1. What rituals and routines shape classroom life?
Students spend much of their time sitting still and waiting, denying their needs, and becoming distracted.

2. How is class time related to student achievement?
John Goodlad and others have documented that while some teachers use instructional time efficiently, others are sidetracked by behavioral problems and administrative routine.

3. How does the teacher's gatekeeping function influence classroom roles?
Phil Jackson and others have shown that while a major goal of education is to increase students' curiosity, teachers are the gatekeepers who determine what will be learned and who will be actively involved.

4. What is tracking, and what are its advantages and disadvantages?
The practice of placing students into a specific class based on ability is called tracking, but Jeannie Oakes has found that a disproportionate number of poor children and students of color are tracked as slow learners and receive weaker teachers and fewer opportunities.

5. Why has "detracking" become a popular movement?
Supporters of detracking call for more individualization of instruction, more authentic learning, and less reliance on a "one size fits all" view of teaching.

6. How do peer groups impact elementary school life?
Peer pressure wields great power in and out of school, and a gender wall rigidly segregates young children.

7. In what ways does the adolescent culture shape teenage perceptions and behaviors?
Sociologist James Coleman described adolescence as an intense, almost "closed" social system, where peer status dominates, while author Patricia Hersch is troubled by the lack of community or parental values on the young.

8. What steps can educators take to create a more supportive school environment?
Reformers have called for more humane, caring, and smaller schools; a greater student involvement in social services; elimination of tracking; and an increased attention to the affective development of adolescents.

9. What impact do changing family patterns and economic issues have on children and schools?
Nearly one in six U.S. children lives in poverty, a condition that frequently short-circuits educational promise. Divorce, remarriage, and nontraditional family patterns have restructured the family and the home-school connection.

10. How can educators respond to social issues that place children at risk?
Sexuality, AIDS, substance abuse, homophobia, and bullying are just a few of the social and health issues faced by today's youth. Teachers are challenged to create classrooms where bias, hatred, and misinformation are replaced by a sense of security, trust, and truthful information concerning health, relationships, and sex education.