In contrast with subject-bound education, integrative education promotes the construction of broad "mental programs" that require students to use skills and information in new, realistic contexts. Early childhood education has long been a model of integrative education, emphasizing the whole child and offering a wide range of experiences that…

Provides annotations of 12 conference papers, books, and other materials (published between 1991 and 1993) from the ERIC database that focus on teachers, students, and finding alternative ways to assess students' learning in a nontraditional classroom environment. (RS)

Between 1969 and 1984, the number of adults participating in educational programs increased 79 percent and the number of adult education activities doubled. The following facts should be considered when developing instructional programs for adult learners: individuals can learn throughout their lives, adult life cycles influence learning, adults…

Bringing together peer teaching and collaborative learning, this book presents many specific ideas for elementary teachers to use in their classrooms and explains the principles behind the practices. Six diverse scenarios are presented which represent real experiences of teachers and their students at work in successful peer-learning classrooms.…

This digest summarizes the problem of over-representation of minority students in special education and offers suggestions to reduce this disproportionate representation. It notes concerns of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that minority students are being misclassified and receiving…

Suggesting that all students are capable of learning and can achieve high levels of competency when teachers delineate their expectations, this digest focuses on Outcome-Based Education (OBE) in the language arts classroom. The digest delineates some of the tenets of OBE, including the necessity of clearly defined objectives, students having…

After describing the economic, social, and technological forces that aggravate the discrepancy between the emerging social structure of society and the organization of schools and necessitate educational restructuring, this document discusses renewal, reform, and restructuring as three levels of efforts toward change in schools. Brief…

The school reform movement has been a major societal and political agenda item for nearly two decades. As a result of the pressure stemming from the movement to make schools more effective, many changes have occurred. The most obvious of these changes is an increased emphasis on assessment. Furthermore, school counselors, like teachers and…

This digest describes the challenges of social skills instruction and provides three strategies for improving the social competence of all students, including children with disabilities. It begins by emphasizing the importance of teaching individual social skills within the context of establishing a school-wide culture of social competence. To…

Annotates selected ERIC documents and journal articles discussing issues related to developmentally appropriate practice (DAP). Topics include DAP in early childhood and elementary settings and regular and special education, the current debate regarding DAP and multicultural education, student evaluation, teachers' and parents' beliefs regarding…

This digest provides a review of the research literature on assessment of the effectiveness of higher education in producing graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary for well-educated citizens today. Major findings are grouped as answers or partial answers to the following nine questions: (1) "what are the critical competencies and…

This monograph is written to help school administrators and policy makers, in addressing the question of safe schools, separate analytically what is "school" and what is "society" in order to better understand the real span of the school's control. The central question is: what are the characteristics of safe and effective…

This digest summarizes studies that provide evidence that youth with multiple and severe risks in their lives can develop into confident and competent adults; and discusses the critical role schools can play in this process of development. Resilience is the term used to describe a set of qualities that foster a process of successful adaptation and…

This digest summarizes studies that provide evidence that youth with multiple and severe risks in their lives can develop into confident and competent adults, and discusses the critical role schools can play in this process of development. Resilience is the term used to describe a set of qualities that foster a process of successful adaptation and…

This monograph reviews empirical studies on various aspects of higher education relating to the effectiveness of instruction in regard to four areas: curriculum, instruction, campus psychological climate, and academic advising. After an introduction, the first section describes the development of critical skills, how these skills develop, and the…