Thirteen of 14 secondary schools increased their educational effectiveness by participating in a long-term, 12-step change process with two significant features: several measures were applied to develop a picture of each school's effectiveness, and student involvement in the process was considered essential. Schools were categorized by…

Decision-making Rationale for Educational Testing (DRET) is a proposal intended to reduce the misuse of achievement tests. It assumes 1) measurement is intended to facilitate decision-making, 2) the choice of an instrument, the identification of examinees and the use of test results is determined by the decision for which the measurement is to be…

This document is an English-language abstract (approximately 1,500 words) of a book which deals with the inception and development of pupils' self-management (student government) from the earliest times to the present. It opens with a general review of developments. Student government in the United States is discussed in the second part. Part…

This report is the first in a series exploring a variety of the organizational spaces being developed under strategies to change and improve K-12 education in Minnesota. One strategy seeks to create an environment that focuses on creating new and different schools and with them new choices for students and families. These reports are designed to…

This qualitative research study used the interactional sociolinguistics approach (Goffman, 1959; Gumperz, 1982) to analyze the expectations of learners and tutors participating in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) Drop-in-Center (DIC) environment. Analysis focused on the learners' and tutors' expectations of the conversation and participation…

Instructional conversations (ICs) represent an alternative approach to the instruction of culturally and linguistically diverse populations. It has instructional intent, but appears to be a spontaneous conversation with natural language interactions. Successful ICs depend on identification of a text-specific theme that is significant and tied to…

Constructive controversy has many benefits in the classroom. The benefits of constructive controversy, however, depend on the way the teacher structures the controversy, the skill level of the students, and the materials and resources available. The controversy model involves eight steps: (1) introducing the controversy; (2) assigning groups and…

This report presents the response of delegates to the 1983 Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) National Leadership Conference to the report of the National Commission on Excellence and Education, "A Nation at Risk." Their responses are provided to three issues: content (the Five New Basics), time, and citizen involvement. For…

A selective review of literature related to individual differences and instructional strategies is presented. The major purpose is to give the reader a flavor of the kind of thought that is currently prevalent and the type of research that is being conducted in selected areas. No attempt is made to provide either a comprehensive or a balanced…

"Who needs the student council?" The student needs the student council. Secondary school youth need practical experiences in doing those things expected of adults in a democratic society. The school needs the student council because the quality of education is improved when students are involved in an assessment of the educational experiences…

This report recommends to administrators and students ways of opening channels through which students can express their opinions about administrative decisions and assume greater responsibility for solving their educational problems. The recommendations cover general administrative policies, attitudes and actions of administrators, attitudes and…

This booklet addresses student membership on local boards of education. It is intended to serve as guide for boards considering adding youth to their membership. It discusses the following topics: (1) the benefits to both students and the board of youth serving as board members; (2) researching issues before accepting students on boards; (3)…

This paper focuses on learner autonomy, noting that learner autonomy is not a matter of institutional mode but of learners' internal attitudes, and that learner autonomy entails an awareness of both self-direction and collaboration between the teacher and students and between students and students. The paper suggests that a teacher's attitude…

Maintains that college students have been the object of repeated sociological research in countries formerly in the Soviet Union (USSR). Reports on a study of more than 3,000 Russian students and professors. Includes five tables indicating student attitudes toward religion, student behavior, and participation in outside-of-class cultural…

Two university educators use reflective dialogue to discuss processes they went through in understanding the political nature and assumptions of their own pedagogical practices as they searched for methods which would promote teacher empowerment and actively involve students in shaping course curriculum for a language arts class they team taught.…