A survey of 1,127 college-bound African-American high school juniors investigated what help they had in the college choice process, how they described their preferred kind of college, their most important college choice criteria, their life goals, their perceptions of minority recruitment strategies, and their most desired college academic and…

Four studies of social work faculty publishing are reported, all using citation analysis. They examine national, local, and personal norms of citations as objective indicators of reputation, for full, associate, and assistant professors of social work, at graduate and undergraduate levels. (MSE)

Explores issues surrounding the revision of criteria used to conduct Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) surveillance in the United States. Current AIDS surveillance is not meeting public health needs to describe the number and characteristics of infected persons. Proposed revisions would increase the number of reported AIDS cases…

A discussion of authoring system technology is based on a review of 80 products. Alternative authoring approaches are described; assumptions underlying development of authoring systems and their use are examined; selection procedures and criteria sensitive to varied needs are suggested; and trends in software development, evaluation, marketing,…

The program on Institutional Management in Higher Education of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has been exploring international use of performance indicators for evaluating higher education institutions. The concept's historical context and evolution, findings of a task force, and importance of institutional context in…

Provides guidelines for selection of a local area network for a high school library and discusses network and equipment costs and computer requirements, including recommendations regarding monitors, printers, compact disk players, mouse devices, and computer architecture. A second article reviews new technology exhibited at a recent computer…

Discusses use of portfolios for student assessment. Suggests that such an ongoing collection of the student's best work will aid the teacher and the student in judging the quality of learning. Examines the purpose and design of the portfolio, storage containers, and evaluation. Emphasizes the need for communication and peer review in learning. (DK)

The processes and results of the University of Colorado at Boulder's streamlining of student services are outlined. The review and planning procedures included preparation of departmental annual reports, a revised academic services mission statement, a prioritizing programs exercise, a process exercise, budget reallocation recommendations,…

Three articles on evaluation cover the use of the Internet as a reference resource and raise network policy issues: "The Internet as a Reference and Research Tool" (Edmund F. Santa Vicca); "NREN Update, 1993: Washington Policy" (Carolyn S. Elliot); and "Evaluating Physical Science Reference Sources on the Internet"…

A study of 20 graduate medical students who received unfavorable evaluations and 20 who received the highest evaluations found little difference between the groups in medical school admission qualifications, overall academic achievement, or standardized test performance. Ratings appear to be the result of personal or motivational issues, not…

It is argued that, although assessment of colleges and universities can promote discussion and encourage improvement of college instruction, accountability serves only to further chill the regulatory climate without specifying needs or solutions. As currently conceived, accountability cannot receive widespread faculty support because it usurps…

Describes a study in progress that examines electronic journals within the context of the formal scholarly communication process and attempts to determine whether publication in electronic journals brings the expected rewards of research publication. The criteria for acceptable scholarly communication channels and the study's methodology and…

Provides details of the approval and renewal-revocation process for 11 different charter-school programs in the United States and the charter-school scheme of the Russian Federation. The authors also report on three New England schools that have no charter but manage to find ways to neutralize the inhibiting influence of bureaucracy. (GLR)

In the past decade, testing of young children has been excessive and inappropriate. Leftover IQ tests have been used to track children into ineffective programs or to deny them school entry. Prereading tests held over from the 1930s have encouraged the teaching of decontextualized skills. Assessment advocates must clearly demonstrate testing's…

A follow-up study of 148 medical school graduates investigated the predictive value of medical college admissions data for choice of a generalist career (family practice, general internal medicine, general pediatrics). Factors indicating a high orientation toward community service before medical school were found predictive of generalist choices.…