The Maryland State Board of Community Colleges'"Performance Profile (Spring 1986)" presents detailed data comparing the absolute and relative performance of individual state community colleges by such measures as student satisfaction with instruction, employment rates, licensing examination pass rates, and transfer goal achievement. An…

Wide scale reform in Texas education financing was enacted in 1984 under the Equal Education Opportunity Act (Texas House Bill 72). This paper examines the reform through an analysis of the newly enacted weighted pupil Foundation School Program (FSP) during the 1985-86 school year. Two modes of inquiry were used: correlational analysis between…

A statewide study in Louisiana revealed that third, fourth, and fifth graders who participated in 30-minute elementary school foreign language programs in the public schools showed significantly higher scores on the 1985 Basic Skills Language Arts Test than did a similar group that did not study a foreign language. Further, by fifth grade, the…

Puente Projects are currently operating at 10 community colleges in California to increase retention, general education requirements completion, and transfer among Hispanic community college students. Puente integrates the skills of an English teacher, a Hispanic counselor, and Hispanic professionals acting as mentors to promote academic…

The Arlington, Washington, School District--a mostly rural district with enrollment of 2,790--conducted a survey of its public using both blanket mailing and random sampling procedures in order to compare the views of the total population with the views of the typically small percentage who mail back a questionnaire. The questionnaire contained 29…

Issues related to school instruction in students' heritage or ancestral language are discussed, particularly in regard to dialect-speaking children or children with some degree of competence in the language. The first chapter considers similarities and differences between second language instruction and heritage language education. The findings on…

A study used two auditory tests of reaction time to compare second language learners' and native speakers' detection of ambiguity or acceptability of sentences. The subjects were Finnish learners of English as a second language and native English-speakers. The investigation found that Finnish-speakers' reactions were generally similar to the…

This study compares a self-assessment instrument and achievement test containing the same questions and administered at different levels of proficiency in order to investigate the reliability of second language self-assessment for student placement, diagnostic purposes, and achievement testing. Subjects were English as a Foreign Language students…

A study examined the effect of a series of enrichment activities on the self-concept of 34 cooperative office education students in the East Baton Rouge School Parish (Louisiana). The students participated in an enrichment program consisting of 10 55-minute class periods of instruction in human relations and communication skills, ways of coping…

Focusing on the controversy over whether community colleges aid or hinder their students' socioeconomic attainment, this paper aims to definitively determine the effects of these institutions and to explore how they produce those effects. The first section critically synthesizes research comparing the community college and other postsecondary…

A study examined the public relations methods currently used by vocational administrators, guidance counselors, job placement personnel, and teachers in West Virginia to recruit adult students into vocational programs. The study involved four surveys completed by 43 administrators, 55 counselors, 21 teachers, and 299 students, thus representing…

This collection is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The six titles deal with the following topics: (1) a comparison of mastery and nonmastery learning approaches to teaching reading comprehension to Title I students in second through sixth grade, (2) induced mental imagery and the comprehension…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 12 titles deal with the following topics: (1) influences on beliefs about reading and learning to read and instructional behavior of student teachers, (2) teachers' decisions about basal reading lessons, (3) a study of effective…

A study investigated the validity and usefulness of the Affective Communication Test (ACT) which measures a person's ability to project a nonverbal message to others. The ACT test was reduced to 10 items and administered to 130 college students. The results were analyzed for interpersonal display of effect, public display, and small group display.…

The American College Testing (ACT) scores of New Mexico public high school graduates who applied for admission to New Mexico State University in 1981 were analyzed to determine the relationship between ACT scores and school size. The schools were divided into 6 categories according to enrollment: less than 100 students (15 applicants), 100-199…