Behavior can be described and measured in many ways. One approach in particular provides a potential for making precise and valid cross-cultural comparisons of behavior not equaled by other techniques. This approach is one in which low-inference observation instruments called "category systems" are used to measure behaviors observed.…

Organizational changes, within the existing structure of public schooling, have the potential to decrease the oppositional behavior of students and to foster humane, positive learning and working enviroments. It has been documented that managers can create organizational structures that promote positive behaviors and facilitate people's…

Some studies indicate that individuals recognize conventional norms as social contrivances; others, that individuals reify social formations as something other than social products. Questions about comparatively transparent rules and the use of simplistic questions for complex phenomena give an exaggerated portrayal of individuals' awareness of…

Examines the debate concerning the relationship between the news media and the social order. Defines the concept of hegemony and explores research supporting and criticizing the media hegemony thesis. Identifies central issues confronting these varied interpretations. Suggests ways to refine research exploring the news media's production of…

This article discusses key issues of literacy that are important to both teachers and learners for understanding, and summarizes the function of literacy in three different groups: primary education, adult education, and communities with unwritten languages. The article investigates the scope of literacy, showing how this concept may be defined…

Informal but frequent teacher evaluations of students' academic achievement are not standardized by official prescriptions dictating which reference system is to be used. Three reference norms used when evaluating achievement are: social, criterion-oriented, and individual reference norms. (PN)

To forestall sexual harassment law suits, higher education institutions should (1) adopt a position on faculty/student amorous relationships; (2) state clearly how complaints are handled and by whom; (3) actively educate faculty, staff, and students concerning sexual harassment; and (4) follow up any complaints and keep records of the responses.…

Responses to youth violence include intervention programs to teach children alternative skills for solving problems and to challenge superficial beliefs about the glories of violence. Children on a destructive path need someone they can trust who will guide them. Lists 29 measures in response to school violence and the percentage of school…

This paper reviews research findings that are related to fostering prosocial behavior in the early childhood and elementary classroom. A collection of "experimental best bets" for increasing prosocial behavior in young children is outlined. This collection covers the role of reinforcement and modeling or imitation, the importance of group norms,…

Research is reviewed on classroom behavior, demandingness, and beliefs of effective teachers of nonhandicapped students with behavior problems, and the need for different attitudes and additional skills for teaching students with behavioral disorders is discussed. Teacher characteristics analyzed include instructional and management strategies,…

There is no a priori basis for assuming that theories of social psychology are universal. For theories to be universal, the meaning of the stimulus would have to be consistent across cultures, but this cannot be taken for granted. Cross-cultural variations in social behavior may be "surface" expressions of deep structure norms that are universal.…

This paper presents a series of propositions concerning processes that are at work in mentoring relationships, with each proposition accompanied by a brief discussion of the theory and research on which it is based. Examples are provided of the role of mentoring in the development of creative individuals. The propositions cover the following…

This exploration of contemporary beliefs about truancy looks historically at the relationship between views about the normality, as well as the deviance, of particular patterns of schooling, and argues that truanting needs to be understood, in social terms, as being out of place. The argument is developed through a discussion of state policies on…

In examining the sexual structuring of employment in public education from 1840 to 1980, the following social phenomenon are discussed: (1) socially accepted attitudes on the role of women in the early part of the nineteenth century; (2) the structure of schooling and cultural emphasis upon the "natural" abilities of women to instruct young…