Instruction, Teacher-Student Relations, and Math Achievement Trajectories in Elementary School.

Children enter elementary school with widely different skill levels in core subjects. Whether because of differences in aptitude or in preparedness, these initial skill differences often translate into systematic disparities in achievement over time. How can teachers reduce these disparities? Three possibilities are to offer basic skills training, to expose students to higher order instruction, or to provide socioemotional support.

Teaching. Opportunities to learn in America's elementary classrooms.

Observations in 737 5-grade classrooms reveal high amounts of basic skills instruction in reading and math as whole-group or individual-seatwork, delivered with mediocre instructional quality. Cooperative learning, technology, social studies or science are rare. Observed opportunities show little association with features of teachers or schools.

Teaching malpractice litigation in a mock trial setting: a center for perinatal medicine and law.

Objective: To describe a novel center for perinatal medicine and law in a school of medicine and assess its inaugural presentation of the role of expert witnesses in a mock trial setting.

Methods: The center's first program was an obstetrics and gynecology Grand Rounds that staged an abbreviated mock trial. The case summary was read.