Phenomenological study examined the social experiences of eight rural parents who stood up for their child at school. Main themes characterizing their experiences were: (1) parents know the teachers and principal; (2) it is common knowledge in the community whenever a child has a problem at school; and (3) what happens at school can change…

Explored the crisis of respect needed to establish authority in two urban public high schools. Data from observations and interviews indicated that in classrooms, battles for respect involved defending the dominant educational regime and control over the daily regimen of pedagogical practice. In corridors, students moved between mainstream…

Media ranking of colleges is often superficial and only further confuses families and prospective students. In addition, some colleges are excluding students to present a "selective" profile. Rationality in admissions can return, when parents and students become knowledgeable about the process, counselors interpret changes, and colleges give…

Behavioral correlates of social status and the relative importance of physical appearance, reputation, and current behavior in the assignment of social status by peers was assessed in 2 studies of elementary school students (68 and 119 students, respectively). Videotapes and photographs were used to compare popular, rejected, and neglected…

Examines how centrality in world science is affected by performance and reputation. This study uses surveys of academic researchers and literature in engineering to ascertain the surging Japanese and the relatively declining American research performance. Findings show that reputation outweighs performance as the United States continues to…

Pepperdine University's (California) 1980s fund-raising campaign was designed to raise overall institutional visibility, establish an image of quality education, improve institutional image in the business community, increase fund-raising momentum, and raise significant money for immediate capital needs. Theme, staffing, and advertising were key…

It is argued that colleges tend to have a high opinion of themselves and would be wise to learn how their various publics (community, business community, guidance counselors, college-bound students, parents, current students, alumni, staff) perceive them. Comparison with competitors and monitoring of change over time is also recommended. (MSE)

When recruiting high-powered scholars, colleges and universities must be able to offer not only good salaries but also such benefits as light teaching loads, new research facilities, jobs for spouses, and other aspects of an attractive lifestyle. Sometimes such job offers are used as leverage for increasing benefits at home institutions. (MSE)

Parents know adolescents can be cruel. They do not want their child rejected by peers. What is it like to be denigrated by one's middle school classmates? How common is a predatory anti-teacher peer culture in junior high school? Does it typically last into high school? How do peer norms of different crowds in a school get established? Who sets…

A widespread deeply held belief by law professors is that law reviews are unfairly prejudiced and biased in favor of papers from authors at higher ranked, or more prestigious, institutions. This article was born out of a desire to test a belief held by law professors that those individuals who have positions at higher ranked law schools receive…

In recent years the issue of how to fund an educational alliance, particularly at the tertiary level, has emerged as a complex and important issue. Previous research by Willis (2003) identified a range of funding sources available to Chinese and foreign universities to assist them to fund their various projects and activities in China, but did not…

The purpose of this study was to collect reliability and validity data on the School Characteristics Inventory (SCI), a quantitative measure based on Sternberg's (2000) theory of contextual modifiability. Data were collected from a national sample of middle school teachers and from teachers participating in a 3-year study investigating teachers'…

The present study tests the assumption that the stable vs. unstable character of the structural relationship between groups influences the type of bias to which differentiation may lead, and affects the likelihood of identification with one's ingroup. Study I was conducted in Canada with university students and Study 2 in two French high schools;…

Widely viewed today by many taxpayers, business leaders, and elected officials as inefficient, ineffective, bureaucratic, public education is losing its once-noble brand position as the cornerstone of American democracy. According to Laura Ries, a marketing guru, the first problem is the name, it is called public education. It is because the…

To gather data on attitudes related to the advisability of proposing a property tax increase to provide additional college support, Glendale Community College (GCC), in California, held four focus group meetings with classified employees. Following letters and electronic mail messages sent to all classified employees inviting them to participate,…