Some important theoretical work done in the field of education/schooling has come close to losing touch with the hard facts of lived experience. Educational theorists must resist making untenable motivational claims for the power of teachers and students which ignore the massively greater power of capital and its allies. (IAH)

Describes a program in the Kansas City (Missouri) school district for seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-grade students with reading scores significantly below grade level. Presents findings that the program resulted in gains in basic skills, attendance, and reading comprehension. (MW)

This article defines two approaches to pupil control--custodial and humanistic--and reports results of an investigation of the relationship between teacher control ideology and behavior and their influence on quality of life for students. Subjects were 239 elementary and secondary teachers and their students from 5 school districts. (IAH)

Structural differentiation and the culture in which the schools exist must be considered when addressing the issue of class size. (BJV)

Discusses development of program specifications for school support services based on incorporating behavioral aspects into design and evaluating costs on a life-cycle basis. Includes categories of support services, responsibilities for developing specifications, and one district's approach. (17 references) (MLF)

Provides a brief survey of libraries and library services in Portugal. Topics discussed include background information on Portugal's political, economic, educational, and library history; a summary of current library services in different types of libraries; and observations on the future development of these services. (five references)…

Studies the attitudes of 271 high school students and seven teachers to determine the sources of classroom misbehavior. Concludes that sanctions on student behavior have little impact while an orderly school environment may have the greatest effect. (FMW)

Reports an interpretive study of curriculum differentiation which looks at a lower-track curriculum at a midwestern public high school. Examines the relationships among curriculum differentiation, classroom conflict, and social differentiation. Concludes that curriculum is a sociocultural construction, that student responses are crucial…

This study tests the notion that single sex colleges provide a more "favorable climate" for women's achievement than do comparable coeducational institutions. Rather than outcomes, the following college experiences are compared: (1) students' activities; (2) relations with faculty and peers; and (3) sex-role attitudes. Qualified findings…

The superintendent's innovation and enthusiasm are leading school reform in Dade County, Florida. Educational experimentation includes a satellite school at the airport to serve grades K through two; a nighttime high school; and a school that has teachers acting as mentors for students at risk. (MLF)

Examines the professionalization of high school cheerleading, investigating the impact of a national association which establishes cheerleading standards and is involved in cheerleader selection. Finds that the increased status and skill associated with this national organization results in a bureaucratization of cheerleading and usurpation of…

Describes conceptual model that helps explain why students drop out of correspondence courses. Student background characteristics, organizational setting and the environment, attitudes about education, and course instruction are linked with behavioral intent and lesson submission activity to determine variables that influence completion of…

Discusses reasons for failure in open learning, describes areas that can adversely affect student performance, and suggests possible corrective actions. Highlights include validation, or developmental testing, of courseware; the climate for learning; the role of local instructors; consequences of success or failure; course design; learning style…

Studies the complex layers making up a school culture and their effect on the routine organizational decision in handling truancy. Findings suggest school cultures, although unified at the organizational level, are inconsistent at the subcultural or individual level. Members can exercise greater flexibility within the organization but also can…

Explores African American cultural performance as it exists in education. It focuses on the trickster performance and reveals this community tradition in action through research, designed to increase the recognition and use of cultural performance in schools and create an enhanced learning environment, and conducted with African American educators…