Academies of Inquiry and Talent Development at the Middle and High School Levels1
This article summarizes research on various aspects of the Schoolwide Enrichment Triad Model and research on eight categorical components of the model carried out over the past 20 years will be presented. These components include: the effectiveness of the model, creative productivity, personal and social development, unhabits, and perhaps most important, love of learning and desire to continue to pursue creative productive work in the future.
Beyond the Classroom: Why School Reform Has Failed and What Parents Need to Do
Beyond the Classroom: Why School Reform Has Failed and What Parents Can Do, by Laurence Steinberg, B. Bradford Brown, and Sanford Dornbusch. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1996. 233 pp. $22.00, paper. Reviewed by William Franklin, California State University-Monterey Bay. Beyond the Classroom provides parents, students, teachers, and administrators with a thought-provoking analysis of out-of-school factors that lead to academic underachievement. The authors of this book contend that the "real" problem with America's educational system is not a matter of school reform, diversity, mass media, or disadvantaged populations; rather, it is the disproportionate number of disengaged students. They further claim that America's classrooms are primarily filled with students who have not made an investment in their education, who spend more time participating in extracurricular activities and after school jobs, watching television, and hanging out with friends than studying. Moreover, their parents are unwilling or unable to sustain interest in their youngsters' educational endeavors after their elementary school years. They draw these conclusions after conducting a 10-year longitudinal study that examined out-of-school factors contributing to low commitment and achievement levels in adolescents. A multidisciplinary team of scholars surveyed over twenty thousand adolescents from nine high schools in Wisconsin and California. They not only surveyed and interviewed students but also consulted teachers, parents, counselors, and administrators. Clearly written for a general audience, the book is organized in such a way that the authors are able to present their case using language unobstructed by statistical inferences, tables, graphs, and scientific nomenclature. However, Steinberg et al. assert in the opening chapter that their findings and recommendations are supported by legitimate scientific research procedures. Chapter one, entitled "The Real Problem," provides an alarming and disturbing overview of the state of education in the United States and the role of student disengagement. The authors define disengagement as typifying those students who "do not exert much effort in the classroom, are easily distracted during class, and expend little energy on inschool or out-of-school assignments. They have a jaded or cavalier attitude toward education and its importance to their future success or personal development" (p. 15). Engagement is defined as "the degree to which students are psychologically connected to what is going on in their classes" (p. 15). Engaged students, according to the authors, "concentrate on the task at hand. . strive to do their best when tested or called upon, and when. . given homework or other outside assignments. . .do them on time and in good faith" (p. 15). In chapter two, the authors argue that not only is the U.S. a nation at risk, but it is also a nation in denial regarding the long-term negative effects of underachievement. They examine educational indices such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test and conclude that poor school performance is evident for students at all grade levels and in all social classes. When comparing educational achievement internationally, they find that U.S. students fare worse than their counterparts from nearly all other industrialized nations. They also cite research showing that even when comparing this nation's best students with their international counterparts, U.S. students fare worse. Beyond the Classroom contends that America's school reform efforts have been disproportionately directed at changing structural elements of the system such as curricula, pedagogy, school calendars, school choice options, teacher training methods, and so forth. Millions of dollars and hours have been directed at changing how we deliver services to students within schools, without any substantial regard to factors outside the classroom that contribute to underachievement. …
Teachers' Beliefs about Teaching and Learning: A Constructivist Perspective
Teachers are viewed as important agents of change in the reform effort currently under way in education and thus are expected to play a key role in changing schools and classrooms. Paradoxically, however, teachers are also viewed as major obstacles to change because of their adherence to outmoded forms of instruction that emphasize factual and procedural knowledge at the expense of deeper levels of understanding. New constructivist approaches to teaching and learning, which many reformers advocate, are inconsistent with much of what teachers believe--a problem that may be overcome if teachers are willing to rethink their views on a number of issues. This article seeks to advance this cause by identifying important aspects of current thinking that may get in the way of teachers adopting a constructivist approach to teaching and learning.