Presents the results of the 1988 Books for Young Adults Poll. Includes the 31 most popular reading choices of Iowa and Illinois high school students. Provides brief summaries and publication information on books in the following categories: contemporary realism; historical fiction; science fiction; nonfiction; and adventure, mystery, suspense. (MM)

Surveyed 491 Arkansans concerning attitudes toward suicide. Over one-half of respondents knew someone who had committed or tried to commit suicide; 69 percent did not believe person has right to commit suicide; 71 percent believed normal persons would not commit suicide. Attitudes and experiences with suicide and suicidal people were…

A mail survey of 1,524 adult residents of Pennsylvania cities found positive images of rural places and a desire to preserve rural areas and lifestyles. Recreational visiting of rural areas by urban people was related to age, gender, education, income, and the desire for rural preservation. Social visiting was related to support for rural…

Analyzes adoption information from courts, social service agencies, and bureaus of vital records for 1991 and 1992. Finds that adoptions by step-parents constitute nearly half of all adoptions, and that individually arranged adoptions are likely to be by relatives. Suggests that the information provided constitutes a baseline for measurement of…

Examines the level of trust the general public has in competing sources of technical information. Survey data collected for 5 studies over a 12-year period indicate consistency in trust levels for sources of technical information. Specific environmental issues do not appear to change how the public perceives information providers. (LZ)

Discussion of staff loyalty to library directors highlights guidelines for directors to sustain loyalty and support, including choosing the appropriate management style, developing trust, and supporting staff by encouraging input and helping them reach their professional potential. Results of a survey of Missouri state academic libraries that…

Reports the results of the first large-scale public opinion survey on adoption. Found that 52% of adults surveyed favored open adoption, the arrangement in which an adopted child and the adoptive parents keep in contact with the adopted child's biological parents. (MDM)

This article is based on a survey of educational diagnosticians working in Texas for the 2001-02 school year. The Executive Board of the Texas Educational Diagnosticians' Association (TEDA) developed the comprehensive survey that contained over 50 items. Only three items were related specifically to the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS)…

Every other year, comprehensive school health education programs and policies are assessed nationally using the School Health Education Profile (SHEP) survey (Grunbaum et al., 1998). The data are collected in modules that are completed by different stakeholders within the school system. As part of a cooperative agreement with the Centers for…

This article examines support for school bonds among minority group members in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, which includes the city of Charlotte. A survey was conducted shortly after a bitter court case and shortly before a proposed bond referendum. Support for bonds in the minority community was fairly moderate. Support was not related to…

This report marks the second release of library statistics data from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). It contains data on state library agencies in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for state fiscal year (FY) 2007. The data were collected through the State Library Agencies (StLA) Survey, the product of a cooperative…

The California Report Card provides a clear, complete and concise picture of the state of the state's children along with recommendations for how we can better support our children through new and improved public policies. It assigns letter grades to such key indicators as health insurance, oral health, asthma, mental health, infant health,…

As part of its work in developing an accountability framework for higher education, the Commission conducted an analysis of college-going rates in California. This analysis showed that: (1) California has serious inequities in access to higher education. College-going rates vary greatly depending on students' ethnicity, gender, and the type of…

Guided by the social network perspective, this study examined the structural properties of the state reading policy domain using network visualization tools: sociograms and multidimensional scaling scattergrams. The authors' graphic exploration of eight state reading policy networks produced rich insights about the density and the overall…

Since 1995, efforts to prohibit affirmative action have intensified, perhaps most strikingly in higher education. In 1996, California voters adopted Proposition 209 (Prop. 209), an amendment to the state constitution that banned both discrimination and affirmative action programs that give preferences to groups or individuals based on their race,…