This guide to understanding school readiness in young children is essential reading for early years practitioners. It explores the concept of school readiness by unpicking what the term means for children and how we can define it in the context of the characteristics of effective learning. This includes ideas for promoting playing and exploring,…

This book explores research on processes that influence family-school partnerships in support of student learning and education. It highlights research related to culture, contexts, and development as families and schools work together to promote smooth transitions and academic achievement. The volume discusses research related to family and…

This book explores the ways in which pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties can be effectively engaged in schooling -- either in school or at home. It explains the social and emotional underpinnings of learning and presents practical strategies for aiding engagement. "Nurture Groups", originally devised and implemented in the…

This book explains how college faculty can use cooperative learning to increase student achievement, create positive relationships among students, and promote healthy student psychological adjustment to college. The book contains practical strategies toward these ends and presents the conceptual framework needed to create a cooperative learning…

With over 35,000 asylum-seeking and refugee children in British schools, British policy has become increasingly restrictive toward refugees. Some of the successful initiatives for the proper integration of these children, along with effective provisions, are detailed in this collection of articles. This book, which is intended for teachers,…

This book presents six qualitative research studies written by graduate students in the Higher Education and Student Affairs masters program at the University of Vermont. The papers provide case studies concerning suicide, acquaintance rape, alcohol-related student death, classism, adult children of alcoholics, and multiracial identity. Following…

Most students pass through five major transitions from one level of schooling to another. This book-for principals, teachers, and counselors-focuses on the transition from middle school to high school. The book is grounded in Queen's Twelve Factors for Successful Student Transitions, a research-based set of findings and guidelines. Each factor is…

This book is intended to help faculty who teach college freshmen to understand their students, present effective teaching practices, and provide practical suggestions for dealing with the special challenges presented by freshmen. Part 1 portrays freshmen, examining high school influences that shape expectations and habits; attitudes, values, and…

Grounded in cutting-edge theory and research, this book presents innovative, classroom-based strategies for promoting the academic competence and mental health of students at risk. Easy-to-implement procedures are described that enlist the involvement of school practitioners, teachers, and students in creating nurturing, success-oriented classroom…

The intended audience for this handbook is teachers, administrators and school counselors who would like to approach school populations with a more positive, solution-focused approach. The ideas developed are based on the principles of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) and other competency-based models that address solutions rather than…

Every year, approximately six million children transfer to new schools, leaving them vulnerable to social, behavioral, and academic problems. This book provides a look at this stressful and frequent life event for children, and offers practical strategies for easing the transition and helping children adjust to new environments. Research has…

This book provides strategies for helping atypical students deal with the crises of disruption, disaster, and death. The importance of collaborative networks between school and community agencies in addressing crises is stressed throughout the book. Chapter 1 notes the relationship between crises and special education and the need to utilize a…

Noting that the period of adolescence, and the expectations of society for adolescents, have grown and changed dramatically over the last century, this book compiles chapters from leading scholars in a variety of fields related to education to provide a broad overview of several of the most pressing concerns regarding the education of adolescent…

Based on the view that as parents and families explore the meaning of peace, they can create safe and harmonious homes in which all members can grow to the fullest and begin to combat violent tendencies in the larger culture, peaceful parenting evolved as a way to help parents become familiar with basic skills and to use them within their own…

When children feel that they are among friends in their schools and classrooms, they make the school community their own. Using classroom vignettes and collegial conversations, this book illustrates the creation of caring learning communities in six elementary school classrooms. Part 1 of the book, "Four Keys to Classroom Community,"…