Discusses how four teachers with similar beliefs teaching at two different schools catering to radically different school populations altered their teaching practice to fit the specific culture of their school. Reviews existing research on theory practice relationship and calls for further research on the role of classroom context. (RS)

Provides annotations of 12 conference papers, books, and other materials (published between 1991 and 1993) from the ERIC database that focus on teachers, students, and finding alternative ways to assess students' learning in a nontraditional classroom environment. (RS)

Describes a five-week intervention to improve reading comprehension of four college students, focusing on expert reading strategies, metacognitive awareness, and enhancing self-efficacy. Finds that all participants improved on the targeted reading strategies, made significant gains in reading comprehension, and reported high satisfaction with the…

Discusses classroom context and contexts for literacy learning, including physical aspects of a classroom, literacy materials, and the social and cultural ways of being for both teacher and students. Notes two different metaphors describing classroom contexts: classroom as work setting and classroom and learning community. (SR)

Examines relationships between phonological skills and reading in 143 Arab children in Arab villages of central Israel. Finds that a word recognition test was highly correlated with phonological skills, semantic processing, syntactic knowledge, and short-term memory, and that poor readers significantly lagged in skill development. Discusses…

Investigates the internalization process of reading among 32 first graders. Finds that more of the experimental group students (who were allowed to "mumble read" during instructional and silent reading time) were reading silently as well as having higher reading placements than the control group (whose vocalizations were suppressed). (RS)

Indicates that including philosophical skills in the reading program of fifth-grade students led to improved reading comprehension achievement for both above and below average readers. (FL)