It has been claimed that there is only one language, the English language in the United States, because America is not a "polyglot boardinghouse ..." (Portes and Rumbaut 196). The fact is that America has always been a multilingual society, even though this mythical notion of a monolingual American identity reflecting American loyalty…

Lions Quest "Skills for Adolescence" is a schoolwide program designed for middle school students (grades 6-8). The program was designed to promote good citizenship skills, core character values, and social-emotional skills and discourage the use of drugs, alcohol, and violence. The program includes a classroom curriculum, schoolwide…

The purpose of this study was to investigate use of computers and video technologies to teach students to correctly make purchases in a community grocery store using the dollar plus purchasing strategy. Four middle school students diagnosed with intellectual disabilities participated in this study. A multiple probe across participants research…

A team of faculty and students from a principal preparation program sought to discover how administrators and teachers in two culturally diverse middle schools were implementing the concept of learning community. The purposes of the study was to: (1) Explore how administrators and teachers defined learning communities; (2) Determine how the two…

This study evaluates the impact of minimally trained tutors on the pass/fail ratio of middle school students in core subjects such as English, reading, math, or science. Because a traditional experimental design comparing students who receive a treatment with those who do not was not financially feasible, the study employed an alternative that has…

For the thirty-fifth year, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the national AECT Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

Two teachers participating in an online study group provided the foci for in-depth case studies. Transcripts of conversations they had with colleagues about issues related to reform-oriented pedagogy were analyzed from both acquisition and participation perspectives on learning. Both teachers exhibited mainly marginal changes to their pedagogical…

The purpose of this paper is to examine how mathematically talented children in a disadvantaged rural community experience mathematics, both as a discipline and as a school subject. The aim is to find answers to questions such as: "What do these children think mathematics is?" "What value do they attach to the study of…

While psychology has tended to focus on urban issues in research and practice, rural areas have undergone a series of changes in recent years that have increased the need for behavioral health services. A variety of social and economic factors has contributed both to the increasing needs and to the inability of the existing services to meet them.…

A university education professor invited an urban middle school principal to "give me 50 of your most academically challenged students who need additional support to be educationally successful." What followed is an ongoing lesson in how achieving educational success is a family and community affair. One community-based middle school's attempt…

Service-learning in the chemistry curriculum provides an opportunity for students to learn while contributing to their communities. Examples of chemistry service-learning projects at the post-secondary level include: (1) teaching students about lead poisoning avoidance while assessing and analyzing lead content in the paint of older homes; (2)…

A teacher with vivid memories of a childhood of poverty in Appalachia helps launch a community-based, participatory action research project with adolescent girls from the same background. Applicable to all marginalized students, the results of this research highlight the importance of seeing and hearing oneself in stories and of sharing stories…

The achievement gap is clearly visible throughout the school years, from grade-school test scores through high school graduation and higher education. It divides American Indian, Asian, Black, Latino, and White students, and it divides the economically advantaged from the disadvantaged regardless of their race/ethnicity. Under the federal No Child…

The Seattle Public Schools serve one of the most diverse student bodies in the nation. The school system's enrollment represents many racial and ethnic groups and includes students from around the world who come to Seattle speaking many languages and families who came to the city generations ago. The challenge facing Seattle and all other major…

Need in Deed (NID) is a non-profit organization which has been serving Philadelphia schools since 1987. The organization aims to promote youth engagement in their schools and communities by working with teachers to develop and implement service learning projects in which students can apply academics to real life problems. Until recently, NID staff…