Archaeology belongs in the schools. Students and teachers both find it interesting, and it has been shown to be an effective vehicle for teaching a wide array of topics and skills. However, there are at least two serious reasons why it is important for students to understand what archaeologists do and why: (1) an informed public is a potential ally in identifying, protecting and managing endangered archaeological resources; and (2) archaeology as a mode of inquiry can help students understand the social construction of the world in which they live. Archaeologists and educators have been working together to develop materials to help teachers use archaeology in their teaching. Some excellent materials are now available for middle and junior high school teachers. But if students are to take archaeology seriously as a tool for social analysis, they need to be exposed to a more mature understanding of it in high school. Interviews exploring the ways in which archaeology is currently understood and used in all aspects of the curriculum in one high school indicate that teachers use it to capture students' interest, or to reward them for learning some other subject. Teachers do not use archaeology to teach analysis and interpretation of evidence, or critical thinking skills, or the role of human beings in the creation of social systems. Since very few teachers have received formal education in archaeology, they do not associate these goals with archaeology as a discipline. Teachers' sources of information about archaeology are television, newspapers and general circulation magazines. These popular sources do not provide them with the understanding they need to recognize archaeology as a tool for intellectual and social analysis. Archaeologists should take advantage of more professional channels for reaching teachers with serious material linking archaeology to the various disciplines traditionally taught in high schools. To reach high school students with a more sophisticated understanding of archaeology, we need first to present that knowledge to their teachers as fellow professionals.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether current principals in the middle and high schools of Massachusetts are using the achieving styles consistent with the Massachusetts Education Reform Act mandate of "participative decision-making." The third wave of school reform has fostered the development of new leadership models for principals, reflecting a newer, more relational and connective governance in schools. The Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 mandated participative governance to effect radical changes in the schools. An historical overview of educational administration and the role of the principal culminates in the connective leadership model developed by Jean Lipman-Blumen in 1992. This model transcends the biases of traditional models and stretches beyond transformational leadership to the establishment of interdependent structures such as alliances, networks, teams, and collaboratives involving all the stakeholders in the school community. A study, using the L-BL Achieving Styles Inventory, was conducted with 42 Massachusetts middle and high school principals to determine the styles they are using to implement participative governance into their schools. SPSS was employed for a 2-tail t-test of Significance to assess whether there was a relationship between achieving style and gender, years of experience as a principal, or school level. Results indicated no significant difference between the scores of males and females. A significant relationship was established between the competitive achieving style and school level at.030. High school principals were found to achieve significantly more competitively than middle school principals. A somewhat significant relationship of.062 was found between the collaborative achieving style and years of experience as a principal. Principals with fewer than three years of experience in the principalship have higher collaborative achieving scores. All groups scored highest in the relational domain. Scores in the instrumental domain, representing the extended skills of connective leadership, were the lowest, indicating a need for awareness and educational programs to expand principals' achieving styles.

Across the country many mentoring programs are developing, which are designed to match interested adults with students who need help with getting through school, making career decisions and coming into young adulthood in the twenty-first century. Since the 1980's a significant number of mentoring programs have been eagerly received by educators, through businesses partnerships. But, there is much disagreement among the supporters of the mentoring movement about exactly what should constitute a mentoring relationship, how early in a student's life mentoring should begin, and whether these relationships can be developed on a large scale. Moreover, mentoring is more than a business partnership project. It is a series of complex relationships that often fail. Given the state of urban families and schools, coupled with the state and federal government's reluctance to fund more educational personnel, it becomes critical to find the best ways to take advantage of the largess of the business community in implementing urban mentoring programs. Therefore the study of an urban mentoring program was essential. This research looked for areas of success for others who wish to initiate urban middle school mentoring programs may be more successful. Within the context of the John W. McCormack Middle School-business partnership quantitative data was collected to discern what constitutes the profile of an ideal mentor for early adolescents. Further, this study identified which factors motivate an urban adolescent to become involved with an adult tutor/mentor. Lastly, the study identified which factors motivate working adults and their tutees to volunteer to work with one another in an urban middle school. This study's quantitative data was collected from participating adults and students. The results were supported by interviews. Furthermore the results confirm what was found in the evaluation reports of Career Beginnings and The Partners in Growth studies. The results of this study are very important because of the recent nationwide emphasis on school-business partnerships that involve using their human resources rather than direct financial philanthropy.

This ethnographic case study of eight environmental teacher educators who collaborated in a four-state watershed education partnership was focused on processes of social constructions of region and regional partnership. Participant observation in meetings, interviews, and spatial representations were used as data for the eleven-month study. Spatial representations at two intervals were analyzed for documentation of conceptual change. A metaphorical model was used as the interpretive frame for analysis of interview and partnership meeting discourse features. Participants identified central features of place, diversity, and scale as they elaborated upon their sub-watershed valley regions as "home." Participants identified experiential learning as the foundation for watershed education, and reported that grounded experience was their own most essential way of knowing the watershed. The participants valued collaboration, networking, learning about one another's work, and the opportunity to make professional connections as benefits of partnership. In an examination of discourses of "self" and "the environment," analysis of partnership discourse strategies yielded evidence of prosodic phenomena such as raising questions and laughter as means of maintaining synchrony and coherence in meetings. Over the study period, the participants' spatial representations demonstrated tensions between political and bioregional boundaries and growing similarity across representations of the partnership. Issues of support for multistate regional partnerships were considered. Conclusions were that cultural and folk concepts of region are useful in determining scale to inform watershed education policy initiatives and implementation. In partnership meetings, democratic practices were considered most practical for "getting something done." Implications for education included expanding applications of metacognitive approaches, a focus on experiential learning in watershed education, and the place of "place" as an interdisciplinary educational focus. Finding a cultural taboo on conflict, the researcher recommends further development of curriculum environmental conflict resolution, and calls for intergenerational community watershed councils trained in conflict resolution and mediation as foci for regional watershed education efforts.

One reason science enrichment programs were created was to address the underrepresentation of women and minorities in science. These programs were designed to increase underrepresented groups' interest in science and science careers. One attempt to increase students' interest in science was the Summer Science Exploration Program (SSEP). The SSEP was a two week, inquiry-based summer science camp offered by Hampshire College for students entering grades seven and eight. Students who participated were from three neighboring school districts in Western Massachusetts. The goal of the program was to stimulate greater interest in science and scientific careers among middle school students, in particular among females and students of color. A review of the literature of inquiry-based science programs revealed that the effect of inquiry-based programs on students' attitudes towards science is typically investigated shortly after the end of the treatment period. The findings from this study contribute to our understanding of the long-term impact of inquiry-based science enrichment programs on students' attitude towards science and their interest in science careers. The data collected consisted of quantitative survey data as well as qualitative data through case studies of selected participants from the sample population. This study was guided by the following questions: (1) What was the nature and extent of the impact of the Summer Science Exploration Program (SSEP) on students' attitudes towards science and interest in science careers, in particular among females and students of color? (2) What factors, if any, other than participation in SSEP impacted students' attitude towards science and interest in scientific careers? (3) In what other ways, if any, did the participants benefit from the program? Conclusions drawn from the data indicate that SSEP helped participants maintain a high level of interest in science. In contrast, students who applied but were not accepted showed a decrease in their attitude towards science and their interest in science careers over time, compared to the participants. The interviews suggested that students enjoyed the inquiry-based approach that was used at camp. In addition, students said they found the hands-on inquiry-based approach used at camp more interesting than traditional methods of instruction (lectures and note taking) used at school. Recommendations for future research are presented.

Much of the literature about teachers' lives and careers is problematic. It often fails to involve teachers themselves (Schubert, 1991), specifically women (Miller, 1993; Noddings, 1989). Moreover, it is often written from an administrative, thus frequently white male perspective (Casey, 1992). If documentation about teachers may be race and gender biased, teachers' voices must be included more if we are to interrupt inequities in schools and education research. Women teachers--the majority of whom are now 43 years of age (National Education Digest, 1996)--represent an important population. Their own experience with possible educational and professional inequities and the transitions typical of midlife and midcareer all could add interesting dimensions to their pedagogy and role modeling for adolescent students, particularly girls. This was a qualitative research project based phenomenological interviews (Seidman, 1991) with eighteen participants. In three ninety minute segments, participants were asked to relate how they became teachers, to describe their jobs, and to reflect on the meaning they make of their careers. The diverse women were between thirty-five to forty-eight years old and have taught full time for at least fifteen years in urban and suburban high schools. Interviews were taped, transcribed and analyzed for thematic similarities and differences. Peer debriefing sessions were held at intervals. Major themes from the data included women teachers as care-givers, their growing frustration with administrators over the course of their careers, and a perception that their achievements, experience, and professional opinions are often ignored. Participants expressed feeling powerlessness in often racist, sexist, homophobic work places frequently influenced by "good ol' boy" networks. On the other hand, at midcareer these women have more confidence in their teaching and with themselves than ever before, and at midlife have developed a greater awareness of their own needs. Some have sought professional development and mentoring to stave off the effects of a flat line career and monotony which can typically accompany midcareer. To prevent "burnout" which can affect human service professionals (Maslach, 1981) most are redirecting energy from careers to self-care. The relationship between midlife teachers as models for adolescents in transition was not clearly established.

School violence has encouraged the introduction of peer mediation programs in spite of the absence of reliable research and program evaluation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of peer mediation programs in 44 Massachusetts secondary public schools, describing the objectives, evidence, and conditions that fostered or hindered program success. The research questions that guided this study asked 132 respondents to indicate the objectives of peer mediation programs, evidence of success, and conditions within the schools that helped or hindered success. Of 42 objectives, only peaceful resolution of conflict was reported by a majority of the schools. Four others--learning alternative ways of dealing with violence; improving the climate in school and classroom; reducing the number of fights before becoming serious; and teaching students to talk out problems were reported by 41% of the respondents. From the seven most common examples of evidence demonstrating success, a decrease in violence and suspensions was reported by the largest percentage of respondents (38%). Major hindrances to mediation included adult intervention in mediation, lack of administrative funding, and scheduling conflicts. No single condition that either helped or hindered program success emerged in the study. The most common supportive condition was administrative and faculty support, and the most common hindrance was scheduling conflicts. Other hindrances were a lack of a full-time coordinator, and lack of administrative and faculty support. Respondents provided few examples of evidence or conditions to support their claims of success or lack of success. Results indicate that peer mediation was successful in most of the 44 schools in the study, and that every school program was unique. Still, improvements, such as effective program evaluation; greater funding; support for staff training from the state and universities; and closer scrutiny of developments in the field, are necessary. The rise in school violence throughout the nation is forcing educators to respond with programs, such as peer mediation. The blueprint for successful peer mediation programs needs to be designed by each school. Planned properly, facilitated effectively and evaluated appropriately, peer mediation can contribute to the realization of safe learning environments for students.

This dissertation reports findings from a sociolinguistic ethnographic study that examined relationships between a critical language awareness, peer conferencing, and student writing. The purpose of the study was to use critical language study to develop student understanding of the social, cultural and political aspects of language, thereby promoting democratic classrooms. The study involved the revision of the traditional peer conferencing format to include consideration of the social, cultural, and political aspects of language and power. This pedagogical change was embedded in a critical language awareness curriculum and in a Native American unit of study, and involved eighth graders at a suburban middle school who represented a variety of cultures, ethnicities, socio-economic classes, and abilities. They wrote response papers and stories focused on Native American topics and conferred with their partners regarding the social, cultural, and political aspects of language and power in the representation of Native Americans in their stories and response papers. Students recorded their conference responses on the peer conference sheets, and wrote final drafts of their stories and response papers. Analysis of 20 peer conferences involved thematic and critical discourse microanalysis of student talk and critical discourse microanalysis of student final drafts and revisions of their writing. The critical discourse microanalysis, was based on Fairclough's (1992) approach to discourse analysis. The evidence demonstrates that when students became critical language analysts by providing an alternative frame in which to understand seemingly naturalistic ideologies within a text, students were aware of the relationships between language and power. This position was facilitated through discourses and ideologies presented in the revised curriculum, which assisted them in identifying and analyzing the social, cultural, and political aspects of language. This curriculum included the revised peer conference sheet, history curriculum, and personal experiences. In taking up the critical language analyst subject position, students worked toward a critical and complex understanding of language and power not provided by traditional peer conferencing theory and practice. In doing so, students created a more democratic classroom in which students realized their power and authority to promote social change through language.

What are characteristics of exceptional teaching in terms of academic, social and emotional growth as determined by middle school teachers and students? An effective middle grades teacher transmits a core of common knowledge to his or her students. An effective middle grade teacher makes his or her students feel they are a part of a community, and provides a meaningful and challenging educational experience. The effective middle grades teacher takes the time to talk with his or her students about academic matters and personal problems, and makes the student see that he or she has value and is a success, with a promising future. (Turning Points, 1989). Are pre-service teachers prepared to teach at the middle level? The purpose of this study was to determine if effective middle school teachers share certain characteristics, and if so, how could they become integrated into a teacher education program. Teachers of middle school students, pre-service teachers, middle school students, and middle school administrators participated in this study about effective middle school teachers. Surveys, interviews, and questionnaires were administered to participants in order to determine what is exceptional about them. The data was then used to identify characteristics or methods which effective middle level teachers have in common. The results were grounded in adolescent development theory. The research may help determine teacher characteristics or methods that are most suited in terms of academic, social, and emotional growth for a middle level student.

Although the wealth of research on beginning teachers indicates that teachers' transitions from preservice to inservice are often fraught with complexity, the prevalent “sink-or-swim” approach to their entries into teaching does not usually recognize the developmental complexities of each individual teacher's experience. The developmental blindness that some educational stakeholders have developed in regard to beginning teachers is, in fact, vastly different from the way our society views “newness” or “beginnings” in other venues and forms. If stakeholders in education were to take new teachers seriously as learners, we would not expect the same from them as from veteran teachers, and we would, as a matter of regular practice, provide new teachers with adequate support that is rooted in the legitimate learning and developmental demands of each beginning teacher. Using a phenomenological framework and an in-depth interviewing methodology, I interviewed ten (10) first-year English teachers in order to illuminate the nature of the experience of the first year of teaching English. I explored what it is about the nature of the first-year of teaching that has made it such an infamously trying time emotionally, intellectually, and socially. How does the culture of teaching “induct” its newest teachers? How do new English teachers experience their own learning and development in their first year in the classroom? What does the first year of teaching mean to those who experience it? I interviewed each participant on three separate occasions, with each interview lasting approximately 90 minutes. I audiotaped the interviews and transcribed them verbatim. I open-coded salient themes in the interview transcripts and arrived at 12 themes that cut across my participants' age, gender, and school context. Significant issues in my participants' experiences revealed several elements of the nature of the first-year of teaching English. I discuss how the constitutive elements of my participants' experiences in their first year can be incorporated into the development and implementation of more effective and more developmentally appropriate induction and support programs.