The Syracuse Stay In School Partnership Project, an alternative to the deficit-remedial dropout intervention model, is described in this report. The collaborative project undertaken by district middle schools and Syracuse University (New York) is based on an inclusive approach to dropout prevention, seeking to modify the school experience for…

To provide a differentiated language arts program to meet the needs of highly able and gifted readers and to encourage interest in reading and the development of state reading goals, students in the sixth grade of a middle school in Maryland were grouped by ability for their language arts/reading classes. Students were exposed to a wide variety of…

The superintendent of the Johnson City Public Schools, Tennessee, requested a survey of the physical status of the 10 elementary schools, 1 junior high school, and 1 high school in the district. Onsite investigations were made to gather data with special attention given to site characteristics, amount and use of functional space, and strengths and…

Random samples of classroom teachers from Wyoming (n=555) and Louisiana (n=253) were drawn to determine teachers' purposes for using standardized tests, attitudes toward standardized testing, differences, if any, with grade level taught, and whether test use differed in two very different geographic locations. In addition, differences in…

To improve the existing junior high school's academic and activities programs as well as the school environment, a school superintendent and a middle school consultant teamed with others to effect the transition of a 7-9 grade junior high school plan to a 6-8 grade middle school plan in Augusta, Kansas. The overall plan was basically simple and…

A study compared the effects of a field-based methods course on industrial education (IE) preservice teachers with the effects of a campus-based IE methods course on similar students. Two convenience sample groups were used: eight students enrolled in the IE methods course taught on campus and seven students enrolled in the field-based IE methods…

Why students drop out of school and how to prevent them from doing so has been a recurring theme in research literature. Many factors influence the decision to drop out, including student access to counseling. This question of access to counseling is explored in this paper so as to identify variables that can be manipulated through policy…

A prevailing assumption underlying statewide performance-based assessments is that they not only serve as motivators in improving student achievement and learning, they also encourage instructional strategies and techniques in the classroom that are more consistent with reform-oriented educational outcomes. Given these high expectations, more…

Two suburban school districts in Indiana were designated as inclusion pilot sites by the state legislature during the 1992-93 school year. Twenty-one students with moderate or severe disabilities and sensory impairments were integrated into their neighborhood schools. Observations of parents and general education teachers of these students were…

Why do some adolescents cheat and others do not? To answer this question, the relationship between motivational factors and self-reported cheating beliefs and behaviors was examined in a sample of early adolescents. It was hypothesized that cheating and beliefs in the acceptability of cheating would be more likely to occur when students perceived…

This paper describes a school-university partnership program. The first section gives general background on teacher research and describes this project. The second part describes two cases, one a study of the loss of voice of female students in third grade mathematics and the second, the effect of positive discipline and a time-out room with…

A study was made of 10 practicum students in the College of Education at Louisiana Tech University and 7 cooperating teachers at a nearby middle school. The purpose of the study was to describe and analyze the practicum experience and its role in the preparation of middle school practicum students. Analysis of the study data yielded several…

Researchers and program evaluators would often like to use a particular instrument, but do not because it is too long or would require too much testing time. Having a validated set of objective procedures for reducing the size of an instrument could improve many research and evaluation efforts. This paper reports the results of test reduction or…

To determine the effectiveness of magnet middle school programs, a search was initiated for documents from magnet school evaluations. In addition, some students who had attended magnet middle schools were interviewed about their experiences. Most evaluations of magnet middle schools were reports written for local school boards. Evaluations were…

The Practitioner Center, an innovation which provides a vehicle for a transactional approach to teacher growth and professional development, incorporates the concept of peer leadership with "teachers teaching teachers" and teachers acting as coaches. The organizers of the practitioner center decided on a 5-part format which is covered in…