Gives examples of major sources of unreliability in multiple choice items in health professions classroom achievement tests (clues to response combinations, mutually exclusive alternatives, implausible distractors) and offers some suggestions for eliminating them when writing such tests. (MF)

Observes the changes in public education that occurred along the Wisconsin frontier. As the territory progressed, education changed from a winter-term only enterprise lead by male farmer/teachers to a full term lead by professionally trained women teachers. Identifies professionalization as the greatest influence on the feminization of teaching.…

Discusses the contentious relationship between educators within the former East Germany and their West German cohorts following reunification. The problems have stemmed from conflicting ideologies and traditions (Marxist versus Christian Democrat and Social Democrat) as well as differences concerning school organization and educational objectives.…

A University of Toronto effort to develop an accurate measure of affective characteristics in pharmacy school applicants to replace the interview resulted in development of a self-assessment instrument. It was found that a combination of overall grade point average, pharmacy college entrance examination verbal and reading scores, problem-solving…

A formal faculty development exercise designed to enable pharmacy faculty to solve instructional problems is described. Faculty were surveyed to identify and rate problems, and scenarios for each were developed. During a retreat, they discussed the scenarios and proposed solutions. After the retreat, both faculty and student leaders rated the…

Metropolitan universities with community service/outreach programs, especially when affiliated with a health sciences center, can use their capacity to develop intern or practicum programs and interdisciplinary approaches to public health to structure case management/follow-up more effectively than many social and public agencies can. This is…

Discovers distinct differences and a few similarities between men and women concerning values and expectations associated with employment. Women attach greater importance to intrinsic, altruistic, and social rewards. Earlier research suggested significant gender differences regarding extrinsic rewards; however, this category revealed no…

Describes a pharmaceutical mathematics and statistics course at the State University of New York at Buffalo that integrates traditional classroom instruction and Internet-based resources, including World Wide Web pages and individual and group electronic mail. The approach has enhanced communication and discussion among students and instructor,…

Comparison of 296 pharmacy practice faculty and 57 department heads concerning scholarship found differences between the groups in age, experience, tenure, and workload. Administrators found the department environment more supportive and resources more satisfactory than did faculty. The groups produced about the same amount of scholarly work.…

Compared success at Virginia Commonwealth University pharmacy school of native English-speakers and of students with other first languages, by assessing admissions data/test scores, pharmacy school science and math grades, English skills, and pharmacy grade point average (GPA). Found that first language was not predictive of either number of…

Over 200 pharmacy students in a University of Georgia class on the American health care system engaged in debates on health care issues, discussed newspaper articles, conducted client home visits, analyzed county health statistics, and completed exercises on pharmacists' compensation and health care planning. Most participating students responded…

A multidisciplinary faculty development project at Illinois State University increased faculty expertise about aging, integrated faculty knowledge into undergraduate courses, produced 50 instructional units, increased student knowledge about the rural elderly, generated faculty research on minority and poor elderly, established a multidisciplinary…

For a sample of 398 middle grade students in a rural area, found that youth from homes in which adults were employed in low-income occupations had lower levels of school achievement than other students and that youth from families in which neither parent had graduated from high school exhibited worse socioemotional and academic adjustment than…

A program for training health care students, including pharmacy students, to provide interdisciplinary community-based services in rural areas is described. Students participate in a course and a summer practicum, in which interdisciplinary student teams live in rural communities and work together to solve health care problems. (Author/MSE)

Examines problems faced by first year teachers, focusing on the shortage of well-qualified minority group beginning teachers. Recommendations for inducting and retaining an ethnically diverse teaching force are offered, emphasizing the roles of public school educators, university personnel, state legislators and agencies, and advocacy and…