The Gifted and Talented Program (GAT) of the Mellon Junior High School, Mt. Lebanon School District, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was evaluated in 1985. Questionnaires were sent to 139 parents and 50 academic teachers. In addition, 9 teachers, 4 administrators, and 12 parents were interviewed. Responses were summarized in detail regarding 14 topics,…

The study examined the ways in which status cultures and organizational environments influence high school students' college decision-making. Interviews were conducted with 12 white female high school seniors from four northern California high schools (a low socio-economic status(SES)/low organization public school, a low-SES/high organization…

Facilitating Effective Learning and Teaching (FELT) is a program that involves the systematic analysis of learning by students. It identifies the processes of reflection and making implicit knowledge explicit in changing one's understanding of learning. The present investigation examines the prediction that students can enhance their…

In December 1982, James Keegstra was dismissed from his position as high school social studies teacher in a small Canadian town. Two and one-half years later Keegstra was convicted on the rarely heard criminal charge of willful promotion of hatred towards an identifiable group (Jews) through his classroom teaching. Courtroom testimony made it…

Maryland's School Improvement Through Instructional Process (SITIP) program involves all 24 local education agencies in implementing one or more of the following research-based instructional models: Active Teaching, Mastery Learning, Student Team Learning, and Teaching Variables. Following a review of background information, state education agency…

Promotion rate differences in Brazilian rural and urban primary schools prompted an investigation of educational problems in rural areas. Four case studies were conducted in lower (1st through 4th grade) and upper (5th through 8th grade) rural primary schools in three regions of Espirito Santo State which have different cultures, languages, and…

This report assesses the relationship between teacher expectations and the achievement of black intermediate school students attending school in Fairfax County, Virginia, a relatively affluent part of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan Area. Information was culled from interviews with and observation of 46 black students, their peers, teachers,…

Under development in a Maryland district, the Competency-Based Systems Oriented Guidance Program described here combines (1) a focus on helping all students become competent in knowledge, attitude, and skills and (2) a systems orientation addressing the entire spectrum of student life by providing a common language, methods of information…

Two clashing positions about the social responsibility of educators and the main purpose of public schools are presented. According to the traditional position, the main purpose of public schools is transmission of a society's essential knowledge, skills, and values, which enables students to develop their capabilities to the fullest and to…

Professional teacher educators recognize that the body of knowledge about teaching and learning is today more substantive, consistent, and authoritative than ever before. It should also be acknowledged, however, that too little of that knowledge is incorporated into the preservice education of teachers. This volume, containing 12 papers presented…

Elementary school teacher candidates typically enter their professional training with deficiencies in their conceptual understanding of the topics of elementary school mathematics and with a reliance upon procedural (algorithmic) approaches to the solutions of mathematical problems. If elementary school teacher candidates are expected to teach…

The papers from the 1982 conference on Pennsylvania's Long Range Plan for School Improvement (LRPSI) assist in constructing reality about LRPSI itself. Focusing on the program's registration phase, Charles Gorman offers an alternative proposal, linking registration and evaluation, that would contribute to improving schools and increasing public…

The objective of this research was to develop a systematic and accurate process for the assessment of concerns of 408 graduate students in University of Tennessee-Knoxville's College of Education, utilizing a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. A 77-item, Likert-type instrument was developed, with a final open-ended question,…

Findings are presented from a study of social interactions between hearing-impaired and hearing college students living on one floor of a mainstreamed residence hall at the Rochester (New York) Institute of Technology, home of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Twelve ethnographic observations were completed, and interviews were…

Discusses the nature of the mind and education. Suggests that society learns more from mistakes than from simply replicating the mind of the teacher in the students. Expresses hope that the next century will be one of maturity in which society is able to see that old knowledge no longer applies to a changing world. (DK)