The author of this article is a young elementary teacher at Rosado Elementary in Richmond, California, on the eastern shore of the San Francisco Bay. She writes this article as a moving memoir describing her experiences as a tutor in literacy programs developed by low-income schools. In order for their students to remember their lessons, they have…

This report presents findings of a study conducted to identify the components of systems that effectively meet the diverse, ever changing needs of children with disabilities for whom traditional school settings do not work. A secondary goal of this study was to develop a conceptually clear and empirically grounded definition of alternative…

A study investigated students' attitudes about writing, in order to gain new insights into writing apprehension. The Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Test and 2 open-ended questions were administered to 202 students from public and private colleges and universities in California. Results indicated that highly apprehensive students generally want…

There are many factors that influence the academic success and motivation of students. Social cognitive theory contends that individuals learn and perform based upon a triadic reciprocality of personal factors, behavior, and the environment. Personal factors such as beliefs, behaviors, and the environment equally influence one another. Existing…

John Merrow, president of Learning Matters, Inc., has been reporting on K-12 education since 1974, but only recently has he begun to draw attention to higher education. This award-winning broadcaster is shedding light on the underbelly of higher education--and is arguing that something must be done before it's too late. This article presents the…

Through a Bakhtinian lens highlighting the "interanimation of voices," this paper describes the research roles of a group of high school students in Southern California who participated as co-researchers and then as members of a participatory research team in a longitudinal study. Students' developing roles as question posers,…

Demonstrates how portfolios can be used to motivate students, promote learning through reflection and self-assessment, evaluate and change curriculum, replace or validate tests, and evaluate student writing processes, among other things. Describes the experiences of students at a junior high school and two high schools in California, and draws…

Project-based service learning emphasizes educational opportunities that are interdisciplinary, student-centered, collaborative, and integrated with real-world issues and practices. Teachers have found that environments which foster academic achievement through hands-on, authentic learning can motivate students by engaging them in their own…

"Sharing the ownership of knowing" (a constructivist concept of motivation for literacy learning) is a dynamic classroom interaction in which a teacher's constructivist epistemological stance facilitates students' sense of their own construction of meaning and the integrity of their own thinking. Sharing the ownership of knowing was one…

THE SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT COMPENSATORY EDUCATION PROJECT PROVIDED OPPORTUNITIES IN CULTURALLY DEPRIVED NEIGHBORHOODS. INCLUDED IN THE PROJECT WERE YOUTHS FROM PREDOMINANTLY CHINESE, NEGRO,AND SPANISH-SPEAKING BACKGROUNDS. FIELD TRIPS WERE PROVIDED TO BUILD EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE. IT WAS ANTICIPATED THAT THROUGH EXTENDED…

The effectiveness of the General Studies Program at San Diego City College is evaluated in this study. The program, offered during a student's initial semester of attendance, is designed to help potentially low academic achievers succeed in college. Using random selection techniques, students were chosen from first-time enrollees who had no prior…

This paper examines the reading experiences, strategies, and curriculum preferences of university-level heritage language students. One hundred and twenty eight students enrolled in four different heritage language programs at UCLA--Korean, Russian, Thai, and Vietnamese--completed a survey about their exposure to print, early and current reading…

Just a few years ago Jefferson Elementary School in San Diego County, California suffered from low test scores and a lackluster "science from workbooks approach" that was not motivating many in the 75% Hispanic and 50% learning-to-speak-English student body. A partnership program with the San Diego Natural History Museum called…

A continuing longitudinal study examined students' perceptions of their learning and motivation in a whole language classroom setting. Subjects, 14 fifth- or sixth-grade students who collaborated in the inquiry as co-researchers, were interviewed in depth. The mixed fifth- and sixth-grade classroom at the "Willow School" in southern…

FROM AMONG APPROXIMATELY 175 APPLICANTS, 40 PERSONS WERE SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN A CONFERENCE TO DISCUSS CURRENT RESEARCH IN EDUCATIONAL LEARNING, INCLUDING BOTH CLASSROOM AND LABORATORY STUDIES. THE CONFERENCE WAS ORGANIZED INTO FOUR GROUPS--(1) IN GROUP A, THE EMPHASIS WAS ON LEARNING, INSTRUCTION, AND PUPIL CHARACTERISTICS, WITH PARTICULAR…