Because of increased demands for curriculum expertise and constricted funding, many small rural elementary schools in the United Kingdom have created consortia, allowing groups of schools to share resources and facilities and cooperatively plan for meeting educational standards. Describes cluster development and concludes that loss of school…

Tenth-grade students in many rural Australian schools must make decisions regarding their careers and whether they want to migrate to urban areas to complete their education. A study in a small, rural Australian community of the vocational choices of 30 10th-grade students revealed fundamental social differences between working- and middle-class…

Braxton County, West Virginia, is a subculture in which the norms and values of local residents are oppositional to state and national objectives for public education. Describes the role of the locally born county superintendent as a cultural change agent, and his strategies for overcoming poor community support and limited financial resources to…

Study correlated teacher characteristics derived from qualitative methods (interviews, observation, etc.) with results produced by quantitative methods (measurement of eye contact, facial expressions, voice level). The teachers' commitment to their students' learning was reflected in their adaptable and effective classroom behavior. (MJP)

Examines the relationship of grade level to children's ability to make musical discriminations when elements are presented simultaneously. Utilized a brief instructional period, listening tests, and singing tasks. Results indicated significant differences between grade level, types of discrimination, and musical interactions. Includes statistical…

Examines the relationship between vocal pitch accuracy and gender, grade level, and the presence or absence of an accompanying unison voice. Reveals no significant differences between unison or individual singing or for gender. Fourth and fifth graders exhibited significant differences. (MJP)

Surveys 278 British high school students concerning musical styles preferences. Generally speaking, students rejected classical and "serious" music as they grew older. Girls exhibited acceptance of a wider range of musical styles. Includes statistical tables. (MJP)

In 1982, 1988, and 1993, the British government surveyed beginning teachers in schools. This article examines recent studies of beginning teachers, comparing results to the earlier research. Results indicate that primary teachers with undergraduate degrees felt more capable of teaching mathematics than one-year postgraduate trainees. Headteachers…

This study investigated the ways students represented fractions on number lines and the effects of instruction on those representations. The instruction primarily concerned representing fractions and ordering fractions on number lines. (Author/PK)

Explored skills that teachers and parents believe kindergartners should have prior to kindergarten entry. Parents rated counting, reading, and writing, whereas teachers rated being curious and developing independence. Patterns of agreement on order of prioritization emerged between parents and teachers. (RJC)

Examines the development of students' understandings about fractions during six weeks of instruction. Reports that all students possessed informal knowledge disconnected from their knowledge of fraction symbols and procedures and that knowledge of rote procedures often interfered with students' attempts to build on their informal knowledge.…

Investigates gender differences and the role of spatial visualization in problem solving in high school geometry. Reports that, whereas males and females differed in spatial visualization and in their performance, they did not differ in logical reasoning ability or in their use of geometric problem-solving strategies. (Author)

Investigated whether second grade children were aware that dealing without counting was sufficient to ensure equality of shares in a discrete sharing situation. Seventeen children were interviewed after watching a videotape of preschooler's actions on sharing activities. (YP)

This study tested the effectiveness of an experimental instructional strategy for writing arithmetic sentences for simple multiplication and division story problems involving nonintegral factors. Significant effects in favor of the experimental group were found on an intermediate test and a posttest. (Author/CW)

Described are the strategies of 44 academic mathematicians on a set of computational estimation problems involving elementary multiplication and division. Discussion centers on the theoretical implications evident from pretest/posttest results in terms of the variety of strategies used and how the choice of strategy changed across the two tests.…