In fall 1993, 13 graduate students at Boston College (Massachusetts) completed a seminar entitled Administrative Theory and Leadership. This paper examines the students' perspectives on the interplay between theories of educational leadership and the narratives of practicing administrators. As part of their assigned coursework, each of the…

This book takes the theory of self-esteem and translates that theory into practice. It presents a systematic approach to enhancing self-esteem, suggesting a specific sequence and phase-wise progression of enhancing self-esteem. Cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of individuals are all incorporated into the theory and practice outlined in…

The whole language approach to reading instruction has been gaining the support of many educators and teachers, and the aim of this thesis is to show how this movement has gained its momentum. The first chapter of the thesis deals with the history of the whole language movement and provides an overview of the research literature that supports the…

This paper focuses on how school practitioners respond to middle-school reform when it is approached from a research-based, theoretical framework. Using a goal-theory framework, a school-university collaboration at a middle school in a small midwestern town sought to move the school culture toward a task-oriented learning environment. Evaluation…

Those in composition studies know, experientially, that teaching informs their lives and results in knowledge, but they also know that English Studies culture(s) continue to valorize expert knowledge over community knowledge, empirical and scholarly research over alternate methods of constructing inquiry, and theory over practice. Although…

This Digest discusses Problem-Based Learning (PBL), a method developed by H.S. Barrows (1986), and originally created to prepare medical students for real-world problems by letting them solve medical problems based on real cases. The Digest contends that PBL can situate language learning in the real world by posing problems like those found in…

This paper presents a model for those interested in the design and/or research of instruction in the affective domain. This model is an integration of current theories and models in the affective domain. It is a broad and comprehensive model which represents the hierarchical structures and interactions of affective and related cognitive factors,…

A major tenet of feminist rhetorical theory is that there exists a "women's way" of writing. At the same time, much writing deals with the strong shift in the relationship between theory and practice in the fields of literature, composition, and cultural rhetoric. A study examined the intersection of genre and gender theory with the…

The Communication across the Curriculum (CAC) program at the University of Melbourne (Australia) was set up in a top-down manner, which was partly driven by outside pressures. Although informed by writing-across-the-curriculum theory and practice, the program reflects the university's original concern about the teaching of communication skills by…

This paper asserts that in the United States, states and large school districts are turning to a relatively new policy strategy, know as "reconstitution," for addressing the conditions of low-performing schools. The strategy centers around the notion of vacating the adults from a school building and starting over. The underlying question…

Various theoretical frameworks approach teacher change differently. If teacher candidate supervisors adopt one form of supervision without understanding the assumptions and implications of other models, they risk being too narrow. To help supervisors in their role, an explanation of how a supervisor might intervene from six different perspectives…

The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory produced a three-part series on the initiation of charter schools and their impact on education in the southwestern United States. This booklet marks the last of the series. It describes what early charter-school organizers in New Mexico and Texas proposed doing to create better learning…

Constructivism has received considerable attention in educational scholarship, practitioner preparation, and policy formation. This Digest identifies major forms of constructivism, considering issues and challenges that surface when implementing constructivist approaches to preservice and inservice teacher education. Constructivism is an…

Northeast Louisiana University's Professional Semester began in 1976 to respond to a need for more practical application of what was taught in the required methods courses of the elementary education degree program. It was designed to avoid duplication of generic activities and to let students apply theory and teaching techniques in the classroom.…

Administrative practices used by participants in administrator preparation programs who return to practice are described in this paper. The practices, which extend reflective, intellectual, critical, and participatory concepts into action models, include restructured educational assessment, peer coaching, and professional development. All are…