This digest discusses why special education teachers may become stressed by role overload and lack of autonomy, and presents strategies for successfully managing stresses related to teaching. Strategies include: (1) setting realistic expectations; (2) making distinctions between job and personal life; (3) finding ways to exercise professional…

This booklet is a guide and model for parents, educators, religious institutions, social service agencies, community centers, and other organizations that interact with African American males. The guide begins with the introduction of the African American Male Development Model, six criteria that, if internalized by males, would place them in a…

This study explored the traditionally opposite psychological domains of cognition and emotion by investigating self-regulation and self-efficacy in third graders. The study assessed the relationship between cognitive self-regulation measurements (monitoring of time, planning, and persistence) and affective self-efficacy measurements (prediction of…

This study examined how teachers in a geographically remote location experienced participation in a collaborative, professional development group project designed to develop student performance assessment tools. Participating teachers completed focus group and individual interviews as well as personal teaching efficacy surveys. All teachers new to…

This study evaluated the Community for Learning (CFL) K-12 school reform program, which emphasizes high standards of student achievement and positive student self-perception. It investigated whether the program was meeting its learner centered design goals. Assessment of Learner-Centered Practices (ALCP) surveys were administered to 4th and 5th…

Children in primary education often encounter mathematics having picked up a general fear of mathematics from the society around them. This results in lack of confidence, avoidance of non-standard thought processes, weakness in problem solving strategies, and other negative consequences. This study offers an alternative approach: presenting…

A study examined motivation factors related to participants' level of development in outdoor adventure recreation pursuits. A survey was completed by 164 undergraduate recreation majors from separate, but similar, sections of a required 13-day outdoor education practicum. Respondents rated fun and enjoyment as their most important motive for…

This study examines the personal empowerment and efficacy of teachers, relating these constructs to environmental characteristics in order to provide information for school counselors who are helping teachers in personal growth. The study also assesses the relationship to teacher conceptual level in order to determine its relationship to…

School leaders must develop skills and tools to create patterns of relationships that facilitate collegiality and shared decision making and promote reflective inquiry. The connection between the preparation of school leaders and the daily process of nurturing a learning community is important. School leaders must develop and enhance their own…

This paper presents the results of a study that both quantitatively and qualitatively studied the relationship between the duration of a science education practicum and elementary education majors' self-efficacy beliefs related to science teaching. Subjects included 64 preservice elementary education majors. A notable qualitative difference was…

This study examined the relationship between preservice teachers' perceived efficacy and their beliefs about teaching and learning. Subjects were 382 preservice teachers enrolled in either an early childhood or elementary teacher preparation program. Statistical analysis of responses to a version of the Gibson and Dembo Teacher Efficacy Scale…

Defining emotional competence as the demonstration of self-efficacy in emotion-eliciting social transactions, this paper presents a model of emotional competence that explores the factors and skills contributing to the development of a mature emotional response that supports an individual's social goals. The paper first describes the primary…

Arguing that girls need caring adults to teach, advise, and create rituals that help them negotiate the transition to a womanhood based on feminine values and that includes roles traditionally thought to be male, this book provides a practical guide for raising healthy girls and suggests exercises for parents and teachers. Chapter 1 maintains that…

Teacher mentoring programs have increased dramatically since the early 1980s as a vehicle to support and retain novice teachers. However, researchers and facilitators of mentoring programs are recognizing that mentors also derive substantial benefits from the mentoring experience. This digest examines research on how mentoring contributes to the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the academic achievement discrepancy observed between Asian and non-Asian students by examining self-efficacy and several motivational factors. Original and revised versions of A. Bandura's Scale of Self-Efficacy for Self-Regulated Learning and measures of study effort, effort attribution, and academic…