Noting the discrepancy between what is advocated and what is practiced in language arts classroom, this Digest synthesizes the existing problems, reviews the research supporting language arts integration, and proposes a rationale for integrating the language arts. The Digest points out that these new initiatives in language arts focus on the…

This digest summarizes impacts of the Brown decision on school segregation and the educational condition of rural African American students today. In the 1990s, over 90 percent of rural African Americans live in the South and continue to suffer from high poverty rates and low educational attainment. In 1954, the Supreme Court decision in Brown et…

This digest discusses promoting self-determination in students with disabilities. It begins by describing self-determination and explains why self-determination is important for these students. Teaching strategies are then provided for students at the elementary and secondary levels. For students in early elementary grades, educators are urged to…

In some classrooms, student voices are barely heard while teachers monopolize classroom talk, and knowledge is treated as residing entirely with the teacher. This Digest explores different ways in which student voices can be heard in the classroom. Negotiating a curriculum is one means through which students share authority in the classroom.…

Self-efficacy is mediated by individuals' beliefs or expectations about their capacity to accomplish certain tasks successfully or demonstrate certain behaviors. When individuals have low self-efficacy expectations regarding their behavior, they limit the extent to which they participate in an endeavor and are more apt to give up at the first sign…