Education & Pedagogy

Recent statistics suggest that equal educational opportunities for many students (e.g., students who are poor, disabled, or minorities) remain elusive. To handle the growing student diversity, educators must infuse multicultural education, instruction, evaluation, and support services into the school setting. Achieving a meaningful comprehensive multicultural program in schools is a slow, cyclic process. (SM)

Examines the communitarian argument on schools, families, and youth culture expounded in Amitai Etzioni's influential book, "The Spirit of Community." In lieu of detailed policy proposals, Etzioni's readers are challenged to a general change in attitudes and values. Includes a discussion of Ray Pahl's critique of communitarianism. (MJP)

Describes an introductory segment of a preservice course on teaching and learning in mathematics and language arts, highlighting a project using multimedia materials to explore the integration of the two. Examples of teacher candidates' insights about mathematics discourse are discussed. The larger implications of classroom discourse for investigating the language arts/mathematics intersection are explored. (SM)

Schools in Arthurdale (West Virginia), a New Deal resettlement community for displaced coal miners, made landmark efforts to bring Deweyan ideals of progressive education to bear on community life. The article examines Arthurdale's pedagogy and history in order to illuminate ambiguities of educators' efforts to promote community, emphasizing unaddressed problems of racial and social inequalities. (SM)

Provides a quick look at some World Wide Web sites that contain current election year information. Recommends Project Vote Smart, a site with links to online news organizations, the home pages of all presidential candidates, and other political sites. Briefly notes several interactive CD-ROM resources. (MJP)

Urie Bronfenbrenner, professor emeritus at Cornell University, discusses how changing American values have shaped an antifamily and individualistic society, and along with increasingly high rates of poverty, single parenthood, and violence, have negatively impacted families, children, and education. Also discusses declining literacy rates, school and family roles, and the low economic priority given to U.S. education. (LP)

Factors influencing the requirements of health care professions other than medicine for doctoral degrees are examined. The nature of the traditional Doctor of Philosophy program is considered in this context. It is proposed that more structured and clinically oriented doctoral programs may be a useful alternative for some professions. A Doctor of Nursing Science program is presented for illustration. (Author/MSE)

University of California Sea Grant Extension Program provides training and technical assistance to fishers, farmers, planners, and conservationists on projects such as coastal ecosystem health, marine environmental protection, fisheries management, aquaculture, salmon habitat restoration, and controlling nonpoint-source pollution; supports graduate education in marine-related studies; and funds outdoor marine science camps for children, teachers, and 4-H leaders. (TD)

Draws on interviews and published sources to examine Catholic educational policies and issues in Hong Kong, 1984-97, in the context of relationships between the Hong Kong Catholic Church and three authorities: colonial government, Chinese government, and Vatican. Discusses conflicts between Roman Catholicism and Communism, and language of instruction and civic education in Catholic schools. Contains 53 references. (SV)

Structured interviews were conducted with 27 elementary school principals, general educators, and special educators concerning inclusive education for students with severe disabilities. Comments were categorized and compared by professional role and level of implementation. Analysis identified both agreement and some differences in perception of inclusive education across professional role and level of implementation. (Author/DB)

Describes a job-specific career education program to foster high school completion by students with and without disabilities. The program involved a school/business partnership and student/school contracts (which guaranteed the student a part-time job while in school and a full-time job upon successful program completion and graduation). Students' attendance, achievement, and attitude significantly improved. (DB)

Provides IRORs (internal rates of return) to investment in higher education by race and sex, using data from the 1985 wave of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Black males obtain a rate of return somewhat below other subgroups. Females tend to have a larger return to an investment in education than their male counterparts. (63 references) (MLH)

Reviews: "The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them"; "Charter Schools: Creating Hope and Opportunity for American Education"; "Horace's Hope: What Works for the American High School"; "United Mind Workers: Unions and Teaching in the Knowledge Society"; "Digital Literacy"; "Reinventing Early Care and Education: A Vision for a Quality System"; and "The Right to Learn: A Blueprint for School Reform." (LMI)

Uses Montessori's writings on higher education as basis for recommendations to reform secondary and higher education. Advocates stimulus lectures followed by an assimilative work period to teach diverse university students. Recommends tuition be increasingly assumed by students each year of their secondary or higher education. Advocates eliminating traditional high school or college schedules and allowing for self-paced learning. (KDFB)

This response of the University of Southern California to the Institute of Medicine's 1995 report concerning the present status and future needs of dental education focuses on the report's influence in implementing a problem-based learning (PBL) option at USC. The PBL program's philosophy, goals, organization, faculty, admissions process, and administration are briefly reviewed. (DB)