Teacher retention has been of interest to educational researchers for over three decades. Various reasons for teacher attrition have been cited, including student discipline and motivation problems, working conditions, low salary, and a lack of administrator support. This descriptive survey research sought to determine the present status of…

This paper draws on data gathered from a five-month phenomenological study of middle school students' perceptions of the effects of computer-based technologies on a learning community in an online synchronous environment. Twenty-four eighth-grade students participated in the Web Pen Pals project, a university-secondary telecollaborative…

The goal of a project was to survey the vocational divisions of state departments of education across the nation in order to provide the vocational division of Virginia with information upon which to base decisions concerning the development of its vocational exploratory program. A search of the literature was done and an ERIC search completed.…

The 12 papers presented at the Research Symposium of the National Middle School Association's 1980 Annual Conference are reproduced in this document. Topics covered are teachers', principals', and national leaders' perceptions of the middle school; priorities of needs, competencies, and training of middle grade teachers; a case study of the…

Intended for junior high school learning disability resource teachers and other staff personnel, the handbook provides information on selecting and scheduling students into resource programs, establishing a resource room, developing and implementing curriculum for learning disability (LD) students, reporting the progress of students, and listing…

Designed as a component of a career exploratory program at Vale Middle School, Vale, Oregon, the Student Needs Assessment Guide provides middle school teachers with an instrument to be used in helping students assess themselves as individuals and to match this assessment with current and expected roles in the adult world. The guide consists of two…

The 17 seventh grade social studies activities, designed for career education, focus on: personal development; self-analysis; awareness of occupational choices; career development over a lifetime; knowledge of useful skills for appropriate careers, future job opportunities; occupational clusters; the interrelationship between work, leisure, and…

The goals of the first phase of a career exploration project were to change attitudes toward the world of work, upgrade values, and improve the self-concepts of approximately 550 Grade 7 and 8 disadvantaged youth in two Hartford middle schools. This was accomplished through a number of experiences and activities developed in five classroom units…

The Career Exploration/Industrial Arts program guide is based on experiences at two Oregon junior high schools. The program is unique in two respects: the learning is student-managed and the facility is a general open shop in which students plan and develop projects in a variety of activity areas. Student management consists of a notebook kept by…

Even in elementary school, students suffer from bullying and harassment at the hands of other students. Often, educators resort to using stricter forms of behavior modification to stop bullying. But usually this fails to solve the problem while threatening the student-teacher relationship. Chosen by the National Bullying Prevention Campaign for…

The purpose of this research is to determine whether we can use classroom artifacts as the basis for making valid judgments about the presence of reform-oriented teaching practices in middle-school mathematics classes. Our approach compares ratings based on collections of artifacts assembled by teachers according to our directions (the "Scoop…

This book attempts to serve as a compendium and a chronology of secondary education in the United States, taking a broad rather than a narrow approach and touching on a great many topics and issues. Chapters 1 and 2 present a history of secondary schools and a discussion of adolescence. Chapter 3 discusses curriculum in secondary schools,…

Academically motivated students engage their schoolwork with confidence and interest, are less likely to drop out of school, suffer fewer disciplinary problems, and are more resilient in the face of setbacks than less motivated students. This book presents the work of numerous scholars of adolescent academic motivation and represents the varied…

The James Irvine Foundation launched the Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning (CORAL) initiative in 1999 with the goal of improving the academic achievement of children in the lowest-performing schools in five California cities. In 2004, CORAL adopted a more targeted approach toward reaching this goal by integrating a regular…

Considerable attention has been given recently to how children educate each other and how to maximize the cognitive benefits of peer learning. Based on papers presented at a 1996 symposium on Cognitive Skills and Learning with Peers, this book focuses on peer learning. Part 1 presents implications of Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories. Part 2…