Follow-up of high-risk children identified in kindergarten through direct classroom observation

Sixty-one children, originally identified at the beginning of kindergarten on the basis of 4 distinct clusters of observable classroom behavior, were evaluated at completion of first grade. Teacher ratings and individual achievement test scores partially confirmed the predictive validity of the original clusters. Children in the nonrisk cluster continued to do well, while children in the high-risk cluster were still doing poorly in some areas. An unexpected finding was that children in another cluster, originally seen as nonrisk, also seemed to be in some difficulty. Concerns about specific aspects of observable behavior were discussed.     

Issues in open education and environmental design

This article presents a theoretical overview of the complementary relationship between open education and environmental design. An elementary education program called the Open Corridor serves as a concrete example. The Open Corridor program dovetailed many aspects of open education and environmental design. Students, teachers, administrators, parents, and consulting psychologists served in the roles of planner and implementer. A review of open education and environmental design approaches is followed by a sketch of the Open Corridor program and a discussion of issues. A bright future exists for programs that carefully open their educational processes and plan their environments.     

Eventual school placement of kindergartners observed as high risk in the classroom

To determine whether children's observable kindergarten behavior might predict eventual educational risk, 40 of 94 children originally observed in their classrooms at the beginning of kindergarten were followed at completion of second grade. The 40 subjects appeared to be representative in that they did not differ significantly from the total sample in terms of original kindergarten classroom behavior, sex, or race. Using four clusters of kindergarten behavior, significant differences were found in eventual special placement and in ratings of teacher anecdotal material. Attending behavior correlated highly with eventual risk, leading to speculation about early identification procedures.     

Clinical criteria for mainstreaming mildly handicapped children

Although integrating handicapped children into regular classrooms has become well established educational practice, the clinical decision to mainstream a given child should be based on systematic consideration of several factors. Among these are age, pervasiveness and degree of handicap, curriculum, social skills, class size, teacher competency, and family resources. These criteria are discussed, along with various approaches to, and the pertinent evidence for and against, mainstreaming.     

The function of uncertainty reduction in alleviating primary tension in small groups

Two studies manipulated levels of uncertainty and employed self report, observer‐ratings, and behavioral coding to assess primary tension in groups. Results indicate that a) participants cannot differentiate levels of primary tension in groups, b) observers can reliably detect differences in primary tension behaviors, and c) these tense group behaviors decrease as uncertainty is effectively reduced.     

Information adequacy,job satisfaction and organizational culture in a dispersed‐network organization

This investigation examined the relationship of information adequacy to job satisfaction and organizational culture in a healthcare organization with both office and field personnel. Information adequacy was assessed in four areas: personal performance, organizational policies, organizational performance, and organizational objectives. Comparisons of field and office personnel indicated that they did not differ on information adequacy or job satisfaction; they did, however, differ on several dimensions of organizational culture. Also, the relationship of information inadequacy to job satisfaction and organizational culture differed for employees depending on whether they worked primarily in the field or primarily in the office. Implications of the findings are drawn for organizations with a dispersed‐network structure.     

Media

Steven H. Chaffee and Michael J. Petrick's Using the Mass Media: Communication Problems in American Society (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975—$6.95, paper)

Bibliography: Some Canadian Writings on the Mass Media (Ottawa: Canadian Radio-Television Commission , 1974—apparently free on request, paper)

Communications: Some Federal Proposals (Ottawa: Information Canada, 1975—price not known, paper)

Bernard C. Hennessy's Public Opinion (Belmont, Calif.: Duxbury Press/ Wadsworth, 1975—price not known, paper)

John G. Cawelti's The Six-Gun Mystique (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1972—price not known, paper)

First Annual Report (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, December 1974—free on request, paper)     

Ex-Communication: Competition and Collusion in the U.S. Prison Telephone Industry

This paper explores the political economy of the prison telephone industry, with special emphasis on changes in the industry since the mid-1980s. Contrary to the expectations of competition advocates, the principal outcome of deregulation in the prison telephone sector has been a sharp increase in price, as new market entrants compete for monopoly service contracts on the basis of steadily escalating commissions paid to state and private prison authorities—costs which are then passed on to the (literally) captive market through exorbitant end-user rates. The sheer magnitude of such rate increases, together with explosive growth in the national prison population over the same period, has turned the prison telephone sector into a lucrative and largely invisible growth center for the U.S. telecommunication industries as a whole.