tool for character instruction in the twenty-first century. Characteristics which induce a subculture of academic deceit, as well as attributes which…