Study of students (n=546) from two colleges found selective college students procrastinated more. Academic procrastination was motivated by task aversion at selective college, by fear of task failure at nonselective college. Nonselective college procrastinators more often used both legitimate and nonlegitimate excuses. Excuses were self-generated…

Presents an instrument for planning for staff development to help identify how much teachers know about technology and its integration into the classroom. The Teaching with Technology Instrument's (TTI's) 46 items are grouped in three areas: writing and communication skills, information access and management, and construction and multimedia. The…

This article describes the activities of a national group of assistive technology professionals known as the Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology Services (QIAT) Consortium. The work of the Consortium is discussed and the current set of indicators is included. Processes used in the development of the indicators are described. (Contains…

This reaction to an article (Bailey, 2001) that describes three potential levels of accountability for providing family support in early intervention and preschool programs, recommends helping all family members of children with disabilities, helping parents identify programs in the community, and identifying the most appropriate professionals for…

Discussion of Web-based online public access catalogs (OPACs) focuses on a review of six Web OPAC interfaces in use in academic libraries in the United Kingdom. Presents a checklist and guidelines of important features and functions that are currently available, including search strategies, access points, display, links, and layout. (Author/LRW)

A project to improve students' essay writing on a first-year college geography course is described. Students attended a preparatory workshop in which they helped to generate criteria, and self and peer assessment were supervised and regulated. Project success was evaluated based on analysis of marks, student feedback, and staff opinion.…

It is argued that research testing the reliability and validity of college and university reputational studies should be conducted, a concern not raised by consumers and publishers. Two studies of "America's Best Colleges," published by "U.S. News and World Report," raise questions about the guide's validity and suggest that…

Describes a study at Louisiana State University that described the criteria mentioned by users evaluating the information within documents as it related to the user's information need situation. Implications for understanding the concept of relevance, for the design and evaluation of information retrieval systems, and for future research are…

Surveyed stakeholder groups in the New Zealand university system to determine each groups' criteria for measuring university library performance. Compared responses of resource allocators, senior library staff, other library staff, academic staff, and graduate and undergraduate students, and found that the groups have different perspectives on…

A highly individualized admissions process allows Essex Community College (Maryland) to identify talented and motivated students whose prior academic work might make them ineligible for honors at other institutions. The curriculum is designed around innovative honors sections of regular courses that challenge students intellectually and help…

Explores relevance issues for elementary school children through the use of think-aloud, shadowing, and participant observer techniques as they searched electronic resources for a class assignment in a school library. Describes types of electronic resources used, identifies relevance criteria applied for textual and pictorial information, and…

Reviews major issues germane to the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) case. Discusses the second wave of Texas standards-based reform that would institutionalize retention for students failing a state-mandated achievement test, proposed federal legislation limiting use of high stakes tests, and psychometric and policy lessons learned from…

Accreditation of specialized college programs would be improved by increasing communication and specific reform agendas; longer intervals between comprehensive self-studies; improved site-visit and accreditation-decision teams; greater consistency; opportunities to form new accrediting agencies; easing documentation burdens; measuring quality by…

This article describes a gifted program that identified students after entry into the program. Students are judged suitable for gifted education after having had opportunities to develop and exhibit behaviors within a gifted classroom. The result has been student opportunities and achievements that span the chasm between excellence and equity.…

This article comments on two studies (EC 629 876) that investigated the validity of a set of 15 general growth outcomes (GGOs) for identifying young children with disabilities. It discusses concerns relating to whether the research is sufficiently meritorious to result in a valid measure of growth outcomes suitable for national use. (Contains 4…