Recent research offers strong evidence that reduced class size has positive effects on improved student achievement, teachers' work conditions, and the quality of the classroom environment. This report presents a brief historical perspective on the research into the effects of class size; summarizes studies that discuss the relationship between…

An examination of the dynamics of academic failure is presented in this monograph in the form of an annotated bibliography of current literature. The writings cited offer a cross-section of research on what factors affect students' choices of adaptive or maladaptive behavior patterns in the classroom and in relation to their peers. Section one of…

Student scores on standardized tests have steadily declined since 1965. Researchers conducted a literature review and completed data analysis to determine the reasons for this decrease, assessing trends for the period from 1965 to 1983. The kinds of tests most commonly used are aptitude, achievement, and tests of personal and social…

Community colleges are beginning to recognize that honors programs have a place in a comprehensive curriculum. Community colleges often experience problems attracting status-conscious, middle-class students, unless the institutions can convince the students and their parents that community colleges offer first-rate and academically challenging…

Numerous parallels exist between two instructional approaches sometimes thought to be incompatible: whole language and Madeline Hunter's "Essential Elements of Effective Instruction." The biggest parallel between whole language and the Hunter model is in the area of meaning: true whole language instruction depends on making learning…

Advocates of meaningful instruction, while relying on the appeal of meaningfulness in a broad sense, often assume a narrow interpretation of meaningfulness in which connections are interpreted as connections to everyday life, and value is interpreted as immediate usefulness. Making instruction meaningful in these narrow interpretations tends to…

A review of current research regarding foreign language learning motivation considers development of the prevailing theory, integrative versus instrumental premises, neglected points of significance in previous research, inadequacies of the general model, and developmental aspects of learning motives. While such research has reached a…

The implications of current theories of intrinsic motivation for educational practices for mildly handicapped learners are reviewed. The interaction of classroom demand environments, the effects of teacher reward and punishment, and individual differences in intrinsic motivation are discussed in relation to behavioral effectiveness and to academic…

Research is reviewed on using dialog journals to enhance the writing and motivation of learning-disabled students. Dialog journals allow students to choose their topics and promote fluency by emphasizing meaning over mechanics. Guidelines for teachers are provided, and the impact of the experience on a classroom of eight- to 13-year-olds is…

A review of research on student cognitive processes considers students' perceptions and expectations, students' perceptions of teachers' actions, attention, motivation, factual learning and memory, comprehension and knowledge acquisition, and learning strategies and metacognitive processes and suggests implications for teacher education in each of…

Three areas that are crucial to the future of effective, high-quality public education are: (1) encouraging good teachers; (2) including more than basics in the school curricula; and (3) promoting student volunteerism. (CB)

Analyzes various kinds of student reactions to computer-assisted instruction. Types of computer exercises are discussed, as are the use and integration of courseware into a college foreign language program. (Author/SED)

The Commonwealth Teacher Training Study conducted shortly after World War I and the activities of the Commission on Teacher Education from 1938 to 1944 addressed the problems of recruiting and motivating higher quality education majors. The findings of these studies could prove highly relevant to today's concerns in teacher education. (PGD)

The central finding emerging from this literature review is that rewards can have either undermining or enhancing effects depending on the circumstances. It emerges that the recipient's perception of the functions of the dispensed reward is critically important. (Author/PN)

This article presents selected results gained by studies which deal directly or indirectly with evaluation of physics instruction at the secondary education level in the Federal Republic of Germany. (PN)