When features of the "excellence" and "choice" movements in education are compared, these two orientations appear dissimilar. This article shows how the two can be united by broadening the definition of excellence so that all schools become schools of choice. Choice, then, becomes an ingredient in the pursuit of excellence. (VM)

Improvement in the research climate in children's librarianship is needed. There must be a determined demand for research, financial and job support for researchers, improvement in the research techniques for studying children, and implementation of actual research projects. Particular concerns include research on reading, school/public library…

Five librarians considered authorities on quality cataloging in the OCLC Online Union Catalog were interviewed to obtain their views on the current level of quality control in the OCLC database, the responsibilities of OCLC and individual libraries in improving the quality of records, and the consequences of quality control problems. (CLB)

Research indicates that students achieve better when teachers have a wide array of skills and adapt these skills to different contexts. Teachers differ on how they perform these instructional behaviors. This article shows that attempts to improve student achievement must be based on the development of more effective teaching behavior. (Author/VM)

A recent study found that kindergartens in Ohio have become skill-based, academically oriented programs that young children can fail. Children are not the only victims; many teachers, principals, and supervisors are experiencing stress resulting from the increasing emphasis on academics in kindergarten programs. Parental and societal aspirations…

The Foundation Center is a non-profit, independent organization formed and funded by grant-makers to keep track of how foundations use their money and to make the information available to the public. It will soon expand to publishing books to increase public understanding of philanthropy, develop electronic communication and computer-based…

Comments on the emerging concept in education of teacher malpractice, and identifies ten ways that teachers can be assured of entertaining a lawsuit in situations involving academic injury to students. (NKA)

A primary reason for the poor quality of university management is that administrators have not been held strictly accountable for their performance. A triadic format between mediating personnel, superiors, and subordinates is proposed, which can be used to hold administrators accountable for their performance. (MLW)

The University of Montpelier I's 1969 statutes permitting maximum autonomy for the faculties of law and economics, medicine, and pharmacology resulted in a well-established division between the university's constituent parts and an unwillingness to pool resources to effect savings. (MSE)

Considers disadvantages of the product-oriented, teacher accountability movement. Claims that mastery learning, academic learning time, direct instruction, and other measures of teacher effectiveness emphasize training at low cognitive levels and overlook educating the whole child. Recommends that more humanistic processes be used to determine and…

Principalship need not be a futile attempt to satisfy the demands of many different parties. Rather, a climate of cooperation can be established through mutual teacher/administrator support. (DCS)

Educators are studying Northeast Missouri State University's "value-added" assessment programs, designed to measure how students are progressing in gaining specific intellectual skills. Its main feature is a series of tests that all students must take on entering the university and at the end of the sophomore year. (MLW)

To develop more businesslike practices and improve its relations with the community, the North Clackamas (OR) School District in 1983 established a business-advisory task force. This article describes that task force's objectives, membership, and procedure and several projects it has undertaken. (MCG)

One of the major reasons legal costs are sky-rocketing in higher education is that colleges and universities aren't doing enough to oversee properly what they're being charged. Some advice for trustees and administrators in planning legal operations is presented. (MLW)

Suggests that accountability in religious education is limited to the attainment of precise agreed-upon objectives. Recommends that students participate in the process of specifying objectives and that teachers state objectives in terms of measurable student outcomes. (DMM)