Two focus groups of high-risk inner-city African-American and Caucasian adolescent girls (15 to 16 years old) were organized to explore issues related to sexual decision making. Transcripts of the groups were reviewed for recurrent themes and viewpoints. Verbatim examples are presented. Participants reported pressures to have sex and a lack of…

Describes the Teaching Decisions Simulation, a program that allows participants to make decisions regarding lesson plan activities and student and teacher spatial arrangement or interactions. Postlesson feedback includes variables such as completion time and performance measures. Experienced teachers exhibited more deliberation in completing the…

Describes the function of values and participatory decision making within the student affairs profession. Introduces a process model as a means of operationalizing values in the decision-making process and uses case studies to illustrate how the model can be used to improve student affairs professionals' decision making. (RJM)

Reminds early care teachers to make quality decisions that keep the child's best interests in mind. Gives several examples of possible parent-school conflicts and guidelines for resolution that keep the child's best interest foremost. (ET)

Describes the use of a computer simulation, "The Competitive Edge," in a college-level course in labor relations. Describes the content, implementation procedures, and assessment design of the simulation. Concludes that, although some improvements could be made, the program is a valuable and useful simulation of labor market decision…

Describes the use of a self-determination curriculum for mental-health intervention and primary prevention for Head Start children. The curriculum addresses critical adaptive-skills domains, including social skills, self-evaluation, self-direction, networking or friendship, collaboration or support seeking, problem solving and decision making, and…

Use of the case study method to develop nursing students' skills in clinical decision making is discussed. The topic-development approach used in the course design included selection of appropriate cases, use of guidelines for analysis of cases, and development of interrelated formats for teaching. Students and lecturers reported satisfaction with…

Decision makers are faced daily with making important and pervasive decisions. This is especially significant in higher education, where decisions about academics will have considerable impact on the next generation of leaders. In place of rational decisions about the substance of learning and instruction, academic administrators make incremental…

At the heart of many current debates about curriculum and curriculum policy is an inadequately conceptualized and articulated notion of teachers' professional discretion. This paper begins to detail a normative and descriptive theory of the social and individual conditions required for the development of professional discretion. A better…

The time and effort spent during the first days of a new semester are key to the success of the class that lies ahead. What happens during these first days can set a tone that inspires students to work actively and cooperatively to achieve success in the new semester, or to sit back and assume a "here we go again" attitude. In this article, the…

A qualitative study documented the use of reflection-in-action by adult educators in problematic situations. Its focus was to investigate the mental processes involved in problem solving. Since individuals engage problem situations from a personal conceptualization that is unobservable, qualitative interviewing was used to provide respondents with…

An administrator's daily life is full of decisions that often involve an "on the spot" solution. This paper discusses some of the principles involved in drawing inferences in research and decision making, and describes how a knowledge of decision-making errors can help administrators. The paper also describes a case study that…

This training guide is intended to help Head Start staff and parents build the skills they need to work together on decision-making teams and to help develop ground rules by which the decision-making partnership will operate. The guide develops skills in analyzing the extent to which parents are currently encouraged to participate in the key…

This paper presents findings from a study that explored students' perceptions of cooperative learning strategies used in educational administration classes. Specifically, the study sought to determine whether students perceived the strategies to be more effective than traditional methods in increasing their knowledge and retention and in improving…

Emerging research on instructional leadership is examined in this paper, with a focus on the new perspective on strategic thinking. The main theme is that research must address the reasoning that underlies the exercise of leadership rather than describe discrete behaviors of effective leaders. A computer simulation designed to facilitate the…