A study examined attitudes of vocational teachers toward students with handicapped labels. The instrument was a descriptive vignette of a hypothetical student and a modified version of the Guskin attitude scale. Overall, teachers viewed the labeled students as less competent, less reliable, etc. than nonlabeled students with the same description.…

Labeling is a social process involving the labeled individual and society. Labeling a student "gifted" can have both positive and negative effects on the labeled student, the student's parents, siblings, teachers, and others. Suggestions are offered to maximize the positive elements of the label and to minimize its negative elements. (JDD)

Ways of identifying at-risk students are examined in this paper, which compares the perceptions of four groups--educational researchers, national reform groups, student and local policymakers, and teachers. The comparison is placed within the social and historical contexts of the development of educational policies for at-risk students in the late…

This article examines the practice of academic tracking--how it operates and how it is perceived in a school. An attempt is made to detail how the stigma generated by low track placement is managed by students. (Author/EB)

A study is reported in which curriculum consultants exposed to moral development theory were tested to determine whether they would use Kohlbergian labels of stage content or actual moral reasoning when required to make assessments. Suggestions are put forward as to how moral development theory can be more closely linked to education. (Editor/RK)

Among results of subsequent ratings by the Ss were that labeling significantly affected teacher perceptions of a videotaped child, but that the behavioral attribute condition did not affect their perceptions. (Author/MC)

Teachers and teacher trainees completed behavior checklists for hypothetical children labeled normal or emotionally disturbed. Teachers were more realistic in evaluating normal behavior but were more influenced by the biasing label than were trainees. (Author)

Results of this study indicate most child characteristics are considered by teachers to be relevant to learning disabled (LD) or emotionally disturbed (ED) labels. Teachers can treat LD and ED constructs as mutually exclusive when deciding eligibility for special services and as mutually inclusive when making program-planning decisions. (Author)

An educator of the gifted reflects on issues equally relevant to gifted students and their teachers including being stifled by misconceptions about giftedness, spending more time reflecting on future efforts than on current achievements, and awkwardness about using the term "gifted" in relation to self. (DB)

Pediatrician Mel Levine's goal is to stop schools from giving children labels such as learning disabled and attention deficit. He insists that there is no one way in which all children learn. He has founded a professional development program to equip teachers with the latest research about children's brain development and help them put that…

This article reports on a British study that examined the connotations of several special education labels (abnormality, deficit, impairment, disability, learning difficulties, and special educational needs) to experienced teachers, trainee teachers, and trainee educational psychologists (total N=220). All three groups rated "special…

Two groups of teachers viewed a videotape depicting the social interaction of an eight-year-old boy. One group was told the boy's parents were divorced; the other group that his home was intact. Teachers rated the divorced child more negatively on happiness, emotional adjustment, and coping with stress. (Author/RD)

The study investigated the relationship between the attitudes of 100 primary and special educators and the amount of contact with such children, knowledge about them, and the demographic variables (sex, age, and teaching experience). (Author/SBH)

Examined bias in 30 primary teachers' evaluations of the same child who was labelled either learning disabled, educable mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed, normal or no label. Teachers made behavioral observations, completed a checklist, and graded academic work. Results showed labels biased checklist scores but not behavioral observations…