September 2002 | Monitor on Psychology

On the Cover: Psychology in Education

• Wanted: politics-free, science-based education

  Government officials are calling for a U.S. education system based on solid science. APA and its members are helping on a number of fronts.

• Planting the seeds of research collaboration

  NSF funds went to psychology departments seeking to collaborate with education departments.

• Gardner Extended Services School

  The school provides services that address nonacademic barriers to student learning, such as poverty, inadequate health care, violence in the community and family stress.

• Education Advocacy Program

  Mission: To provide students who have motivational or attitudinal difficulties in completing homework with support to improve academic performance and promote the importance of school.

• Tools for Tomorrow

  If students understand the connection between school and work, "they'll be more inclined to do homework, pay attention in class and see school as a means to an end."

• The 'science of learning' moves mainstream

  A renewed interest in the science that underlies learning--and new money to back it up--is energizing a field that has long been short on funds and respect.

• Educational research: What's hot now?

  Psychologists' research has important implications for the future of the nation's educational system.

• Learning for a lifetime: time for us all to go 'back to school'

  As students head back to school this fall, they will be facing much higher stakes than ever before due to a newly revamped federal law that ties federal funds to academic performance.