Suggestions are made for establishing a policy for prohibiting smoking on school property. First, a working committee for policy formation should be established. This committee should consist of representatives from all populations affected: students, teachers, parents, staff, bus drivers, cooks, administrators, and union and community…

Effective systems of integrated, sequential, and systematic programming strategies at the state and local level are required to meet the needs of at-risk youth. The following six papers included in this compilation describe effective programs and practices that can be implemented in the local community, at the school district level, and in the…

To be a marginal student is to experience a strained, difficult relationship with the school environment. It is crucial to understand marginality and to analyze its extent in today's schools. The more intractable problems of school learning are most effectively addressed at an early stage when the relationship between individual and school…

A study examined (1) a nine-year-old girl's view of writing, (2) the factors contributing to the construction of that view, (3) her parents' and teacher's views, and (4) the relationship among these various views. Both samples of writing and an interview schedule were used to elicit writing views from each of the participants concerning their…

This study was designed to compare the psychosocial environments of different types of schools (primary, high schools, district schools, and secondary colleges). The Moos's Work Environment Scale (WES) was administered to teachers from government and non-government schools in Tasmania. The WES focused on the dimensions of involvement, work…

The goal of the Phoenix Pilot Drug Program is to provide a drug/alcohol free educational environment which will enable students to reduce their drug/alcohol usage and function in a regular school program. To determine the degree to which the program is accomplishing these short-term goals, and also to examine the adequacy of the counseling…

Language is used to realize different intentions, and the patterns of wording that have evolved in language bear a natural relationship to the meanings they have evolved to express. Despite the diversity in the way texts (content) are encoded, they may be traced to the contexts in which they communicate meaning, indicating a form-function…

South Carolina's Education Improvement Act (EIA) of 1984 was a comprehensive piece of reform legislation providing for 60 new educational policies and programs. These new activities were funded by a one-cent increase in the state sales tax. The Act requires annual reports that present information concerning the benefits of EIA, provide additional…

Findings from four lines of inquiry that attempt to identify teaching skills are reviewed. Following a brief introduction, the first section discusses definitions of "skill" and outlines empirical attributes of teaching skills. In the following section, the four lines of inquiry are described. Results are analyzed in the third section.…

The paper discusses the affective influences on students of problem solving instruction using computers, and the relationship of affective influences to student belief systems. It reviews affective issues and problem solving, and analyzes affect with particular reference to the work of G. Mandler. The paper considers types of congnitive processes,…

Thirteen of 14 secondary schools increased their educational effectiveness by participating in a long-term, 12-step change process with two significant features: several measures were applied to develop a picture of each school's effectiveness, and student involvement in the process was considered essential. Schools were categorized by…

Communicating values is at the heart of education. Intertwined with the processes and procedures of schooling, a host of values are taught every day. Education, therefore, carries with it a social and moral imperative. If we are to help students avoid moral bankruptcy, we cannot have a value-neutral education. A basic feature of the social and…

This report focuses on the instructional leadership role of the school superintendent and recommends an operational model superintendents should follow to produce an effective academic environment for elementary and secondary students. Americans' concern about quality of education can be addressed by informative study of successful management of…

The needs-press model, as operationalized by the Stern Activities Index (AI) and the Organizational Climate Index (OCI), was examined for its usefulness in evaluating and measuring organizational climate in a school setting. According to the model, needs represents personality and press represents the environment. This research was designed to…

A questionnaire survey was conducted to examine academic freedom as perceived by faculty members at Dowling College (New York) and by administrators in general. Topics covered in this study include: elements of academic freedom, the faculty and academic freedom, relationship of the Board of Trustees to the faculty, relationship of the…