Based on the view that the first weeks of school lay the foundation for the remainder of the year, this book uses an ethnographic approach to present the story of one teacher and the classroom she constructed during the first weeks of school. The book's introduction explores beliefs about children and teaching and a view of theory and practice…

Focuses on the use of student self-assessment in the classroom. Considers using evaluative questions that enable students to think about their work and their growth as learners. Addresses self-evaluation forms for student use. Provides example evaluative questions and self-evaluation forms. (CMK)

Argues that giving voice to students with learning disabilities is requisite of moral education. Explains that schools practicing student marginalization abrogate their moral responsibility. Presents cases of two students with opposing needs who attend schools with diametrically different philosophies toward learning disabilities. Evaluates…

Explores an art education program offered in two aged-care homes in South Australia. Examines the argument for the establishment of gerogogy (education for older adults). Addresses considerations of art education for older adults, the research approach, the learning model that emerged, teaching, and recommendations for further research. (CMK)

This commentary discusses the underlying constitutional principles in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Equal protection and equal access for children with disabilities, procedural due process and empowerment, substantive due process and self-determination, least restrictive environment and the continuum, and policy…

This volume in the Language Teacher Research Series (Thomas S. C. Farrell, series editor) presents research conducted by language teachers at all levels, from high school English teachers to English language teacher educators, reflecting on their practices. The countries represented in this book are Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador,…

Self-efficacy is mediated by individuals' beliefs or expectations about their capacity to accomplish certain tasks successfully or demonstrate certain behaviors. When individuals have low self-efficacy expectations regarding their behavior, they limit the extent to which they participate in an endeavor and are more apt to give up at the first sign…

The assessment conundrum results from the fact that students almost always know, understand, and have learned more than they can demonstrate on any tests administered. This book is about confronting current knowledge about assessment and applying it to restructuring the assessment process in schools so that assessment can become a means for…

The goal of emancipatory learning is to free learners from the forces that limit their options and control their lives and to move them to act for social and political change. Although emancipatory learning is commonly associated with adulthood, not all adult education fosters it, and not all adult educators align themselves with perspectives that…

Outlines the use of a rubric format to assess student learning in art production. The rubric provides students a visual guide to the successful and deficient areas. It includes areas for comments on preparation, research, assignment goals, craftsmanship, originality, and aesthetics. Recommends student involvement in establishing the evaluative…

This book describes how administrators, teachers, and students in three high schools have worked to improve their schools. The schools; a suburban vocational-technical school, an urban school for immigrant English-language learners, and an urban second-chance school for students who have failed elsewhere. All operate as, what the books calls,…

Virtually every Government programme for children and every Government Department in the UK is expected to involve children and young people in its policy development and service delivery (Children and Young People's Unit, 2001). It is the new orthodoxy. Yet, hard questions are often avoided when reciting the mantra of participation. Why bother?…

This paper examines the potential contributions of a feminist critical perspective to an understanding of assessment in higher education. It uses as a foundation the nine principles of feminist assessment (published in 1992 as an outgrowth of a project on women's studies programs) and an American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) list of…

The purpose of this book is to help guide the inquiry of people who want to improve high schools. It presents 11 general issues, assertions, or principles needed to create a good high school. The issues and their accompanying assertions come from national curriculum standards developed by research centers; authoritative educational research;…

A study investigated the relationship between what teachers reported they do in their elementary (n=91) and middle school (n=64) classrooms and students' perceptions of classroom activities. Magnet school gifted students reported significantly more challenge than their gifted and other peers at the middle school level, whereas no such differences…