University students in two advanced introductory psychology courses were offered simultaneous enrollment in a community service-learning course. Students selecting the option did not differ from nonparticipants demographically, or in self-reporting personal development gains or final grades, but did report enhanced ability to apply concepts…

Describes results of a meta-analysis that was conducted to determine whether there was a difference among the responses of secondary urban, rural, and suburban students to computer- assisted instruction. Discusses effect sizes and comparing mean effect size by educational setting. (LRW)

Examines the effects of different kinds of rich contexts for vocabulary learning based on second language oral input. The article compares the number and kinds of words learned through exposure to a dialogue or video, or by first listening to an oral account of the dialogue situation and then hearing the audio soundtrack without visual support.…

A new model for college fact books is proposed, to create a new generation of institutional research reports that offer more comparative and unit- or topic-specific information, with illustrations, that would be useful for current decision-making needs. (MSE)

Describes a study of the effectiveness of the Colorado Core Transfer Program (CORE), or general education course requirements at all state community colleges. Indicates that students who completed CORE transferred more credits and completed courses at a higher rate than noncompleters, but that no significant differences in grades were found. (AJL)

A recent American Council on Education report finds a substantial difference in degree attainment at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels between African American men and women, with women earning proportionately more degrees. Some trace the situation to educational problems among black males beginning in elementary school, at about…

Examined how family and day care are integrated in children's lives in the United States, Russia, and Finland. Found that congruence between parents' and teachers' views concerning upbringing and education was very high within societies, while opinions between societies differed greatly. Results suggest that implementation of early education in…

A study of employment patterns and starting salary gaps among male and female business graduates during the 1980s found that while both employment conditions and earnings improved for women, the gender gap in starting salaries increased during the decade. Of college-acquired student characteristics, only academic achievement persisted as a…

A survey of graduates (n=87) of the University of New Mexico's conventional medical program and its parallel problem-based curriculum (n=33) found graduates of the latter much more likely to work in medically underserved areas and publicly funded health care settings, care for nonpaying patients, and identify patient problems and curiosity as…

A study investigated the appropriateness of colleges awarding student aid based on student recruitment objectives as contrasted with traditional need analysis. Subjects were 1,658 prospective students who applied for financial aid at a mid-sized comprehensive university. Results indicate that traditional aid policies are effective in attracting…

Management education is struggling with two distinct approaches: an objective approach, the professional education model, which emphasizes theory, academic assessment, breadth of subject matter, and technical problem-solving; and an interpretive approach, action learning, which values practice, managerial assessment, depth of subject matter, and…

Evaluates the relative importance of educational, economic, and cultural factors in supporting the emergence and stability of democracy. Data from over 100 countries on long-term changes in democracy, 1965-80 and 1980-88, support an institutional perspective that emphasizes the impact of elite higher education (as opposed to mass education and…

This study extends previous research on the relationships among intelligibility, perceived comprehensibility, and accentedness. The researchers obtained accent and comprehensibility ratings and transcriptions of accented speech of Cantonese, Japanese, Polish, and Spanish intermediate English-as-a-Second-Language students from native English…

A study of Israeli university engineering students (n=85) and education students (n=87) measured their motivated learning strategies and assessment preferences. Results showed individual differences in assessment preferences overshadowed discipline group differences, and assessment preference differences were largely related to learning strategies…

Reports four experiments examining subject-verb agreement errors in Spanish and English. Discusses cross-linguistic differences within the framework of the computational model of grammatical encoding proposed by Kempen and Hoenkamp. Suggests that languages differ in the extent to which the selection of the verb is controlled by features on the…