BOOK REVIEWS

S OVEREIGN R EASON . By Ernest Nagel.
T HE S OCIOLOGY OF E DUCATION AND E DUCATIONAL S OCIOLOGY . A Sociology of Education by Wilbur B. Brookover. New York: American Book Company, 1955; and Applied Principles of Educational Sociology and Educational Sociology, A Resource Book . Edited by Harold R. Bottrell.
W HY J OHNNY C AN ' T R EAD AND W HAT Y OU C AN D O A BOUT I T . By Rudolf Flesch.
T HE F LEXIBLE S CHOOL : A R EPORT OF THE C OMMITTEE FOR THE S TUDY OF F LEXIBILITY IN THE E LEMENTARY S CHOOL .     

Prediction of Human Relations Training Outcome by Traditional and Nontraditional Selection Indices

A variety of traditional and nontraditional selection indices were used to predict the outcome of a graduate-level course in counseling which was specifically designed to improve the students' human relations skills. Multiple correlations of .75 to .80 were found between a measure of training outcome and various combinations of predictors. A series of multiple linear regression analyses indicated that the traditional selection indices (GPA, GRE-Verbal, GRE-Quantitative, Miller Analogies Test) accounted for a very minor amount of the variance in ratings of the final taped interview. In contrast, a newly developed selection measure (trainability index) accounted for almost all of the predictable variance. The need for a new and more efficient predictive model for graduate-level counselor training is discussed.     

Client Perceptions of Counselors With and Without a Practicum

The Counseling Evaluation Inventory (CEI) was used to elicit information about the relationship between secondary school counselors with and without a practicum and their clients. The 167 counselors who volunteered for this study represented a 61 percent return. Analysis of variance procedures were used to test the difference between counselors with and without a practicum and to test the influence of age, teaching experience, counseling experience, and sex on these results. The results indicate that counselors with a practicum experience are rated significantly higher on the CEI than counselors without a practicum. When the factors of age, years of counseling experience, years of teaching experience, and sex were partialled out, client ratings of counselors with a practicum continued to be rated significantly higher than client ratings of counselors without a practicum.