A critical mass strategy for university academic budgeting, resource planning, and management is described, and state government budgetary and program policy for universities is analyzed. The use of "rational systems management" in universities is discussed as a means of placing in perspective the critical mass resource decision model. Attention…

This paper reports on a project which has developed the general latent class model as a framework for representation of item responses. This framework can be used to represent data in applications such as mastery tests and other kinds of achievement tests, where there is reason to believe that current foundations are deficient. Methods of…

A model based on organizational theory was used in this study to discover educational goals emphasized by teachers in classrooms and to explore the impact of the social organization of schooling on these goals. Age-grade structure was examined as a possible organizational characteristic influencing moral and technical goals selected by teachers.…

Published and unpublished literature is reviewed to identify and describe patterns of delivering vocational agriculture and home economics programs to students in small rural secondary schools. A conceptual model is developed based on patterns found in the literature. Non-school-based, school-based, and a combination of the two are identified as…

Dissemination activities for the Decision Support Systems (DSS) for fiscal year (FY) 1985 are reported by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS). The main means for disseminating results of the DSS research and development project has been through computer-generated video presentations at meetings of higher education…

A biography for elementary school students describes Howard Joseph McKee, Jr, an American Indian elder who teaches the Winnebago language and is developing a system for translating it into English. Mr. McKee's photograph and a map of Nebraska reservations are included. A teaching guide following the bibliography contains learning objectives and…

Hierarchical linear modeling allowed the indentification of specific school characteristics and policies which help explain the relationship between social class and minority status with mathematics achievement, the relationship between social class and minority status with mathematics course enrollment, and school means for achievement and for…

Research summarized here demonstrates how similarity thinking can be used in training programs to help ethnic minority children acquire basic skills. Current achievements are often attenuated by poor language skills, especially when English is not the first language of the child. Similarity thinking assesses the child's ability to learn without…

This report describes a model for improving retention and graduation rates of culturally diverse students that involves a guided studies seminar in psychological education. The objective is to provide incoming freshmen with an experiential seminar structured around examining higher education, learning and study skills development, and personal and…

This paper describes an ongoing comprehensive model of program evaluation which has as its major goal the improvement of teacher education. This project, developed at the University of Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada), is presented in four parts: (1) the process--how and why the project developed or is developing as it is; (2) the conceptual…

This paper explores various procedures of panel data in the estimation of causal models. The reported analyses are from the Monitoring the Future study, a nationwide questionnaire survey of 16,000 to 17,000 high school seniors conducted annually since 1975. First, the parameters of causal models are estimated in which the dependent variables are…

The research and development (R&D) projects funded by the Florida Division of Vocational Education are intended to have utility for vocational educators in their efforts to improve vocational education programs and practices. This project was conducted to determine why some R&D products are accepted by potential users while others are not…

This guide is intended to assist employers, educators, and union officials in understanding the rationale behind developing and implementing tuition assistance plans. Examined in the introductory section are the importance of tuition assistance programs in light of contemporary economic and labor market conditions. The first chapter outlines the…

The Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) mandates that service delivery areas shall expend 40 percent of Title IIA funds on training and employment programs for youth. To ensure quality programs, a substantial portion of resources should be targeted to the most seriously at-risk youth. The most effective youth programs take a comprehensive approach…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 10 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the television sermons of Jerry Falwell, W. A. Criswell, Robert Schuller, Jimmy Swaggert, James Robinson, and Howard Estep; (2) the preaching of Wallace E. Fisher; (3) Theodore…