Interviews with secondary school teachers from the United States, England, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Canada, and Poland indicate that student responsiveness and enthusiasm contributed the most to teacher enthusiasm, while poorly motivated students contributed to a high level of discouragement. Responses were consistent across cultures, except for…

Addresses problems of ethnographic educational research that lead to theoretical and linguistic difficulties often unresolved in research reports, such as the veneration of research participant/informants. Related concerns include researcher's position in the study, ethnography as a product of research, ethnography as textual practice, researcher…

Interviews with 12 junior high school teachers in Toronto (Canada) and 36 parents of their students revealed that most teachers endorsed an authoritative style of joint parent-child decision making. Teacher attitudes were congruent with those of authoritative parents on some aspects of attributions for children's achievement and on specific…

A survey examining the managerial, academic leadership, and advocacy roles of department heads in a community college, a technical institute, and a university in Alberta (Canada) revealed substantial variation among roles for the three institutions and the need for administrative skill development appropriate to different stages of service.…

Graduate teacher education students reported that graduate studies had a positive impact on their views of teaching; that their colleagues resented their "new knowledge"; that part-time study enabled them to try out new ideas in the classroom; and that full-time study resulted in dissatisfaction or inability to cope with the educational system.…

Reviews a book that examines women's progress in education during the last 30 years. The book emphasizes the continuity of women's inferior status as students and academics despite advances since the second wave of feminism during the 1960s, describes teacher career structures in England and Wales, and examines women's conflicting role…

The introduction and six chapters of this theme issue highlight phenomena in various ethnic and cultural contexts that illustrate what is really happening in terms of culture, ethnic identity, and the multicultural society. Field studies explore a variety of cultures and educational systems. (SLD)

The case study of a therapy that restored speech for an electively mute 14-year-old boy is presented. Treatment based on contingency management had not been successful, but an escape procedure released verbal responding. Limitations and cautions in use of escape therapy are discussed. (SLD)

An ex post facto longitudinal study of 500 diagnostic protocols supported the often voiced criticism that psychologists diagnosing learning difficulties frequently follow principles that are remote from teaching and learning processes. Analyses of the actual learning process were very few. Learning difficulties were usually conceived in terms of…

Norwegian 6th graders (n=107) either were taught a mnemonic imagery to apply to passages they read or were given no strategy. Mnemonic-imagery students remembered more information. Individual differences in short-term memory and verbal and visual competence did not predict performance in the imagery condition. (SLD)

It is suggested that educating critical professional educators is a matter of developing both preservice and inservice teacher education contents and processes simultaneously by aiming toward a new paradigm in educational philosophy and pedagogy. Four research projects that search for a new teacher-education theory are reviewed briefly. (SLD)

The most influential definitions of "dyslexia" are subjected to a critical analysis. Definitions are grouped according to the principles of symptoms, causality, and prognosis. The major conclusion is that proposed definitions of dyslexia should be treated as hypotheses that should primarily describe symptoms. (SLD)

In a study involving 43 Norwegian high-ability 16-year olds, the superior achievement of males in both mathematics and general factual knowledge is interpreted as supporting a sociocultural explanation of sex differences in achievement. Parent education was also correlated with achievement. (SLD)

Among 800 Swedish 13-year olds of high mathematical or verbal ability, boys with high verbal ability were found to have highly educated parents. Girls of high mathematical ability had high father presence and highly educated mothers. Educational choices in secondary school were more affected by gender than by ability. (SLD)

Interviews with 204 Finnish college students provide evidence that the student years are no longer a classically academic life stage. Today's students in Finland divide life between study and part-time employment. The student culture has lost its independence and vitality, and students' life-worlds have become fragmented. (SLD)