Analyzes the mass media's role in creating a more competitive environment for schools following England's Education Reform Act. The media were supposed to help increase parental expectations and disseminate consumer information. Commercial motivations proved equally important. Schools received unprecedented attention, and the media became an…

Describes practices, programs, and policies that colleges and universities can use to collaborate on student recruitment, using the experience of the Greater Cincinnati Consortium of Colleges and Universities (Ohio) as illustration. Collaborative projects include development of written materials, recruitment events, presentations, joint trips or…

Examined Chinese kindergartners' play skills and, three years later, subjects' abilities to cooperate in competitive games. Found that although Chinese children conversed more than their American counterparts, who spent more time in social play, social contact scores were nearly identical across groups. Although social play strongly influenced…

Preferences for competitive and cooperative learning were explored in 176 gifted students (ages 9-17). A factor analysis partitioned competitive items into a desire to outperform others and as an energizing factor for learning. Different motivational correlates of cooperative/competitive factors also suggested the validly of a differentiated…

Discusses evolutionary stages in the education establishment's reaction to charter schools: stopping them cold, keeping them few and weak, competing with them, and accepting and using them. Charters are not revolutionary. They embody three time-tested features: community rootedness; resemblance to magnet and alternative schools; and institutional…

Investigates two links in the quasi-market for English secondary schools: (1) the link between attracting students to a school and financial rewards; and (2) the link between changes in student roll and the educational performance and social background of the students already at the school. Addresses the findings in detail. (CMK)

Discusses the process of corporate environmental learning whereby organizations learn to integrate environmental issues with business strategies. Examines the different ways organizations can learn to respond to environmental issues, the inputs to the learning process, and possible consequences of their actions using the theoretical framework of…

Discusses the merits of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)/Toshiba ExploraVision competition, one of the world's largest international science competitions. Gives teams of three to four students the opportunity to use imagination and other skills to create a vision of technology in the future. (DDR)

Arizona's "exemplary" charter-school legislation illustrates how three underlying ideologies (antibureaucracy, market-based education, and teacher professionalism) play out in practical terms. Although Arizona charter schools are achieving stability via independent financial status and real-time funding, many have monitoring…

Asserts that designing public policies that effectively balance the competitive needs of the university sector with the public interest is a complex issue, and presents a general framework for analyzing these regulatory policy issues. Illustrates the framework with policies from Europe and the United States. (EV)

Because educators have unrealistic expectations about tests, they use them inappropriately and draw inaccurate conclusions from results. This article debunks five myths about test-score comparisons: valid measurement of school quality; declining international competitiveness; "fixing" schools with more tests; development of new, improved…

Discusses how open computer network architecture, along with the browsing capabilities of the World Wide Web, facilitates the dissemination of public information. Competitive markets will be created as those from the private sector package electronic information with value added. Copyright law and information pricing policies are outlined, and…

Three studies investigated the determination of social discrimination by the valence of stimuli that are allocated between groups. The studies were based on either the minimal group paradigm or a more reality-based laboratory intergroup setting, with stimulus valence, group status, and group size as factors and with pull scores on Tajfel matrices…

Discusses the need to think of public libraries as businesses rather than as functions of society. Topics include keeping old customers and attracting new ones; taxes; competition from the private sector; the use of technology; training people to use technology; mission statements; library services; and marketing. (LRW)

Discusses policies that regulate what types of academic activities faculty can engage in outside the institution in light of the proliferation of distance education courses that provide faculty with the potential for teaching online courses through other institutions or corporations. Considers competition and the changing market for higher…