The findings of a survey of attitude studies to determine the effect of students' attitudes on communication competence as they enter the work force and develop their careers are reported in this paper. The paper explains how attitude improvement is an effective management tool in controlling costly absenteeism, output, job productivity, work…

The purpose of this practicum was to train 20 elementary teachers to do therapeutic music activities designed specifically to promote social skills in elementary school children. A five- part seminar series was presented over a 10-month period. The goals of the practicum were (1) to improve the teachers' knowledge of intervention techniques and…

This manual is for use by the trainer or leader of a workshop based upon the inservice manual: "Evaluating and Improving Teaching Performance." In the introduction, suggestions for planning, logistics, equipment, and evaluation of a successful workshop are made. The chapters are linked to those of the inservice manual by topic of the…

The effects of uninstructed and teacher instructed cooperative group learning on the interactive behaviors of 32 nonhandicapped and 16 handicapped (moderately mentally retarded) elementary students and also on the attitudes of nonhandicapped students toward handicapped persons were investigated. In the teacher instructed condition, the teacher…

The annotated bibliography of over 1,200 citations published between 1943 and 1983 is intended as a comprehensive reference guide to the scientific study of infantile autism. After a search of the literature was conducted, the information was organized by format and subject, first for journal articles (19 topics are concerned with general…

This year-end evaluation report concludes the twelfth year of operation of the Chapter I Early Childhood Education (Preschool) Program in Portland, Oregon, public schools. The purpose of the preschool program is to provide educationally disadvantaged children with the experiences needed to ameliorate their disadvantages. The report is prepared…

Robert Katz's model of the effective administrator, based on essential technical, human, and conceptual skills, offers a useful framework for the administrator of a program in English as a second language (ESL). The technical, human, and conceptual skills specific to the ESL program environment are outlined and illustrated, and Katz's estimation…

An extension of an earlier longitudinal study of thriving, average, or non-thriving kindergarten children, this study examined the intellectual, academic, social, self-directive, and temperamental characteristics of children from kindergarten to grade four. Fifty-four of the children were perceived by their junior or senior kindergarten teachers…

The curriculum guide consists of a set of assessment tools, curriculum decision guidelines, instructional recommendations, and sample activities focused on teaching basic social and communication skills to children with autism and severe developmental handicaps. Section One provides an introductory discussion of issues related to effective…

This paper summarizes the results of the empirical evaluation of the Outward Bound component of the 1987 Career Beginnings Program. Career Beginnings is a national, privately funded program designed to increase the probability that minority high school youth will either attend college or find good jobs following high school graduation. The Outward…

Leadership of colleges and universities poses problems for the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the President. Ambiguous constituencies and the pull of various support groups inside and outside the institution present continual dilemmas for each academic CEO. Two instances of academic leadership are presented that compare and analyze the styles of…

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the test-retest reliability of the Junior Self-Monitoring Scale (JSMS) for use with elementary school children. Subjects were 28 first, 30 third, and 24 fifth graders attending an elementary school in Corvallis (Oregon). The JSMS consists of 24 yes/no items and is scored in the direction of high…

Part of a 10-year project that will follow five waves of educationally advantaged children from preschool through the fourth grade, this study examined the immediate effects of attending preschool on social competence. Once in the year prior to kindergarten entry and again near the conclusion of kindergarten, trained testers completed the…

To explain some of the problems and questions concerning the study of communicative competence, this paper discusses observations that motivate activity in the area and several issues generated by the observations, and suggests implications of the issues raised. The observations discussed first are that humans manage to get things done…

A report is given of a statistical analysis of the summary findings of 14 empirical studies on the effectiveness of human relations training programs for teachers. The study sought to determine the direction and size of the effect produced by training, and determine which programs were most effective. Program approaches included: (1) Social…