Recounts the story of a fifth grader who decides he wants to be returned to the fourth grade. Describes parental reaction and actions of parents and school administration to determine best placement. Describes the child's satisfaction, personal adjustment, and academic success three years after decision to repeat part of fourth grade. (KB)

Compares children who studied English as a foreign language in Hungary with a communication/content-based approach to similar children who studied English with a form-based traditional approach. Findings reveal that the former were slightly more accurate in their production of grammatical morphemes in an oral interview and were more fluent. (three…

Provides the pros and cons for the use of Ritalin in today's classrooms. Discusses the causes and diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), what Ritalin does to the brain, why ADHD appears to be so frequently diagnosed, Ritalin's affect on school performance, and the notion that current educational policies contribute to…

Raises issues concerning pupils' interactions with mathematics textbooks. Discusses problems related to effective reading and the ability to interpret graphs, diagrams, and symbols. (NH)

Discusses how teachers can learn to capitalize on the moment of understanding in students. Suggests the opening into young minds is ephemeral, and once the opportunity to answer or confirm or pursue a topic is lost, the opportunity is difficult or impossible to recapture. (ET)

Discusses how a school library media specialist can serve the needs of physically and mentally disabled K-6 students. Highlights include communication modes; presentation methods, including activities, videos, stuffed animals, "big" books, sound filmstrips, and stories in which students can participate; and recommendations. (AEF)

Using the Foxfire approach, an elementary school teacher taught young children about democracy through participation in classroom decision making. Activities included student discussion and decision making about a classroom theme and class rules. Includes student comments and drawings about what democracy means, both in and outside of the…

Discusses economic imperatives for change in U.S. education; roots of educational underachievement; and conditions faced by U.S. children. Offers recommendations for changing the education of poor and minority students and calls for change in the way society treats poor children. (BB)

Discusses three types of journals: (1) writer's journals, which encourage recording of events for later literary work; (2) learning logs, which encourage interaction with curriculum content; and (3) diaries, which allow free flow of emotions and ideas. For each type, student samples and teacher comments are provided. (BC)

How to effectively and efficiently serve students with disabilities in regular education (progressive inclusion) is an important current theme. The paper examines deep structural, demographic, and socioeconomic changes that affect such students, highlights a progressive inclusion policy, examines design characteristics of inclusive schools, and…

Interrogates similarities and misconceptions common to W. Edwards Deming and John Dewey, examining a reconciliation of the two within the context of motivation theory and concluding that Deming and Dewey are very similar in general outlook and the shared belief in the integrity of the individual within the social system. (SM)

Comments on Skinner, Zimmer-Gembeck and Connell's study (PS 528 522) which investigated the relationship between elementary school students' beliefs-performance cycles and their perceived control and classroom engagement. Notes methodological and theoretical issues and controversial issues raised by the study. Discusses the links to other…

Discusses the Haifa (Israel) District Inspectorate's testing of fifth graders to identify at-risk pupils and give them remediation before they enter junior high school. Describes the framework for the remedial sessions. (Author/VWL)

The author, an experienced teacher and teacher educator, describes how she has learned to incorporate assessment purposefully into every mathematics lesson she teaches. Such an approach, she writes, tells her whether the lesson was accessible to all students while challenging the more capable, what the students learned and still need to know, how…

Behavior management presents an ongoing challenge that requires complex intervention skills on the part of guidance personnel. This paper presents strategies for helping school-based personnel move away from traditional punitive behavior management practices that are derived from a time when public humiliation of someone for social-rule-breaking…