Mentoring is now a very popular, but loosely defined, feature of many programs for youth. The heart of mentoring is the relationship between the youth and the mentor, but little is actually known about this relationship. Mentoring should not be limited to at-risk youth, since many average students or underachievers from stable backgrounds may…

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…

Educational resilience is defined as the heightened likelihood of success in school and in other life accomplishments, despite environmental adversities. This paper summarizes the concept of resilience as it has been advanced in developmental psychopathology and discusses educationally relevant research that is consonant with the definition of…

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…

Paying particular attention to the far reaching impact and policies of the goals and ideas identified in the report "America 2000: An Educational Strategy," the papers in this book focus on the strategies, practices, and research that may guide the future of literacy instruction for persons of all ages. Papers in the book are:…

Intended for adults who are considering career choices or changes, this booklet provides opportunities for self-study and reflection in six career paths. The booklet begins with tips for long-term career survival and myths and realities of career planning. After a brief career survey, readers are introduced to six career paths: arts and…

Designed for high school students interested in careers in special education and related services, this guide outlines the role of a secondary school special education teacher. It addresses the nature of the work, the education required for the position, the personal qualities people should have who choose to be secondary special educators, job…

Considerable study has been focused on relationships between learning styles and other characteristics and conditions, such as teaching styles, achievement, student age, and student gender. In 1991, a study was conducted on two campuses of a comprehensive community college in the southeast to measure the effect on course grades of the relationship…

This study was designed to provide information about factors that influenced career decisions and career development patterns of contemporary engineers. Graduate engineers (N=2835) and beginning student engineers (N=980) completed survey instruments designed to measure demographic, cognitive, affective, and behavioral factors. Subjects also…

Teacher effectiveness literature has supported the contention that a recurring theme in examining the qualities and attributes that constitute effective teachers is the use of humor in the classroom. However, most of the research did not appear to consider the potential differential effects on the students' perceptions of teachers' use of humor…

Summaries of research findings on the following topics are compiled in this document: (1) students in schools with well-equipped resource centers and teacher-librarians perform better on achievement tests; (2) developing student competence in research and study skills is most effective when integrated with classroom instruction through cooperative…

A longitudinal study of girls from the sixth through tenth grades sought to determine if the extent and type of participation in physical activities changed with age. A sample of 207 girls was selected with 140 completing the survey over 5 years. Participation was measured by activities in interschool teams, intramural activities,…

Ways to prepare and present lectures that hold college students' attention and involve them in the teaching-learning process are discussed. Attention is focused on linguistic, rhetorical, and psychological aspects of classroom communication; common communication problems in the classroom; and how to overcome and avoid communication problems.…

A review of research literature pertaining to locus of control in older adults and its application to social and educational settings indicates that reliable generalizations about the self-concept of older adults require a careful consideration of both personal and situational variables. Four separate processes are useful in understanding the…

A collection of papers on evaluation and testing in language learning and teaching for communicative competence includes: "Evaluation in Relation to Communicative Language Teaching" (Viljo Kohonen); "On Determining the Function and Quality of Language Tests" (Jan van Weeren); "On the Trail of Everyday Experience...The Individual Learner's…