For the middle school-aged female athlete, self-esteem, empowerment, and self-confidence are often bolstered through participation in interscholastic competitive sports. These traits are also traits of leadership. This digest discusses how many contributing factors and people mold the student athlete into a leader but the process must be…

Since the 1920s, the focus of adult education has shifted from social change to professionalization to an emphasis on literacy and lifelong learning in a changing workplace. The adult education literature reflects ongoing debate over whether adult education should focus primarily on individuals or society and whether it should serve as a means of…

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…

Increasingly, many teachers see their roles encompassing not only teaching specific content and mentoring students, but also functioning as front-line social workers. This Digest examines factors that may influence teacher morale and offers suggestions for preserving or restoring morale. Administrative support and leadership, good student…

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…

The dynamics of a diverse work force characterized by organizational change, competition, and complex communication are increasing attention toward finding new ways of avoiding the costly and destructive outcomes of relationship dysfunctions. Litigation and legal negotiation are two of the most expensive ways of conflict resolution; and…

This digest defines the concept of teacher leadership and examines the impact of teacher leadership on student achievement and equity within the schools. Most researchers agree that teacher leaders demonstrate expertise in their instruction and share that knowledge with colleagues; are consistently on a professional learning curve; practice…

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…

This digest discusses the use of faculty mentoring programs to empower faculty and ultimately benefit the institution and improve the quality of higher education. It refers to the literature on mentoring in terms of conceptual frameworks, mentoring arenas, and roles and functions of mentors and proteges. It briefly addresses the following aspects…

This report discusses the use of faculty mentoring programs to empower faculty and ultimately benefit the institution and improve the quality of higher education. It synthesizes the literature on mentoring in terms of conceptual frameworks, mentoring arenas, and roles and functions of mentors and proteges. The first section provides a general…

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…

Multiple, sometimes competing, purposes for adult arts education are to develop the individual, maintain the dominant culture, or change the culture; develop appreciative audiences or creative practitioners; or liberate creativity or develop technical skills. Art may be the means or a goal in itself; that is, the arts may be used for instrumental…

The goal of emancipatory learning is to free learners from the forces that limit their options and control their lives and to move them to act for social and political change. Although emancipatory learning is commonly associated with adulthood, not all adult education fosters it, and not all adult educators align themselves with perspectives that…

This digest discusses the scope of practice of the secondary school counselor in today's school, citing Norman Gysbers' Comprehensive Guidance Program Model as an approach to developmental counseling which empowers counselors to define their own scope of practice, and thereby effectively address the needs of their students. (TE)