This booklet is a product of the Dan O'Brien Education Program, which was created in 1993 by the Educational Resources Information Center Clearinghouse on Educational Management. The program was designed to help young people gain the most from their education. It outlines five lessons for setting and achieving goals: (1) window of opportunity; (2)…

Chapter 13 of a revised volume on school leadership, this chapter offers suggestions to help educators improve their performance in meetings, both as group leaders and as participants. Well-run meetings can rejuvenate an organization, leading to improved teamwork, communication, and morale. A poor meeting, on the other hand, can have a…

Helping students take active responsibility for their education may depend on how well educators link their classroom goals with the goals students hold for themselves. Goals are not fixed, but change as individuals change. Helping students revise their goals and improve their control of behavior are valid educational goals. Most institutions…

Self-regulation, the systematic effort to direct thoughts, feelings, and actions towards the attainment of one's goals, is receiving importance in the psychological and educational literatures. Goals are involved across the different phases of self-regulation, first as forethought, then in performance control, and finally in self-regulation. This…

School leaders can generate student motivation by creating an atmosphere where academic success and the motivation to learn are expected and rewarded. Leaders can create a school culture conducive to learning by shaping the instructional climate and using activities and symbols to communicate goals. School restructuring that creates a positive…

This digest summarizes what is known about developing desired educational outcomes and anticipated time frames in specialized programs for students who are gifted. Learner outcomes are defined and characteristics of appropriate ones outlined. Next, the importance of identifying specific learner goals and outcome indicators is explained with…

Anticipation of academic, professional, and career-related benefits and opportunities for friendship and belonging lead many young people to become members of career and technical education (CTE) student organizations. Because all CTE student organizations share similar goals for membership and participation, outcomes of a Purdue University study…

Perfectionist students are not satisfied with merely doing well or even with doing better than their peers. They are satisfied only if they have done a job perfectly. Problems associated with forms of perfectionism that focus on seeking success are relatively minor, but problems associated with forms of perfectionism that focus on avoiding failure…

Perfectionist students are not satisfied with merely doing well or even with doing better than their peers. They are satisfied only if they have done a job perfectly. Problems associated with forms of perfectionism that focus on seeking success are relatively minor, but problems associated with forms of perfectionism that focus on avoiding failure…

Types of initiatives that colleges have implemented to foster continuing faculty career growth and the major attributes essential to success of the efforts are considered. The role of administrators in supporting faculty growth and vitality is also addressed. Several colleges and universities encourage career planning activities in which faculty…

Students exhibiting failure syndrome approach assignments with low expectations of success and tend to give up at early signs of difficulty. This Digest delineates the nature of failure syndrome, suggests strategies for coping with failure syndrome students, and discusses how teachers can help. Some students, especially in the early grades, show…

Markus and Nurius (1986) are credited with developing the concept of possible selves, which represents individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they fear becoming. It has been applied in research and practice with adolescents exploring career choices; adults in transition; and older adults envisioning…

This monograph examines student advising in the higher education setting by focusing on shared responsibility strategies that enhance student motivation and persistence in a diverse student population. In the first two sections, a new concept of advising called developmental advising is described in which the relationship between advisor and…

This paper discusses the current state of research in the area of career education for gifted and talented students and its applications. The paper also addresses three major questions: What are the special career development needs of gifted and talented students?, What kinds of career education and guidance programs are currently meeting the…

Research has shown a decline in motivation and performance for many children as they move from elementary school into middle school; however, research has also shown that the nature of motivational change on entry to middle school depends on characteristics of the learning environment in which students find themselves. This Digest outlines some…