This document describes business plan competitions sponsored by universities. The idea began in the early 1980s at the University of Texas when Masters in Business Administration (MBA) students created a friendly competitive activity along the lines of the law schools Moot Court competition. Later the competition became national, and then…

Competition exists when vendors of a service are available to meet the demands of customers. In the education sector, parents and children are consumers, and schools and districts are the suppliers. Theoretically, more competition should translate into higher quality schooling and enhanced educational outcomes. This digest reviews the literature…

This Digest examines violence in team sports and how manifestations of violence reflect the attitudes and behavior of players, coaches, and fans. Three theoretical explanations of sports violence are discussed--the biological theory, the psychological theory, and the social learning theory. The pressures of competitive sports on children are…

The 33 sources cited in this annotated bibliography are intended for forensics coaches and participants. References are organized as follows: the philosophy, rationale, and mechanics of forensics education; major theoretical works and textbooks; and issues related to theory and practice. Information on "ERIC First Analysis," a…

Corporate education is an extensive, multifaceted endeavor, costing billions of dollars, educating millions of people, and absorbing many working hours annually. Offerings range from remedial to postgraduate level management and technical courses. Corporate educators are fulfilling educational needs of nontraditional students, often before…

The question of whether school choice improves student outcomes persists. This digest explores issues surrounding school choice, highlighting major research findings. Overall, the ultimate impact of choice depends on how parents and schools respond to more schooling options and greater competition. Research indicates that greater parental…

Motivation is the ultimate product of many aspects of the school experience: significant relationships between teachers and students and among students; a meaningful, well-taught curriculum; teachers who maintain high expectations and look for ways to help each student connect to the curriculum; and opportunities for choice and self-evaluation…

This document comprises reviews of recent studies on the influence of classroom environment; curriculum tracking; child, parent and teacher beliefs; and middle school environment on the achievement of high risk students. Chapter 1, "Competitive, Cooperative, and Individualistic Structures of Classroom Learning," reports on the negative effect of…

This digest provides an overview of forces, both internal and external, driving change on community college campuses. External agents of change are: (1) societal needs and expectations, which are shifting toward multicultural diversity; (2) international competition, requiring that workers be highly skilled in adapting to international cultures;…

This monograph explores the current use in higher education of cooperative learning, the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning. The opening section sets out to define cooperative learning, and to look at the history of the technique, its basic elements, types of cooperative…