Research provides insight into parent attributes that support partnerships with teachers. These attributes include warmth, sensitivity, nurturance, the ability to listen, consistency, positive self-image, personal competence, and effective interpersonal skills. Researchers have cited positive attitudes, continuous teacher training, involvement in…

Peer tutoring refers to the process of having learners help each other on a one-to-one basis. Two types of peer tutoring are found in adult literacy and basic education: "near peer" tutoring in which one learner is more advanced than the other and "co-peer" tutoring in which the learners are fairly well matched in skill level.…

Efforts to fight drug abuse must occur in the schools, as well as in homes and the community, since schools provide one major influence in transmitting values, standards, and information to children. This digest discusses the extent of drug abuse among youth, why drug abuse occurs, the effects of drug abuse, what schools can do to combat the…

Although both museums and schools figure into a learning network that includes lifelong learning processes in both formal and informal settings, these institutions must work further on achieving common educational goals. According to "Museums for a New Century," a report published in 1984, the museum-school relationship has been marked…

The digest addresses, in question-and-answer format, ways to promote peer acceptance of handicapped students. Topics covered include the effects of first impressions on nonhandicapped students and the impact of physical proximity, and the nature of interdependence among students' learning goals and rewards as structured by the teacher. A…

Intended for administrators and policymakers as well as teachers, this digest explores the nature of students' metacomprehension, or their awareness of their own understanding, and the implications of this awareness for reading instruction. After defining metacomprehension, the digest discusses why this awareness is important to the learning…

Because career development is a lifelong process, adults frequently need career planning assistance. The adult education classroom is a natural environment for individuals to seek and receive help with career planning. Given the heterogeneity of the adult population, the career development needs of adults vary widely. While many adults only need…

Philosophical and methodological differences exist regarding how best to instruct and encourage young children to read and write. In America, teaching reading and writing to young children has always been an area of controversy and debate, and it remains so today. The purpose of this digest is to review various studies and to identify essential…

Since the 1980s, shared decision making (SDM) has become a significant part of school-reform efforts. Advocates say that SDM will improve student learning, create teacher satisfaction, and develop new forms of leadership. This digest presents an overview of research that investigated whether SDM delivers on these promises. Studies indicate that so…

At a time of widespread public cynicism about social institutions, America's community colleges are striving to reconnect with the communities they serve and function as catalysts for community renewal. In a recent national survey, about a third of the colleges questioned had formalized service learning in their course work, and nearly half…

Noting that speech is not simply basic communication, this digest discusses ways in which teachers can help children develop oral language proficiency. The digest holds that speech involves thinking, knowledge, and skills, and that it requires practice and training. After setting out three criteria for oral language competence--fluency, clarity,…

Students often see revision not as an opportunity to develop and improve a piece of writing but as an indication that they have failed to do it right the first time. To them, revision means correction. To correct this assumption, teachers' comments on papers should focus on more than mechanics. Teachers would do well to comment on the paper's…

This digest looks at the communicative approach to the teaching of foreign languages. It is intended as an introduction to the communicative approach for teachers and teachers-in-training who want to provide opportunities in the classroom for their students to engage in real-life communication in the target language. Questions to be dealt with…

The community college's mission as a teaching institution rather than a research institution has typically avoided placing scholarship in a central position. In 1988, the Commission on the Future of Community Colleges advocated a broad definition of scholarship encompassing the integration, application, and presentation of knowledge in the core…

This digest summarizes the essential aspects of Myrick's Teacher Advisor Program (TAP) concept, discussing: (1) why schools need a teacher advisor program; (2) whether teachers are qualified to provide counseling; (3) what a teacher advisor program would involve; (4) what should be included in a guidance curriculum; (5) the counselor's role in…