No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation and public pressure to prepare students for the twenty-first century has put increasing demands on schools to improve student performance. This action research study examined the efforts of an elementary school principal and her third and fourth grade teachers to improve students' performance in math. The…

FORMS USED TO EVALUATE THE PROGRESS OF STUDENTS IN ADJUSTMENT, CURRICULUM COMPREHENSION, AND CULTURAL PROGRESS ARE INCLUDED. TEACHERS EVALUATED EACH CHILD IN FEBRUARY AND JUNE OF 1961 IN SUCH AREAS AS SOCIAL ACCEPTABILITY, MATURITY, DEPENDABILITY, LEADERSHIP, ATTENTION, WORK HABITS, CONDUCT, AND MOTIVATION. IN THE CURRICULUM AREAS, TEACHERS RATED…

The relationship between cognitive style and hypothesis-testing behavior was studied in 46 third grade children. It was found that field independent children process information more efficiently and according to a perfect focusing model. Efforts to enhance the information processing of field dependent children were described. (GDC)

Demonstrates how teacher inquiry offers a way to study and implement character education by exploring teacher inquiry projects at a Professional Development School. Presents background information and describes four different types of inquiry. Provides examples of how character education principles connect with teacher inquiry. (CMK)

Describes a unit for third-grade students on China, focusing on the first class session and the key elements that were used in the unit (artifacts, literature, and artwork). Discusses how the students' attitudes and understandings about China changed and explores the students' reflections on the class activities. (CMK)

Two studies involving 29 third-grade teachers found that overall, teachers used whole class instruction for reading and the same materials for all students, including students with learning disabilities. Students with learning disabilities made little academic progress and their attitudes about reading did not improve over time. (Contains…

A teacher inservice training program was developed to increase student writing skills in a suburban elementary school. Subjects were 9 teachers and 200 third and fourth grade students. Strategies included implementing demand writing activities into the content area curriculum. For subject students, levels of success were measured by pre-training…

The Developing Mindful Learners Model (DMLM), developed within the framework of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences theory, connects three factors--content, framework, and world vision--for the purpose of helping underachieving students to become more "mindful": i.e., to become one who welcomes new ideas, considers more than one…

A program was developed for improving listening skills so as not to interfere with the cognitive processing of directions. The targeted population consisted of third, fourth, fifth, and eighth grade students in a growing middle class community located in the Midwest United States. Problems of decreased listening ability were documented through…

An elementary school science teacher implemented a practicum intervention designed to improve students' critical thinking skills by emphasizing the role of the parent as a resource at home. A total of 25 parents of third-fifth graders were instructed in four sessions in the Talent's Unlimited thinking skills model. Sessions focused on productive…

This practicum was designed to increase responsibility for completing and handing in homework among students in grades three, four, and five in a mid-Atlantic school district. Of a total of 128 students in these grades, 28 were identified to learn strategies to aid in completing homework. Nine solution strategies were employed: (1) provide…

Investigated efficiency of a computer-aided teaching program with different scaffolding levels in learning improvement of low achieving third-graders. Found no significant achievement differences between scaffolding groups, but the higher the scaffolding level the more advanced students' strategies were. The highest scaffolding level was…

The REACH-6 program was a concerted effort by the Houston (Texas) school district to revamp the instructional quality in six of its elementary schools, with the primary purpose of improving the schools' student academic performance. This report describes the academic performance of the students in the REACH-6 program on the TEAMS and MAT-6 tests…

This document offers many of the insights and comments of Maryland elementary school teachers who scored the 1992 Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) tests. The MSPAP covers reading, writing, social studies, mathematics, and science and is administered to students in grades 3, 5, and 8. The document contains the teachers' most…

This document offers many of the insights and comments of Maryland elementary school teachers who scored the 1993 Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) tests. The MSPAP covers reading, writing, social studies, mathematics, and science and is administered to Maryland students in grades 3, 5, and 8. Comments and observations are…