Students who score highest on the California Achievement Tests in reading and mathematics come from close, supportive family networks with strong educational and social direction from parents. These students also have positive educational experiences, highly developed social networks outside of their families, and identify strongly with positive…

This qualitative work analyzes selected major literature on self-esteem from the standpoint of urban youth education. It defines and describes elements of self-esteem, and links self-esteem to self-worth, learners' social environmental cues, teacher attitudes, and other variables. At-risk youth carry the additional burden of internalizing…

There are many different ways to research the educational benefits of diversity. Most of the findings from the research in this field suggest that experiences with diversity in higher education result in significant benefits on learning and democracy outcomes. This paper offers several examples of previous studies, as well as recommendations and…

The results of a path analysis revealed the following causal sequence or pathway of influence on the social status of educable mentally retarded children: from observed behavior and achievement, to teacher perceptions of these competencies, to student perceptions of the competencies, and finally, to social status of the handicapped students.…

Uses a heuristic inquiry approach to describe the difficult transition one doctoral graduate experienced on returning to his position as an elementary teacher, suggesting that the graduate experience complicated the return in many ways. Ambiguities and contradictions he perceived between his practical teaching experience and theoretical doctoral…

Explores issues concerning representation, training, guidelines, and parent representative roles to determine how Mexican-American parents serving on an elementary school advisory council were involved in school decision-making. Parents' role may be minor, due to factors (like staff assumptions) resulting in unequal knowledge, respect, and…

Proposes a framework on teaching as a moral activity. After discussing recent arguments about the moral dimensions of teaching, examines larger societal disagreements about the concept of the moral, arguing that the moral dimensions of teaching can be derived from the practice itself rather than from a theoretical or philosophical posture…

This feature is a collection of brief essays recently written by Australian, New Zealand, and American lesbians followed by commentaries from several leading educators and scholars. Their commentaries are followed with brief comments by some of these young writers.

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview and analysis of attitudes of Israeli K-12 educators and bible teachers toward religious studies. Teachers' attitudes toward bible teaching as a mandatory subject are, on the whole, positive throughout the country. The present study addresses the absence of systematic research into the opinions…

In this paper, I discuss how making Qallunaat teacher voices inclusive within the policy-making process of Inuit education in Nunavik can significantly help Inuit youth to be more successful in their education and to adapt better to modern Northern community living. The study being discussed is a year-long Participatory Action Research (PAR)…

A study was conducted at Mercer County Community College (MCCC), in New Jersey, to compare the perceptions of full-time faculty and administrators of the impact of selected societal factors on the college and provide MCCC with a theoretical basis for implementing its strategic planning model. A survey inventory of 34 societal factors was…

In this paper, William Wilbanks discusses Herbert Foster's "Ribbin', Jivin', and Playin' the Dozens," a book on the relationship between inner city youth and their teachers. The book's title derives from three types of games often played in the classroom: ribbing, a verbal game of taunting other students or the teacher; jiving, which…

The educational research on schools and classrooms is burdened by the unresolved images of children and their place in society. Most educational research exaggerates the dominance of the teacher and neglects the presence and power of children. This tends to support the irresponsible, dependent, and powerless role assigned to children in our…

The paper presents a comprehensive summary of recent research on attitudes in foreign language instruction, discusses it in the light of four functions generally thought of as being characteristic of attitudes, and comments on the usefulness of the attitude concept in foreign language education. Research on attitudes is presented on several…

This study shows that the psychosocial climate of a classroom has an effect on the learning of students. Consequently, teachers and supervisors should monitor the classroom climate and develop techniques for improving it. The subjects for the study were 1,100 secondary students in 48 mathematics classes in eastern Ontario. Variables in the study…