This booklet is the sixth in a series designed to assist parents who are home-schooling their adolescent children and focuses on ways to provide encouragement to home-schooled teenagers. The articles in this booklet are: (1) "First Year Surprises," presenting one home-schooling family's experiences during the first year related to the nature of…

A study investigated the developmental experiences of 54 black, educationally disadvantaged first-year students in a South African technical institute, particularly differences in student performance when problem solving individually and with mediation. Student reflections and experiences in making the adjustment from secondary to postsecondary…

Notes that on a child's first day of school, lasting impressions are formed for child, parents, and practitioners. Suggests that the day should be made special, and practitioners should have realistic expectations of the child. Also suggests ways to help establish a bond between home and school life, including making positive phone calls to…

Advice for students entering college is provided. Overall topics include the challenges presented by college, the new freshman's interest in learning and study habits, course selection, class attendance, time management, and note taking. Specific topics that are briefly discussed are as follows: adjusting to many new experiences, the independence…

Ways that college faculty can increase students' learning by reducing stress are identified by three members of the University of Utah School of Medicine faculty. Consideration is given to the impact of stress on learning and the causation, recognition, and reduction of stress. The value of feedback and control, teacher-student interaction, and…

This document is a plan for tracking students' social growth by the college resident assistant and for evaluating the students' growth and the resident assistant's performance. The plan, based on Bloom's Taxonomy of Affective Cognitive Processes, includes a clarified purpose, objectives for implementation, shared assessment values, and continuing…

This booklet contains a blueprint of questions that can be used at public and private four-year colleges and universities by an institution-wide task force examining the first-year experience or the broader campus experience. The blueprint can also be used to aid in an overall process of campus self-study or assessment. The questions a task force…

Students with monocular vision may be in need of special assistance and should be evaluated by a multidisciplinary team to determine whether the visual loss is affecting educational performance. This article discusses the student's eligibility for special services, difficulty in performing depth perception tasks, difficulties in specific classroom…

Defines skills important for kindergarten success in areas of health and physical well-being, social and emotional skills, intellectual skills and general knowledge, and language and speech development. Lists eight "red flags" to help identify children who may need specialized assistance. (DLH)

For many parents and students, the transition from elementary school to middle school can be difficult. This book is a compilation of advice and information to help parents prepare for the behavioral, social, and academic adjustments that students may encounter. In this book, the author offers practical tips on topics such a setting up rewards for…

This manual is a guide for facilitating a 3-hour community interagency planning workshop on the transition of young children with disabilities and is comprised of a facilitator's manual, a participant's manual, and a preconference packet. The facilitator's manual provides a listing of necessary materials, a general workshop process checklist, a…

This booklet contains questions that are intended to serve as a starting point for asking meaningful questions about the quality of the first year of college so that a two-year college campus can enhance the learning, satisfaction, and retention of new college students. The previous edition considered the first-year experience for both two-year…

Provides information to prekindergarten educators to enable them to better meet the needs of parents whose children are making a transition to kindergarten. Emphasizes the need to understand assessment and screening procedures and to share that information with parents. Suggests how caregivers can provide emotional support to parents with children…

In 1995, this project was undertaken at Rochester Community College (RCC), in Minnesota, to develop a guide to services for students with disabilities to improve the provision of legally-required services and information. To determine both the special services needed by students with disabilities for college success and the topics that should be…

Advice for American families who host a foreign student is offered, with attention to culture shock, the first visit, stages of the student's adjustment, and mealtimes. It is suggested that both the host and foreign student can learn from the other. At first, the host family should speak slowly and clearly and be careful to avoid talking loud,…