On the firing line: Role problems of educators of the gifted

Teachers of the gifted often find that their role leads to stress and conflict with other teachers and with the school system. To survive, the teacher must understand the place of the school in the community, and the place of the gifted program within the school.     

A Study of the Transferable Elements in Interviews with Parents

The authors used correlational and confirmatory factor analytic techniques to examine the relationship between measures of the constructs of mathematics anxiety and test anxiety. The correlations found between measures of the 2 constructs were nearly as high as those found within measures of the 2 constructs, bringing into question the separateness of the constructs. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis provided some support for a distinction between the constructs; the correlation between the 2 factors, however, was relatively high. Those findings suggest that mathematics anxiety and test anxiety may be separate phenomena; the conceptual uniqueness of mathematics anxiety, however, needs to be further delineated and its measurement improved.     

The Structural Design Features of Large Texts

A framework for analyzing the structure of large expository texts is specified, based on notions from the rhetoric. Rhetoric books used to teach freshman composition classes have been surveyed for common patterns, and two separate text structures have been identified. One is the functional structure, which helps the reader construct a coherent mental representation; the other is the rhetorical structure, which organizes content. The framework specifies elements and linkages for the two structures that typically are present in the well-designed text. The usefulness of the framework is demonstrated with the analysis of a sample text, Modern Rhetoric (Brooks & Warren, 1972).     

The circulation/acquisition ratio: An input-output measure for libraries

A “quick-and-dirty” input-output measure for libraries is derived using readily available data. The library is defined as a system that acquires books as input and circulates books as output. By simply dividing the number of books circulated per unit time by the number of books acquired in that same time, such a measure is created. Used like a temperature thermometer, the C/A ratio has to be “just right” (not too high and not too low) if the library is to be considered “healthy”.     

White suburban schools' responses to low-income black children: Sources of successes and problems

This paper reports the results of a study of low-income black children who moved with their families into middle-income, white suburbs. Three hypotheses are tested: (1) Educational standards will be higher in the suburban schools than in the children's city schools. (2) Suburban schools and teachers will respond to these students with increased educational assistance mixed with some racial discrimination. (3) Students' grades and school satisfaction will not decline with the move to the suburban schools. Two kinds of research design are used: children's postmove suburban experiences are compared with retrospective reports of their premove experiences and also compared with experiences of a control group. Interviews with mothers and children permit quantitative and qualitative analyses. The findings support all three hypotheses and suggest new perspectives on the kinds of advantages and problems arising from residential integration.