AGE‐FAIR ASSESSMENT OF PSYCHOMETRIC INTELLIGENCE

This study examined the validity of a parallel form of the Primary Mental Abilities test for use with adults aged 50 to 90 years. Significant intraindividual performance gains on the parallel form were observed on the Verbal and Number subtests, while the effect on Space and Reasoning subtests was less substantial The development of such age‐fair measures of psychometric intelligence and related issues are discussed within the context of current developments in research on aging.     

USING IN-DEPTH SCIENCE INSTRUCTION TO ACCELERATE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN SCIENCE AND READING COMPREHENSION IN GRADES 1?–?2

This study focused on accelerating development of science knowledge and understanding at the primary level (grades 1 – 2) as a means for enhancing reading comprehension (i.e. early literacy). An adaptation of a grade 3 – 5 cognitive-science-based, instructional model (Science IDEAS) that integrated science with reading and writing, this year-long study implemented daily 45-min instructional periods emphasizing in-depth, cumulative learning of science core-concept “clusters” while integrating science and literacy in a manner that provided teachers with a thematic focus for all aspects of instruction. Results (a) confirmed the feasibility of implementing the integrated, in-depth science model at the primary level and (b) showed that experimental students obtained significantly higher achievement on Iowa Tests of Basic Skills Science and Reading tests than comparable controls. Discussed are curricular policy implications for increasing the instructional time for content-area instruction at the primary level.     

THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF CHURCH LEADERSHIP IN THE FIELD OF EDUCATION FROM THE SUNDAY‐SCHOOL VIEWPOINT

Dorothy Day's love of the poor originated from reading novels that portrayed the poor as persons worthy of respect. This article explores how Day's reading novels opened her mind and heart to the realities of poverty. The methodology is literature-based. Dorothy Day's autobiography reveals the novelists who captivated her mind and cultivated a religious heart: Charles Dickens, Upton Sinclair, Jack London, and the Russian authors Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Leo Tolstoy. As a journalist and writer, Day described how the poor struggled to survive and how love is needed to counter the challenges that poverty presents. Finally, two novels by authors favored by Day will serve as examples for educating young adults religiously and encouraging love for the poor.     

THE CO‐OPERATIVE SCHOOL OF RELIGION IN PRACTICE

A report of a conference of leaders, both men and women, in the fields of secular education, religious education, community and social work, and business and professional life. In the group are Protestant, Catholic, Jew and those having less formal attachment to organized religion—the Ethical Culturist, the New Thought adherent, the pure humanist and the scoffer at man‐made schemes for personal and social salvation.     

DETERMINING OUTCOMES OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN TWO‐YEAR INSTITUTIONS‐PART 1

This research is presented in a two part series. The first article sets forth the objectives of the study and the research methodology and design. Basic demographic and institutional data are also presented. The second article in this series discusses interrelations among research data and presents conclusions and implications for practice.

An attempt is made to assess the extent to which faculty associations have penetrated certain management functions or rights. A related and second objective was to determine the impact of faculty unions on the traditional professional prerogatives of the faculty. The sample studied was approximately 63 percent of all collective bargaining agreements in existence at two‐year institutions. The authors also sought to develop predictors (institutional and demographic variables) of contractual language. In part 1, characteristics of institutions where contracts are in existence are discussed. A statistically significant relationship was found to exist between the demographic and institutional variables and the relative strength of contractual clauses in the areas of appointment, promotion, nonrenewal, tenure, long range planning, retrenchment and management rights. A complete breakdown of all variables utilized in this study can be found in the appendices     

THE SOCIAL PATTERN OF THE LENGTH OF FULL‐TIME EDUCATION IN ESSEX

Based on the work of Barron (1966) and Hudson (1966), the hypothesis is set up that science pupils are more obsessional than arts pupils. This is confirmed on a substantial sample of sixth‐formers. However, it also appears that the possession of obsessional traits is a hindrance to performance in the sciences. The educational implications of these findings are discussed.     

IN‐SERVICE TRAINING IN GERONTOLOGY: A CASE STUDY OF STATEWIDE NEEDS ASSESSMENT

This report describes the design and conduct of a statewide training needs assessment based on joint state agency and university planning. Sample findings are presented for both the statewide population (N = 736) and various job function groupings. Differences in expressed training needs across job function groups are examined, and strategies for providing effective and efficient training are discussed.     

THE USE OF FACULTY RANK IN THE COMMUNITY‐JUNIOR COLLEGE SYSTEM OF FLORIDA

This investigation was undertaken to determine the extent to which academic ranking of faculty exists in the community‐junior college system of Florida and whether the use of academic rank is on the increase or decrease. A questionnaire was submitted to each of Florida's 28 two‐year colleges. Responses were received from all the institutions included in this study, which is a replication of an earlier study done in 1974. Eight of Florida's 28 community‐junior colleges use some form of academic rank. Most of these award the traditional rank of instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor. In general, promotion is determined by degree, advanced graduate credit, experience, effective teaching, professional growth, and service. Six of the eight colleges have adopted a salary schedule related directly to the rank held.     

ABSTRACTS OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION, 1973‐1974

The ethos of the Enlightenment placed religious and spiritual concerns in a private sphere, while politics became a public concern. In this vein, many American educators, including John Dewey, have vigorously insisted that public schools remain free from religion while inculcating a common civic virtue. Recently, however, educational theorists and practitioners influenced by Dewey have worried about the public's lack of spiritual intelligence and have asked how democracy and spirituality might be reconciled within schools. I approach this question through an examination of Elmer Thiessen's Teaching for Commitment: Liberal Education, Indoctrination, and Christian Nurture (1993). While not a follower of Dewey, Thiessen's work raises important questions for those who follow Dewey and who are concerned with the relationship between democracy and spirituality.     

FROM A MARGINAL INSTITUTION TO INSTITUTIONAL MARGINALIZATION. DEVELOPMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF ‘CRIMINAL’ CHILDREN IN THE DUTCH PRISON SYSTEM. 1833‐1884

In half a century's time, between 1830 and 1880, the common treatment of criminal children in the Netherlands was totally overhauled. After discovering that the criminal child needed a different treatment than its adult companion, it was swiftly concluded that confinement in special prisons on its own wasn't a sufficient guarantee for better results. Next attention was shifted toward those children in the general group of criminal children, who hadn't been convicted by the judge and had been expressly sent in to receive reeducation. In the end, by an interplay of demand and supply, the majority of criminal children was not convicted but sent in to be re‐educated in newly founded reformatories.

This development wasn't initiated by the government but fostered by private enterprise, embodied in the Dutch Prison Society (the ‘Nederlandsch Genootschap tot Zedelijke Verbetering der Gevangenen’).

Although the reported results of the new institutions were positive, their animators lost interest and left for the neighbouring working area of residential care for children in danger who hadn't been tried in court.     

JOB DUTIES OF INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCHERS IN SOUTHERN TWO‐YEAR COLLEGES

The objective of this study was to determine the types of duties being performed by institutional researchers in Southern two‐year colleges. Research was based on a mail survey submitted to all two‐year colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Of 326 colleges surveyed, a total of 301 (92 percent) responded. Respondents completed a survey designed with the assistance of a panel of experts. This included a section posing statements about institutional research tasks in a discrepancy model, and a second section consisting of statements about the overall research function organized in a five‐part, Likert‐type scale

The survey found that less than half of Southern two‐year colleges employed an institutional researcher on a half‐time or greater basis. It also identified a number of discrepancies in the job duties now being performed by institutional researchers and the duties those individuals felt they should be performing

Among those duties which should not be performed were external reporting, program supervision, grant development, and clerical functions. Tasks identified as needing to be performed included increased research project completion, academic program evaluation, planning studies, outcomes assessment, financial analysis, and policy development     

‘METHOD‐REVERSION’: THE PROBLEM OF SUSTAINING CHANGES IN TEACHER‐BEHAVIOUR

The NFER research into comprehensive education reported that around one‐third of pupils in the schools studied took no part in extra‐curricular activities, and that level of involvement was lower among certain groups. This study examines whether the interests of these pupils were being met by their schools and finds that low participation cannot be explained‐‐directly at least‐‐by school failure in providing desired activities. Nearly two‐thirds of all non‐participant pupils indicated that there was no activity which they would like to see introduced. Detailed study in three schools suggests that the ‘traditional’ school activities, though gathering a large number of participants, may be poor integrators of pupils of different abilities and that smaller activities are more successful in this respect.     

THE EIGHTEEN‐MONTH EXPERIENCE OF THE NATIONAL EVALUATION COMMITTEE IN FRANCE

This article describes the origins of and the rationale for the creation of the French National Evaluation Committee, the niche which it fills within the context of French higher education, its make‐up, details of its first year of activity, its typical procedures for the evaluation of. a given institution and, in general terms, its evaluation criteria. An annex lists the current members of the Committee, the President of which is Laurent Schwartz, a member of the French Academy of Sciences.

     

THE LEVELS OF DECISION MAKING IN MULTI‐UNIT COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEMS

This study advances a foundation for future exploration of applied understandings of factors that influence decision levels in multi‐unit community college systems. The purposes of the study were to examine the levels at which decisions were made in nine selected decision areas, and to determine the relationship between (a) the levels at which decisions were made in systems, (b) the factors of institutional size and history, and (c) the number of system‐level personnel. The data for analysis were collected from 26 community college systems that were responsible for only a portion of higher education in the state, had a system‐level president or chancellor as the chief executive officer, and had a central office separate from the campuses in the system. The Aston method of collecting data from formal organizations was utilized to identify the formal structure and context of the systems. The major findings are that faculty‐ and student‐related matters are generally decided at the campus level and that major managerial matters are generally decided at the central‐office level.     

REVISION OF PALMORE'S SECOND FACTS ON AGING QUIZ FROM A TRUE‐FALSE TO A MULTIPLE‐CHOICE FORMAT

A study was undertaken to develop for the first time a multiple‐choice version of one of Palmore's true‐false tests on aging knowledge. We were interested in comparing the two formats of the second Facts on Aging Quiz (FAQ2; Palmore, 1981) to determine whether educational measurement improved with a change in format. The multiple‐choice version was administered to 195 introductory sociology students, and the standard true‐false version was given to a second group of 180 introductory sociology students. Compared with the true‐false version, the multiple‐choice version (a) showed a substantial decrease in guessing and thus increased the likelihood that a score was an accurate reflection o respondent's knowledge, (b) had greater internal consistency and reliability, (c) showed a trend toward higher discriminatory power, and (d) identified more specifically some misconceptions about aging.