Balanced literacy is a philosophical orientation that assumes that reading and writing achievement are developed through instruction and support in multiple environments in which teachers use various approaches that differ by level of teacher support and child control. The authors describe 1 urban school district's real-world attempt to create a…

The author presents findings of an attempt by a primary school in Cyprus to implement a policy on partnerships that encourages parents to work with their children in school. Before the introduction of the school policy, student attainment was similar to that of students at a primary school that did not introduce a partnership policy. Six months…

One of the most important concerns expressed in A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1984) was being related to how effectively classroom instruction time was being used in America's schools. In response to that report, many concerned educators and community patrons at national, state, and local levels argued that…

To address the debate over the need for revised achievement goal theory, the author investigated the validity of the trichotomous framework of achievement goals in the context of the Taiwanese classroom. Participants included 198 sixth-grade Taiwanese children. On the basis of the revised framework, the author explored relations between…

The authors investigated the relationship between perceived effectiveness of elementary school faculty groups as a whole and student performances on standardized tests. Participants included the principal and all teachers, referred to as the faculty group, in 61 elementary schools. Members of the faculty group in each school completed the Group…

In response to recent technological advances and the trend toward flexible learning in education, the authors examined the factors affecting student satisfaction with flexible online learning. The authors identified 2 key student attributes of student satisfaction: (a) positive perceptions of technology in terms of ease of access and use of online…

The author used qualitative research methods to explore an 8th-grade mathematics teacher's personal definition of cooperative learning and the enactment of cooperative learning in his classroom according to that definition. Data collection involved interviews and classroom observations. The author used coding schemes and descriptive statistics for…

The author examined teachers' perceptions of the influence of school climate on the implementation of antiracist multicultural practices learned through professional development. The author interviewed 7 educators 1 year after they completed an antiracist multicultural professional development course to determine the extent to which the educators…

The authors examined perceptions of the motivation concept among 69 teachers and 77 counselors from Israeli secondary schools. Participants responded to 3 questionnaires that the authors constructed for this study on the basis of goal theory (e.g., C. Midgley, 2002). The authors also interviewed 10 counselors and 10 teachers. Results showed that…

The author examined potential differences between preservice teachers who held positive self-judgments of their test taking ability (positive self-judgers) and preservice teachers who held negative self-judgment of their test-taking ability (negative self-judgers). Preservice teachers (N = 87) enrolled in an introductory…

In the first half of this paper we develop a perspective on the role of "boldness" in explaining gender differences in thinking and attitudes. We apply this analysis to evidence from Australia, the USA and the UK in relation to economics at school and university levels. In the second half we present the results of a study of over 1000…

This paper explores the issue of teacher vulnerability at a time of "child panic". It does so by first elaborating risk-consciousness as a powerful social and cultural rationality for producing moral climates and organisational identities, and then investigating how this rationality works through the fraught issue of teacher touch. Empirical data…

In the UK, estimated grades have long been provided to higher education establishments as part of their entry procedures. Since 1994 they have also been routinely collected by awarding bodies to facilitate the grade-awarding process. Analyses of required estimates to a British awarding body revealed that teachers' estimates of candidates'…

The high achievement of British-Chinese pupils in the British education system is established in the official literature, but few studies have asked British-Chinese pupils or parents about the factors contributing to their success. This paper explores value of education as a possible contributory aspect. It investigates the extent to which…

This article explores the strengths and weaknesses of Lave and Wenger's concept of "legitimate peripheral participation" as a means of understanding workplace learning. It draws on recent ESRC-funded research by the authors in contemporary workplace settings in the UK (manufacturing industry and secondary schools) to establish the extent to which…