A content analysis was conducted of 203 editorials from the "Daily Oklahoman" from the first six months of the 1980 presidential campaign. The analysis was based on two assumptions: (1) the tone of the 1980 presidential campaign essentially was set after only six months of official campaigning, and (2) the "Daily Oklahoman"…

The decisions President Richard Nixon and his closest advisors made in the Watergate coverup were products of what Irving Janis calls "groupthink." Groupthink, a type of decision-making emphasizing unanimity over objective evaluation, develops when the decision makers (1) form a group of marked cohesiveness, (2) insulate themselves from…

The purpose of this chapter is to suggest outlines of a preventive law practice, raise issues, and provoke further thought and discussion concerning the application of preventive law principles and techniques to the management and operation of educational systems. The theory of preventive law and some of its premises are examined in order to…

Regional Educational Laboratories were created in the early 1960s as a federally funded link between research and development efforts in education and school districts. The labs were conceived to be sensitive to the practical needs of administrators and teachers for educational innovations that could be implemented locally. However, over a quarter…

This paper examines the extent to which the potential exists for state education committees to become an integral part of the subgovernment process. Four general criteria were evaluated: (1) committee jurisdictional responsibility for education policy; (2) continuity of membership on committees; (3) the extent of representation of those…

The background of New Zealand's Taskforce to Review Education Administration (the Picot Taskforce) which reported its findings and proposals in May 1988 is outlined. Described are the intended radical devolutions of power, resources, and responsibilities to institutions. The paper foreshadows the replacement of the Department of Education by a new…

Delay of gratification, or the ability to endure self-imposed barriers to achieve particular goals, was tested through a series of surveys given to 151 white undergraduates in an introductory psychology course at a university in the southwestern United States. The study examined the multidimensionality of delay of gratification and was concerned…

The development of a community school as a joint project of Queens College, the Louis Armstrong Middle School (I.S. 227), and the New York City Central Board of Education is described in this book. The contents of the book's eight chapters are as follows: (1) an introduction providing background material; (2) a discussion of the foundation on…

Incentive pay plans for teachers are either planned or underway in 37 states; at least 10 states tie improvements in student performance to teacher evaluation criteria. Legislatures and school boards have mandated these criteria despite educational researchers' and test specialists' warnings concerning teachers' incomplete control over learning,…

A study examined differences in the language of direct mail advertising used by political campaigns at different levels--national state, and local. Seventeen direct mail fund-raising political campaign letters were content analyzed with Wiseman and Schenck-Hamlin's typology of compliance-gaining techniques, language style and readability. The…

The booklet contains brief information on 10 March events celebrated by Puerto Ricans: the passage of the Jones Law which gave United States citizenship to Puerto Ricans; the founding of the Girl Scouts on March 12, 1912; Saint Patrick's Day on March 17; Passover; and the birthdays of Pachin Marin (designer of the Puerto Rican flag), Alexander…

Brief information is given on 12 February events celebrated by Puerto Ricans: Groundhog Day; Candlemas; St. Valentine's Day; Mardi Gras; Ash Wednesday; Black History; and the birthdays of Thomas Alva Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, Julia de Burgos, Luis Munoz Marin, and George Washington. Designed as a teacher resource, the booklet…

Focusing on current scholarship in the evolving field of political communication, this publication is organized in three sections. Part 1, "Current Perspectives on the Spiral of Silence," features essays by Charles T. Salmon and F. Gerald Kline, Klaus Merten, Carroll J. Glynn and Jack M. McLeod, and a response by the theory's original…

To provide a deeper look into the American political system that so intrigued the visiting French statesman Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831 and 1832, this monograph focuses on the role of the press in American politics in the the age of Jackson, the 1820s and early 1830s--a period of dramatic and substantive political party growth. In particular,…

This study was conducted to determine the reading difficulty of commonly available, mass political literature, thereby to determine the reading level necessary to comprehend the bulk of these materials. Material was sampled from three issues of each source--three newspapers and three magazines--during convention and election time periods. To…