It is wrong to assume that basic skills achievement, particularly as measured by multiple-choice standardized tests, represents a proper consensus regarding the ends of education for low-income students. Educators should reduce reliance on the positivist research paradigm underlying much of the quantitative empirical research which informs…

A report is given of a study which examined the effects of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in mathematics on 99 disadvantaged and 112 advantaged Israeli students. Higher performance levels and larger gains were found for advantaged over disadvantaged students, for high achievers over low achievers, and for boys over girls. (IAH)

Writing instruction featuring pedagogical principles based on a sociocognitive model was investigated with 26 fourth-grade and 16 sixth-grade classrooms (1,123 students). More than 40% of the variance in posttest writing quality scores was accounted for by adherence to the model. (SLD)

Examined whether at-risk preschoolers would show gains in expressive and receptive language after using selected computer-based activities in a teacher-directed, small group situation using direct-instruction techniques. Results indicated improvement in varying degrees, suggesting wider use of computers combined with direct instruction for…

The problems of at-risk students will require diversity in intervention strategies that are implemented to address their problems. This paper reviews three alternative educational strategies that may be used successfully with at-risk students: (1) independent study; (2) home schooling; and (3) programs designed to meet the needs of homeless…

This paper reports on the results of an initiative taken by Paterson Public Schools (New Jersey), an urban school district with approximately 24,000 students, to restructure its Title I elementary program. The effort involves engaging Title I and regular classroom teachers in a collaborative teaching model as an alternative to the traditional…

The educational processes for youth who participated in a county-run correctional facility for juvenile offenders were studied. The county's Leadership Academy, a 48-bed correctional treatment center where juveniles are placed when ordered into direct care, is designed to divert repeat male offenders from the state-run correctional system. The…

North Carolina is implementing a new accountability model, the ABCs (Accountability, Basics, and local Control) model. As a beginning examination of the implementation of this model, the Department of Public Instruction studied 11 high-poverty schools that demonstrated success in moving students up the state's Achievement Levels on the…

This book provides an overall perspective to program development for gifted children and youth. The approaches used draw on many theories, points of view, and program structures. Chapter titles are as follows: "Identification of the Gifted,""Strategies for Teaching the Gifted,""Organizing the Gifted Program,""Building Support for the Gifted…

The FUTURES program was developed by the Ontario (Canada) Ministry of Skills Development in order to better prepare severely disadvantaged and disabled youth in terms of both academic and job-readiness training. This study sought to construct a portrait of FUTURES students which would contain data readily translatable to counseling and…

This document reports a survey of junior high school general music (nonperformance) teachers in Los Angeles County, conducted to obtain data for teacher education curriculum planning in light of teacher-perceived instructional problems involving disadvantaged learners. The study was conducted to (1) identify teacher-perceived problems of general…

THE VERBAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE FIRST YEARS OF LIFE IS CRUCIAL IN THE LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL. THERE IS A CLOSE INTERRELATEDNESS AMONG LANGUAGE ARTS. SPEAKING, WRITING, LISTENING, AND READING PERFORM RECIPROCAL FUNCTIONS IN THE COMMUNICATIVE CYCLE. THEREFORE, THERE IS A NEED TO REINFORCE LANGUAGE ARTS IN ALL GRADES AND IN ALL…

INCLUDED ARE CASE DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO RETARDED READERS WHOSE ORAL READING SCORES WERE TWO GRADE LEVELS ABOVE PLACEMENT, A DESCRIPTION OF CLASSROOM TEACHNIQUE THAT TEACHES WITH A 25 TO 1 PUPIL-TEACHER RATIO, AND A DISCUSSION OF THE PSYCHOSOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION TO MEET INDIVIDUAL NEEDS. CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES SHOULD BE…

AN EFFORT TO OVERCOME THE LIMITED EXPERIENCES OF DISADVANTAGED NEGRO CHILDREN WAS MADE IN A RENOVATED ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN THE HEART OF THE DOWNTOWN REDEVELOPMENT AREA OF NORFOLK, VIRGINIA. IT WAS HOPED THAT THE EXPERIMENT COULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE ATMOSPHERE OF RENEWAL WHICH SURROUNDED THE CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES. THE FIRST PHASE OF THE…

This pamphlet is the third in a series of ten stemming from the view that language is central to learning, that teachers can gain insights into their work and into learning by examining the language of the classroom, and that current language theory can be the means to such insights. Specifically, the pamphlet presents ideas drawn from a five-year…