Describes the administrative framework, government sector, private commercial sector, critical issues, and suggestions for improvement of the U.S. preparation for the World Administrative Radio Conference. The meeting, which will focus on long-term policymaking, is scheduled for September 1979. (CMV)

Details examples of prejudice, suggesting underlying reasons for the same, on the part of professional librarians concerning distribution of the Women's History Research Center's microfilm series. It is concluded that, until prejudice is overcome, the intellectual analysis of gender roles so necessary to changing status of women will be…

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 represented the hopes of two modern movements for social change: the civil rights movement and the feminist movement. This paper discusses the enactment of Title VII and the ensuing struggle over its implementation during its first decade of existence. (Author/EB)

The organizational pattern of schools, as tied to a centralized district policy, mitigates against serious teacher participation in curriculum deliberation and choice. Suggested are alternative forms of district organization that might be more facilitative of teacher curriculum decision making. (Author/MLF)

This paper examines the extent to which sociopolitical beliefs concerning equality, work-related beliefs, professional characteristics, community relationships and personal attributes influence minority hiring practices among urban personnel officials. (EB)

Examines how politics and technology are changing the ways in which information is produced, stored, communicated, processed and used; and concludes that, in this new context of changing information resources, the basic political questions--who gets what, when, how--need to be redefined. (CWM)

The role of large universities in developing effective in-service programs for general and special educators is examined. (CL)

An effective essay assignment in an introductory college history course should: (1) acquaint the student with the problematical nature of historical evidence; (2) challenge the student to interpret evidence; (3) facilitate critical skill acquisition; and (4) encourage formulation of further questions. History course evaluations are presented.…

Compares Spanish and English essays written by bilingual writers. Describes each writer's discourse-organizational and clausal-combining strategies. Suggests that organization on the discourse level is reflected in the type of clausal combinations chosen by the writers at the sentence level. (TB)

Investigates whether English teachers and teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL) rate writing samples differently using both holistic (global) and analytical (multiple trait) scoring methods. Findings suggest that the analytical scoring method may be more faithful to real dissimilarities existing between these two groups than is the…

A study within one Australian college of education investigated the appropriateness of literature-based essays to test learning and attitudes of students and faculty toward the assessment method. It is concluded that a number of faculty had shortcomings in theoretical knowledge of assessment, and that use of these essays frequently failed to meet…

Examines the in-class essay as written by university freshmen to assess the extent to which students use formulaic expressions to minimize the cognitive burden of generating a coherent and adequate answer. Results show that students made extensive use of formulaic expressions and shaped their answers to reflect the way the information had been…

A study of 14 adolescents with learning disabilities and 7 low-achieving adolescents was conducted to evaluate a writing strategy designed to enhance the quality of compare-and-contrast essays. Results indicate the students improved substantially in the clarity of writing, appropriateness, and organization of ideas in their essays, but not in…

Argues that assignments requiring the student to write in a specific genre stimulate formation and retention of critical concepts about the genre. A classroom experiment compared the results of a sonnet-writing assignment with a traditional essay-writing assignment about sonnets, confirming the effectiveness of the experiential approach.…

Presents the findings of a study of the computerized assessment of essays on a final-year module within an undergraduate degree program. Students were required to create an essay, self-assess it, perform peer assessment, then reflectively self-assess their work for a second time after peer feedback. Discusses assessing higher order cognitive…