At the middle and elementary school levels, cultivating an interest in science has been considered an important goal. The primary aim should be to foster a desire for participation in science courses and activities. Research results suggest that schools do not provide a curriculum that supports science interests, and student attitudes toward…

Private education as an area of study offers many opportunities to educational researchers. Four types of research that would include private education are discussed and examples of research possibilities under each type are offered. The first type involves fundamental educational processes. Suggested are studies of the effects of various levels…

It is critical to differentiate between desegregation and integration since only the latter denotes interaction between equals. Integration should be the goal for our schools while desegregation is one possible vehicle which may move us in that direction. To achieve integration, the issues which must be addressed are community involvement and…

This paper examines the present problems of urban school finance in order to determine why urban adjustments are necessary today in the new school finance formulas. It concludes that quality education, including quality integrated education, cannot be obtained by letting funds for urban education diminish. Cutbacks in staff, program offerings,…

This paper shares research from two professional development initiatives that focused on changes in teacher educators' and teachers' multicultural thinking, discussing the use of a developmental perspective to structure and evaluate such initiatives. The first study involved an action research project that examined six teacher educators'…

This longitudinal study compared academic performance of Head Start and public school prekindergarten graduates at four educational transitions: (1) kindergarten; (2) first grade; (3) third grade; and (4) fourth and sixth grades. Participating in this study were students in an urban, minority school system providing both Head Start and…

This study explored the issue of respectability and the changing image of public school teachers through interviews with 140 teachers of color in 3 urban school districts--Cincinnati (Ohio), Seattle (Washington), and Long Beach (California). Almost half the respondents felt that either the negative image or low status of teaching was one of the…

This study compared the knowledge and skill levels of urban and rural special education teachers across 13 emotional and behavior disordered (EBD) competency areas. Fifty-eight graduate students enrolled in special education courses at California State University at Fresno completed the Emotionally and Behaviorally Disordered Teacher Competencies…

This summary report presents an integration of findings on teachers' perceptions of their working conditions, based on survey and interview data from special educators in six large urban school districts. Emphasis is on perceptions of problems related to job design, the highly interrelated set of structures, systems, and processes intended to…

A study was done of recent district-initiated reform movements by analyzing different belief systems regarding schools and reform and by applying the analysis to a study of a district widely known for its leading role in implementing reforms. Belief System I is consistent with traditional organizational theory and top-down management. Belief…

A study examined how a teacher accommodated diversity in a fifth-grade classroom in an inner-city school during a 2-year project involving literature-based reading instruction with small student-led response groups called Book Clubs. The Book Club project operated in the classroom using the four components of literacy instruction--reading,…

The blues, having been fundamental to the history and heritage of African Americans, can help kids find themselves and their cultures in the language-based activities that are part of the writing program at School #74 in Buffalo, New York. One of the chapters in the student anthology which resulted from the university/school cooperative program…

A study examined low-socioeconomic status (SES) urban children's ways of interpreting traditional skills-based literacy instruction in kindergarten and first grade. Subjects, 35 randomly selected children from three inner-city schools, were tested for entering and end-of-first-grade knowledge of six domains of written language. Subjects' scores on…

It is the theme of this paper that economic prosperity and public education are inseparable; yet, both are lacking in Louisiana. The lack of excellence in education is a liability for stimulating and accelerating the growth and diversification of business and industry. In particular, educational mediocrity is evidenced in the following: (1)…

At Indiana University, preservice teachers participate in required community-based multicultural programs that allow them to become directly involved with community characteristics, values, needs, and achievements. It is hoped that this experience will help them to adapt curriculum and instructional techniques to fit community realities and…