Research indicates that good discipline is a melting pot of positive factors including, among other things, high rates of student success and strong principal leadership. (Author/JM)

A study of pupils who had been suspended from school for disciplinary reasons suggested they had stressful family environments, were more likely to have suffered a serious illness, had low intelligence, and suffered severe reading problems which could have led to disruptive behavior. Argued that school policy significantly determined whether or…

Predicted divergent thinking and problem-solving performance of elementary school students from teachers' ratings of students' affective/behavioral characteristics, and from intelligence test scores. Found teachers' ratings of sensitivity to beauty, risk taking, awareness of impulses, and humor were the most frequent significant predictors in…

Using a model of behavior intention, a study attempted to identify attitudinal and social normative factors which might predict the behavioral intentions of preadolescents to alcohol abuse. Findings of the study indicate the importance of students' personal attitudes in their decision to drink alcoholic beverages. (JN)

An inductive analysis of studies on discipline reveal four characteristics of effective classroom management. Preservice teachers should be able to: (1) develop a workable set of rules; (2) respond consistently to inappropriate behavior; (3) structure activities to minimize disruption; and (4) respond to, but not denigrate, the disruptive student.…

Concerns types of communication strategies people choose when confronted with situations which have no model. Found that subjects (women returning to college) did not attempt to fit into the established student role. Instead, they invented various strategies and reported the "active friendly" strategy as most positively related to communication…

Provides an overview of recent and current activity in environmental education, particularly as it relates to program evaluation in elementary/secondary schools. Areas addressed include goals/objectives; environmental concepts; attitudes, behaviors values; skills; settings, methods, themes; teacher effectiveness; and evaluation needs. Includes…

Describes a 1920s study by Hartshorne and May, the "Character Education Inquiry," and summarizes its three-volume report, "Studies in the Nature of Character," about students' moral development and ethical instruction. Emphasizes findings that discussing hypothetical dilemmas and supplying moral knowledge are less effective…

Discusses the goal of abstinence as a factor in the failure of drug education programs. Implications of this goal for society, the school, the drug educator, and the student are explored. (Author/RC)

Described is a study designed to effect a change in school-related attitudes (towards science and school lunch) using cognitive dissonance theory. Results support the idea that inducing students to engage in behavior considered desirable by others but not necessarily by the students themselves might change the attitude in question. (CS)

To investigate positive student biracial contact, this study observed students' choice of seating groups in the lunchrooms of nine Chicago area high schools. The degree of biracial contact was much less than expected for each school, suggesting that race inhibits student friendship patterns and that voluntary segregation exists. (Author/SJL)

The ethnographic study which examined Chicano students with extensive absences and low academic achievement indicated that student-informants reacted negatively toward the formal social sub-system (including the teachers, the curriculum and materials, and the school's organization structure) because they found little in the sociocultural…

The relationships among cooperation-competition, perceptions of locus of control in social situations, and locus of control in intellectual-academic situations were compared among fourth- and fifth-graders in traditional and open classrooms. Open education children were more cooperative, and traditional students displayed higher internality for…

This study examined videotaped teacher and performer behavior during several high school ensemble rehearsals to determine the predictability of off-task behavior from eight carrier variables. Results indicated a strong relationship between off-task behavior and individual teachers, nonperformance activity, and teacher eye contact. (Author/SJL)

Reports data on the predictive utility of the WISC-R factor scores for Native American Navajos and examines the diagnostic utility of the FD scores as a correlate of academic achievement. Results indicate limited utility of the WISC-R factor scores in predicting academic achievement for Native American Navajos. (Author/RC)