Suggests alternatives to traditional methods of "dispensing" higher education to lifelong learners, focusing on changing teacher responsibilities, older college students, crediting experiential learning, extending services to private and public agencies, and learning contracts. Cites two examples of using contract learning. (JM)

Faculty and student ratings of improvement, taken late in a semester, were more positive for faculty participants in a teaching improvement program than for nonparticipants. A follow-up study of program users after one or more semesters substantiated these results, with apparent and durable improvements observed. (Author)

Down's syndrome adolescents were compared with age- and I.Q.-matched non-Down's syndrome retardates on a two-point finger tapping task. Results supported the hypothesis that Down's syndrome retardates show a deficit in developing and utilizing preprogramed motor sequences. (CM)

A comparison of observed classroom behavior, tonic and phasic physiological arousal level, and task performance of 98 male and female first-grade children revealed sex differences in only 3 of 18 variables. Many assumed sex differences may be negligible and teachers' expectations may influence their perceptions. (SB)

A combination of Eastern philosophy and cybernetics leads to a method of improving athletic skills (especially basketball) which is based on the theoretical basis of Maltz's philosophy of successful goal attainment. The method is relevant to the total educational process and to counselors. (SB)

Reports an attempt by Purdue University to establish a committee to investigate teaching abilities of the graduate teaching associates in the School of Science and to establish and implement recommendations. Their model is described with the intent of making it useful to other colleges and universities. (SA)

The association between an attitudinal/motivational factor and the acquisition of French oral proficiency is discussed. Eighty-nine Canadian students were satisfied with the intensive French language program while the 65 Americans were not. The sociocultural background of the student plays a major role in the development of attitudes. (PMJ)

Gifted and nongifted children in grades 4 to 6 judged the importance of intelligence, creativity, and personal-social characteristics in teachers' classroom behavior. All children, regardless of intelligence, creativity, sex, or age, valued the intelligence domain of teacher behavior much more than the other two. (Author/RD)

Eight performance review interview characteristics were related to seven interview outcomes. Two hundred seventy nursing personnel described their last review interview. Five of the interview characteristics were related to most of the outcomes. Implications are drawn for conducting performance appraisal interviews. (Author/SJL)

When 64 college students were randomly assigned to one of four self-concept treatment conditions and given a paired-associate learning task, the mean task performances for the raised self-concept, therapeutically lowered self-concept, and control groups were equal to one another but superior to the performance of the counter-therapeutically…

A study to determine the effectiveness of the personalized system of instruction format used in the introductory economics course at Empire State College is reported. Also addressed are the ability of adult students in the personalized system to learn as much as students in conventional settings, and the explaining and predicting of adult…

Student ratings on general, broad questionnaires about instructors are shown to lack validity to the extent that the ratings can be predicted from irrelevant characteristics, such as characteristics that belong to the student, the particular class, or interactions of the student and the class. (Author/JKS)

This study examined the association between selected family characteristics and some gross motor traits of children diagnosed as either educable mentally retarded or minimally brain-injured. (MM)

In a study 12 normal children and 12 reading disabled (word recognition difficulties) children (mean age 9.2 years) were compared for reading and listening comprehension to test whether disabled readers, given an auditory presentation, would show comprehension of material comparable to that of normal readers given visual presentation. (PHR)

Fifth- through twelfth-grade students completed a causal attribution questionnaire and were asked to choose one of three games to play. Students who attributed their own success on achievement tasks to ability, effort, or luck were more likely to prefer to perform tasks that were compatible with such beliefs. (Author/RD)