Surveyed 596 fifth through seventh graders regarding their cigarette and alcohol behaviors, attitudes, knowledge. Approximately one third of the students were experimental users of these substances. Pro-smoking and pro-drinking attitudes were directly related to use. Knowledge about smoking and drinking were inversely related to use. (JAC)

Describes the profiling process developed by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory for gathering information about the academic achievement, social behavior, and attitudes of students that can be used as a basis for planning and implementing a school improvement program. (PGD)

The characteristics of one high school's effectiveness are summarized and the ingredients of its success outlined. Described as extremely important to the school are its commitment to educating students in democratic values and its attempt to practice the democratic ethos in governance, student activities, instruction, regulations, parent…

A substitute teacher advises regular teachers to support effective substitute teaching by maintaining a seating chart, leaving detailed lesson plans, grading work done in their absence, and training students to sit quietly awaiting class. (MJL)

A total of 174 elementary school teachers completed a survey soliciting responses to 40 statements about possible interventions with fictitious immature, perceptually handicapped, or unmanageable students. Favored interventions were those requiring teacher actions; less favored were actions directed by someone else. (RH)

A personal narrative that recounts difficult decisions a teacher must face and make in responding to student writing that communicates serious emotional or social problems. (CRH)

Relations between the social judgments and social behavior of 40 junior high school students were examined. Twenty of the students had engaged in disruptive behaviors that involved violations of classroom regulations and defiance of authorities. One year later, 13 of the 20 originally disruptive students no longer displayed disruptive behavior.…

Because of expanded social responsibilities and the increasing "rights" of disruptive students, the effectiveness of schools is being sabotaged, believes the author. He suggests that the disruption of a classroom be considered a serious infringement on the rights of students who wish to be educated. (Editor)

Describes the Safe Schools Study being conducted by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and offers suggestions for local educational administrators in confronting the problems of crime and vandalism in the schools. Available from: Security World Publishing Co., Inc., 2639 South La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, California 90034,…

The solo activity of watching television makes children function as passive receivers of ideas rather than creators; the teacher should counter this by encouraging team play and active involvement in group situations so that the child's ability to understand and communicate with others and to make value judgments is developed. (JD)

Describes a technique which minimizes the disruptive tendencies and maximizes the learning abilities of the problem child in the classroom environment. (Author/RK)

Based on work with university students and on the psychoanalytic literature on Separation-Individuation it is hypothesized that for certain students the university milieu becomes a surrogate family. Graduation is a trauma-ridden experience akin to expulsion from one's family and is often accompanied by regressive behavior and clinical depression.…

The effect of self-recording techniques on the frequency of disruptive classroom behavior was examined with 30 secondary school girls (13 and 14 years old). (IM)

Compares the game playing behavior of sixth-grade boys in free play in school yards and in formal physical education periods. The author concludes that play in the peer group context develops an egalitarian and consensual model concerned with means and that play in the adult-structured context fosters an authoritarian model concerned with ends.…

Before researchers can adequately establish empirical relationships between teacher behavior as an independent variable and student achievement as a dependent variable, when studying teacher effectiveness, they must deal with the problems of instrumentation, methodology, and statistics. (MM)