An attributional model that conceptualizes the pressures that reduce professors' personal and career vitality is presented. The model is based primarily on the locus of control literature and especially the reformulated model of learned helplessness by Lynn Abramson, Martin Seligman, and John Teasdale. The analysis deals only with the cognitive…

When people experience failures they search for an explanation of why the failure occurred. The process of seeking an explanatory cause is the basis of attribution theory. Causal attributions include the dimensions of locus of causality (internal or external), stability of the cause over time, and the degree of personal control over the outcome.…

This paper focuses on data concerning the characteristics, attitudes, and school experiences of rural dropouts. The discussion, which draws largely upon the High School and Beyond database, considers two primary concerns. The first deals with differences between rural dropouts and their rural counterparts who stayed in school. Areas of inquiry…

A description is given of the perceptions and attitudes of 10 teachers currently working in the Dade County (Florida) schools. The paper examines the extent to which changes over the past two decades have affected the ways in which they perceive their work and the teaching profession in general. These teachers entered teaching primarily for…

This work explores whether a "psychological price" is indicated in the affective domain of the weaker student in abilty-mixed settings; whether this price differs for various dimensions of this domain; and whether it is related to academic achievement. Existing research in the fields of ability grouping, streaming, curriculum tracking,…

Research has shown that: (1) Physiological and psychological aspects of stress and burnout are equated with emotional exhaustion and (2) Individual responses to relationships and the working environment are based, to a large extent, upon the individual's expectations. A model was developed that accounts for individual perceptions of reasonable…

A convenience sample of 46 subjects was selected from 104 elementary through secondary self-selected students who participated in a prototypical voluntary after-school and summer computer camp operated by an American southwestern nonprofit educational research laboratory. Following an initial 16-hour exposure to LOGO and Bank Street Writer, a…

This study investigated the influence of two different instructional approaches on 298 elementary school students. Two four-week units were taught, the first on movement education and fundamental movement skills, and the second on gymnastics. Two treatment groups were randomly selected, and classes were conducted by six experienced teachers who…

The scaling procedures and the results obtained upon applying such procedures to the student self-report data collected in 1978-1979 are outlined in this report. The first section of the paper describes the two general scaling procedures: oblique multiple groups confirmatory factor analysis and Guttman scale analysis. The second section covers the…

Reported are results of a study designed to replicate a study at North Carolina State University which investigated the effectiveness of a diagnostic/prescriptive system for increasing the science achievement of university students and examined the relationship between selected student characteristics and participation in voluntary diagnosis.…

A joint committee of a local teachers' association and the Tacoma Public Schools studied stress conditions for classroom teachers. Teachers estimated the magnitude of stress for forty-four events and noted those which they had actually experienced. "Involuntary transfer" was perceived as the most stressful event; seventeen per cent of the teachers…

Among the teaching variables likely to influence pupil engagement rates are classroom management strategies and instructional behaviors used during presentation of the lesson. Thirteen junior high school science classes were observed to determine how variation in classroom management techniques related to variation in pupil engagement rates, and…

Knowledge of the influence of situational variables and the importance of interaction between person and situation requires a more complex view of illness than that held by many practitioners of psychosomatic medicine, who attribute causality solely to internal and isolated personality traits. Personality was studied, therefore, as a conditioner…

A common assumption among many social scientists is that identification with Mexican-American culture inhibits the development of a positive self-concept and upward mobility among members of this group. Consequently, many sectors of society have argued that complete acculturation is the most desirable goal for the Mexican-American population. The…

A project was initiated to (1) determine internal-external orientation of a group of adult basic education-general educational development (ABE-GED) clients; (2) collect demographic data on the clientele; (3) assess functional abilities of clients in math and reading at enrollment and after three months; (4) analyze results of objectives to…