Outlines a model for assessing the cultural competence of graduate students in social work. Describes objectives for cultural knowledge covering human development, life events, care giving patterns, nature, time, spirituality, and group (versus individual) focus; skill objectives related to diagnosis, interviewing techniques, psychosocial…

Using portfolios as vehicles for reflection and professional development was studied with 32 physical therapy students, 12 baccalaureate nursing students, and 5 master's degree nursing students. Results suggest that portfolios are useful in professional development, though they may vary in structure and complexity. (SLD)

Reliability and validity of 4-point and 6-point scales were assessed using a new model-based approach to fit empirical data from 165 graduate students completing an attitude measure. Results suggest that the issue of four- versus six-point scales may depend on the empirical setting. (SLD)

Analyzes counseling services used by graduate and undergraduate men and women. A greater proportion of graduate students sought help for personal problems than did undergraduates. Female graduates and undergraduates sought counseling for personal reasons at about twice the frequency of males. Presents related research that helps differentiate…

Reports on a study investigating whether a field-specific oral proficiency test would be a better predictor of field-specific performance than a general purpose oral proficiency test. A theoretical discussion is presented on field-specific language testing and guidelines for the construction of oral proficiency tests in specific purpose contexts.…

Describes a teaching assistant (TA) training program to improve quality of a college physics course. Presents the goals and structures of the physics course and the TA training program. Describes the formative evaluation procedure and its role in developing the training model. Concludes that students in the physics class valued the recitation and…

Surveyed students (n=166) living in graduate student housing to assess social support in their academic programs and family environment, recent stressful life events, and depression and anxiety as psychological symptoms of stress. Women reported significantly more stress, more symptoms of stress, and significantly less support from their academic…

Asked graduate faculty to provide information about writing requirements of first-year doctoral students, criteria they use to evaluate students' writing, and writing problems of native- and nonnative-English-speaking students. Survey results raise pedagogical issues concerning global versus local writing problems, role of vocabulary instruction,…

Investigated willingness of 86 hypothetical supervisors (86 students enrolled in graduate-level business classes) to refer subordinates with 5 types of problems (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, human immunodeficiency virus-positive status, alcohol abuse, cocaine abuse, job impairment) to Employee Assistance Programs. More severe worker's…

A survey of 155 Canadian economics graduate students in 17 institutions found most came from high-income families and generally had leftist political attitudes. They share attitudes with U.S. economics graduate students more than with Canadian or U.S. professionals, and favor learning of technical skills over learning about institutions, history,…

A survey of 101 social sciences graduate students investigated their writing habits, attitudes toward writing, and productivity. Three distinct groups were identified--planners, revisers, and mixed strategy writers--each with differing productivity and perceptions of writing difficulty. (Author/MSE)

Summarizes results of a study offering both retrospective and prospective views of supervision, based on graduate students' definitions of supervision. Four emergent themes included the domains of supervision, supervisory tasks, supervisory relationships, and supervisor traits. Findings suggest that aspiring supervisors confuse administration with…

Presents evidence that conceptual and numerical multiple-choice questions effectively measure achievement in accounting courses for students with varying but basic English language skills, regardless of a student's native language. Well constructed multiple-choice questions are valid measuring devices for heterogeneous native-language groups.…

Describes a study that utilized a magnitude scaling approach to determine graduate students' perceptions of the relationship of 35 instructional attribute terms to the 4 motivational conditions from Keller's ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction) Model of Motivational Design. (29 references) (LRW)

Examines the impact of racial climate on the academic self-concept of minority (African American and Chicano) graduate students in the 1970s. It reports that minority females consistently lag behind males in views of academic self-concept and characterizes the graduate-school racial climate as having low trust and little interaction among groups.…