Social perception has been identified as a significant contributor to how students know themselves and how they are known within the general classroom. These abilities can impact how successfully they negotiate their learning environment. This study addressed how students with learning disabilities (LD) and emotional handicaps (EH) compare on peer, teacher, and self assessments of social and academic domains of behavior. Subjects were 28 students classified as EH and 55 students classified as LD. This study was based on Kenney's Social Relations Model. A round-robin design was used to collect Likert ratings on 18 task and socio-emotional dimensions among peers. Subjects in grades 3 through 9 and their teachers completed an additional set of ratings on six classroom oriented dimensions. All ratings included a self and metaperception judgment. Results yielded consensus among peers on five task and socio-emotional oriented dimensions. Peer and self judgments and metaperceptions indicated that subjects rated themselves less similar to how they predicted their cohorts would rate them. A positive linear trend was found for the task but not for the socio-emotional construct across grade level predictions among the task consensus dimensions. Correlations between student and metaperception ratings of these traits were strong (r's ranging from.58 to .91). Findings are discussed in terms of how students with LD and EH view themselves and others both socially and academically as participants in the natural context of classrooms, and how the accuracy of these perceptions affect their ability to function within their educational environment.

This study was an inquiry into professional school community. PSC is a term that was created to describe a potentially significant paradigm shift for teachers and principals and the relationships they create in their working climate. It is not a simple innovational change brought on by specific actions or interventions, nor is it a formal element of any known common reform package linked to sweeping changes in public education. It is what some would refer to as a transformational practice (Henderson & Hawthorn, 1995, 2000; Henderson & Kesson, 1999) that offers a restructured anatomy in public schooling, specifically proposing an enhancement of interdependent and collaborative relationships between and among school personnel in any given school community. This ethnographic inquiry explored the relationships that formed between a group of teachers and a principal and the individual and group conceptualizations of community that evolved between these participants over time. This study revealed that the conceptualizations of community existing among and between teachers and a principal, and the changes that can occur over time, are both social and collaboratively created. This study offered more coherent understandings about the roles these conceptualizations play in creating a school community cemented on the ideals of collaboration and collective action. This inquiry employed both Westheimer's (1998) features of community and a voice analysis provided by Bailey (1993) as a means or orienting the research analysis contained within this study. It examined carefully the dynamic relationships created among people in a school and the means by which these people began to define, in an interdependent and collaborative manner, in the midst of tension and conflict, a school's mission, it's curriculum focus, and a series of common understandings about the teaching practices that would be employed at the school. Many of Westheimer's features were clearly supported in this research. However, this researcher, as a means of understanding the participants' beliefs regarding how community is created, identified an additional feature. The notion of voice was particularly important to this research, as it was demonstrated how people's voices influence the two principal conceptualizations of community that were ultimately created by the participants in this study.

Previous critical thinking studies dealt primarily with results of programs presented ancillary to academic subjects. Notable educators in the field have advocated for assessing efforts to infuse, through direct instruction, critical thinking skills and processes across the content areas. This study constitutes such an evaluation and demonstrates that infusion warrants further investigation. An extensive review of the literature pointed to agreement among educators as well as business leaders that improving the quality of student thinking is a fundamental objective as we prepare our students for the workplace of the twenty-first century. Students must be prepared to gather, evaluate and apply information for effective problem-solving. Two similar communities in a North Carolina school district were compared. One taught critical thinking via infusion; the other did not teach critical thinking. The researcher interviewed three teachers whose classes served as the experimental group. A post test survey was administered to teachers of the experimental group. Teachers' anecdotal comments suggested that learning was observed in the thinking skills taught and that the infused instruction strategy would be the one of choice for further instruction. An assessment instrument was developed in two forms, a pre and a post test format, and administered to students in experimental and control groups. Open-ended prompts were utilized for data collection and analysis. Direct instruction in decision-making and comparing and contrasting was presented to students in the experimental group. Rubrics were constructed so that raters could measure prompts holistically. A "t" test was performed and results were analyzed for gains. The difference between pre and post test decision-making scores was statistically significant at the.001 level. However, the difference between pre and post test compare and contrast scores was not statistically significant. Given the discrepancy between teacher testimony and experimental and control group achievement data, possible explanations were offered. Further study could include address additional variables, different modes of assessment, number and type of practice sessions between pre and post testing, comparison between results utilizing the direct infusion strategy versus add-on programming, expansion to other thinking skills, depth of internalization of learning, and teacher preparation and professional development opportunities.

This cross-sectional, mixed-methods study investigated the development of children's perceptions of interethnic and interracial friendships by employing the Perceptions of Intergroup Friendships Questionnaire , a measure designed for this study. A total of 103 children (53 Kindergarten and first graders and 50 fourth and fifth graders) attending one, ethnically/racially-diverse, urban, elementary school in a middle-sized Northeastern city, were interviewed employing the questionnaire. In addition, a sub sample of 17 children (7 Kindergarten and first graders and 10 fourth and fifth graders) were interviewed employing a lengthier semi-structured interview format. Results indicate that K/1st and 4 th/5th graders' differ significantly in their perceptions of intergroup friendships with younger children holding more positive perceptions than older children. African American children demonstrated more positive perceptions of intergroup friendships than European American children. Younger children and girls also held more positive perceptions of intragroup friendships than older children and boys. Children involved in intergroup friendships attributed lower levels of these relationships in the higher grades to prejudice and incidents of racist behavior in the school, along with fewer opportunities to interact with children of different ethnicities/race both within and outside of the school context. Children involved in exclusively intragroup relationships attributed lower levels of intergroup friendships to a normative developmental pattern through which children become increasingly more selective and include only "similar" peers in friendships circles. These differing perspectives are based in children's own racial attitudes and experiences of prejudice. Lastly, children shared their perspectives on how intergroup friendships could be better-supported in schools.

This study investigates the effects of peer coaching, a peer-mediated intervention package, on the positive social behaviors of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). A single-subject, ABAB design is used with 3 elementary-aged students in grades 3 and 5. Following a baseline period, peer coaching activities are introduced, which involve daily social goal setting, the coach providing feedback, and both students rating the performance of the focus student in order to earn a weekly reward. The students are supervised by an adult during a weekly meeting. A return to baseline phase follows the first peer coaching phase. The final phase of the study includes a re-introduction of the peer coaching activities. Results suggest that the peer coaching package led to improvements in positive social behaviors during recess for 2 out of 3 students. Contributions to current literature are discussed and implications for future studies are provided.

The purpose of this study was to explore at-risk (Native Taiwanese) children's habits of mind, applying Vygotsky's ZPD theory in learning habits of mind in math. Workshops were used to teach pairs of siblings' habits of mind. The study was conducted with 62 subjects and 62 siblings or older peers in two elementary schools. Each pair was randomly assigned into either the experimental or the control group. Siblings who were in the experimental group participated in the workshops to receive training that could help the experimental subjects to learn habits of mind. A pretest and a posttest were given to assess their habits of mind in math. Analysis of data revealed no significant differences between experimental group and control group in the pretest. In the posttest, there were significant differences between experimental group and control group in the areas of patterning, describing, and visualizing, but there was no significant difference in the “experimenting” condition. In summary, the data shows that patterning is easy to learn, visualizing comes next, describing is more difficult, and experimenting is the most difficult. All of these habits of mind can be learned through applying Vygotsky's ZPD theory and using sibling workshop, but there is a need for the students and siblings to have extensive time to practice.

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Researchers say that what really differentiates mature age students is not age as much as it is life experiences. How and in what ways does that influence the preparation of pre-service teachers? What happens in the classroom is more related to the teacher than any other variable. All, and especially older student teachers, bring rich experiences and images into the classroom that affect their attitudes, approach, and decision-making. The overall purpose of this research was to learn how life experiences of mature age student teachers influence their learning to teach children in an elementary classroom. Participants are five students between the ages of 38 and 45, who did their student teaching practicum within a traditional teacher preparation program. Data was gathered from three in-depth interviews, three classroom observations with field notes and video tapes, and from selected documents. The Rainbow of Life Roles (Super, 1980) was used to supplement interviews about the life experiences of each participant. Stimulated Recall (Bloom, 1953 and others) was used to discover what past experiences influenced decision making and problem solving. Interview questions focused on participants' interpretation of their life experiences, their perspectives of themselves as learners, workers, and parents, and their ideas about teaching. Based on the data, the following conclusions were reached. (1) Life experiences, from activities such as other jobs, parenting, travel, reading, coaching, and community work were embedded in the perspectives of the emerging teacher serving as a lens or filter through which decisions were made in the classroom. (2) Life experiences provided connections to build upon or barriers to be reconstructed. Examination of prior experiences and beliefs will help to reconstruct these experiences into meaningful ideas about teaching that will be more than an overlay experience that may be washed out in the early rigors of learning to teach. Implications for teacher education include the need for promotion of the examination of prior life experiences to integrate self-knowledge with theory and practice and to remove possible barriers to the development of solid teaching practices.

This qualitative study evaluated the effects of implementing a peer coaching process with ten graduate interns during their student teaching experiences in an alternative, elementary education program. A peer coaching model was provided in combination with an existing and more traditional model of supervision from cooperating teachers and university supervisors. This study explored the ways in which a peer coaching process affected the preservice teachers' reflective and instructional practices, and how it impacted their acquisition and development of collaboration skills. The study also examined difficulties that were encountered and how the process might be adjusted to make it more successful for future use. The findings of this study suggest that a peer coaching process can provide a valuable component to a teacher education program. Having the opportunity to interact with peers provided immense affective support for the interns as well as opportunities for reflective interactions, some of which were centered on inquiry into the craft of teaching. The interns in this study also used the peer observation process to increase their teaching effectiveness by adding to and refining their pedagogical skills. The peer coaching experience offered additional support than that provided by the mentor teacher and resource person, with the interns suggesting that what they learned from peers was different but complementary from what they learned from their mentor teachers and resource staff. While the majority of the interns' perceptions of the peer coaching experience were positive, they were able to offer specific suggestions for improving the process, including the need for additional guidance on facilitating reflection conferences in order to provide more critical and honest feedback to peers. The following four factors appeared to contribute to the successful implementation of a peer coaching process within this teacher education program: (1) Overall opportunities for collaboration were an integral component of the teacher education program. (2) Cohorts of interns were placed in only two sites, one of which was an urban setting. (3) Structured preparation was provided in the peer coaching process. and (4) The peer coaching process was a required program component.

The purpose of the study was to examine students' and teachers' perceptions of instructional alignment in two different units of instruction. Participants were 24 4th grade students and two physical education teachers who turn taught the 4th grade class. Data were collected through field note observations and formal interviews using a semi-structured interview guide with the physical education teachers and 13 students who had participated in both units. Document data were also collected in the form of district curriculum, assessment examples, and task cards. Interview data were analyzed qualitatively. Observational data were analyzed inductively using Cohen's (1987) model of instructional alignment and Doyle's (1977) ecological model. Results indicated that a misalignment existed between the teachers' goals and what the students perceived they were to learn. The misalignment may have occurred as a result of the lack of congruence among the teachers' goals and the fact that students' achievement of the teachers' goals was not tied to a grade.