The Youth Leadership and Life Skills Development Scale was completed by 282 of 316 Iowa Future Farmers of America (FFA) members. The strongest relationship appeared between their scores and FFA leadership activities. Other factors affecting life/leadership skills development included after-school jobs, years in FFA, grades, and gender. (SK)

An interview with Vladimir Feltsman, a piano virtuoso and educational innovator, covers his views on development of musical talent in Russia, identification of talent in children, his training at a special music school, his mentors, choosing a musical career, the ideal school for young musicians, and the maximum age for beginning to develop…

Notes nursing education is supposed to facilitate both personal and professional development, but inattention to self-assessment limits the former. Problems with self-assessment include conflicts between student self-ratings and teacher evaluations of students, focus on professional demands instead of the whole person, and differences in…

Generalizes the corporate mission, values, strategy, tactics model and applies it to basic personal life questions based on experiences at the Performance Development group of Walgreens. (Author/LRW)

Reviews the cognitive development of children, with a focus on Piagetian theory as a framework for understanding Developmental Counseling and Therapy (DCT). Describes both the assessment process and intervention planning, and provides specific applications to counseling children in school settings. (Contains 35 references.) (GCP)

Explores the ultimate goals of today's practices career guidance practices. Notes that it seems unlikely that the individual development model, prevalent in guidance for several decades, could stand up to ethical questioning of its presumptions. The author suggests another model, that of human development. (Contains 62 references.) (GCP)

Searches for an understanding of developmental scholar William Kessen, and of what he was trying to teach in his later years. Discusses possible sources of Kessen's dissatisfaction with the field of child development, and whether any of these issues can be resolved in ways that Kessen might not have fully anticipated. Summarizes the main lessons…

Notes that Jenny Gilsdorf and Jone Rymer offer poignant stories about their personal and professional growth in two articles in this issue. Provides an integrating framework for exploring the linkages between the ideas put forth by Gilsdorf and Rymer. Uses a psychodynamics perspective to examine the connections among individual development, an…

Explores a link between the psychologically oriented identity status paradigm, and the sociologically oriented individualization theory. The primary link between these two approaches appears to be that the individualization process can be operationalized in terms of agency in identity formation. Concludes that identity statuses representing…

Examined the effects of variations in acculturation and gender on identity processes and outcomes in a sample of 357 students at a culturally diverse university. Results indicate that the processes underlying identity development are consistent across variations in acculturation and gender. Supplemental analyses revealed effects of acculturation…

Examines the literacy myth: the belief that literacy can solve complex personal and social problems. Explores links between "literacy for life" and Dewey's concept of growth. Makes the case for a pragmatic middle ground between structural-functional and radical-transformative interpretations of adult literacy education. Presents a case…

Draws from sociolinguistic perspective, human development, school learning, and language policy to discuss conflicting claims about second-language learning in school. Differentiates between cultural context within micro cultures and school content within global macro culture. Asserts that educators should ensure that learners have access to the…

Interviews with four adults over 65 in Learning in Retirement Institutes explored life events, their experience of retirement, and the impact of institute participation. Recurring themes were personal growth, self-esteem, contribution to society, and empowerment. (Contains 22 references.) (SK)

The authors have created the Illness Relationship Impact Inventory as one concrete way of examining each person's personal relationship with illness during their formative years. These early experiences texture the impact on one's experience of illness as an adult. Discussion questions and "next steps" commitment for positive improvement in that…

Describes a pilot mentoring program at the Health Libraries and Information Network (HeLIN) at the University of Oxford that was designed to increase understanding of mentoring for continuing professional and personal development; to investigate existing mentoring schemes; to incorporate a program for accreditation of mentors; and to evaluate the…