Noting social and demographic changes provoking a trend toward openness in adoption practice, this book presents the findings from a nationwide study examining the impact of variations in openness in adoption on participants in the adoptive kinship network: adopted children, adoptive parents, and the children's birth parents. The first chapter of…

To better monitor children and families served by state child welfare agencies, Congress authorized matching funds for the development of statewide automatic child welfare information systems (SACWIS) and required that U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) compile information on children served by state agencies. This report to…

A pediatrician who has had extensive experience examining and treating adopted children offers a number of suggestions for helping parents understand the medical aspects of the adoption process. (CS)

The authors presented a questionnaire to students at the beginning of a family life and sex education course. Attitudes of male and female students about such issues as the following are compared and discussed: reasons for course enrollment, attitudes on nonmarital intercourse, intent to marry, and opinions about virginity of peers. The authors…

The Tokyo Conference featured more of an acceptance of established theory, agreement on broad programs, and consolidation of approaches. It also made clear the fact that governments now take, and expect to take a much greater responsibility for adult education. (Author/RK)

Provides an overview of a longitudinal, prospective, multivariate adoption study of behavioral development and discusses the results of analyses of cognitive measures and environmental assessments as examples of the types of information that can emerge from a design of this sort. (Author/RH)

Why do teachers resist change? Major discrepancies exist between what policymakers believe about teachers, innovation, and classroom practice and what teachers believe about these things. A major void in theorizing about change and innovation is the failure to attend to the power relationship inherent in the implementation process. (BRR)

Presents an overview of diffusion theory and the attributes of innovations and their adopting units, as well as the methodology and results of a study designed to increase understanding of innovative behavior by investigating perceptions of both adopters and nonadopters of the consumer-oriented videotex service, Channel 2000. (EAO)

This report on current uses of microcomputers in instruction at Palatine High School, a suburban Chicago public secondary school, presents and discusses the results of a survey of the high school's faculty concerning their use of microcomputers as instructional aids. Differences among academic departments are outlined. (JL)

Although needed reforms of the social studies curriculum have been identified, recommendations for procedures for achieving these reforms are lacking. The author offers practical and simple steps to take in three areas: scope, sequence, and classroom realities. (Author/JM)

This report on the introduction of microcomputers into a secondary school in a Chicago suburb briefly describes the setting for change and discusses the history of computers in the school, the emergence of change agents, microcomputer hardware selection, inservice teacher training, and the current status of the project. (MER)

Human factors will determine whether technology in school business offices will succeed or fail. Procedures are suggested for introducing new office technology. (Author/MLF)

Through cooperation among a number of provincial agencies to facilitate centralized management, coordination, and implementation, 100 microcomputers have been placed in British Columbia public school classrooms. Project rationale, psychological barriers, inservice field support for teachers, hardware and software acquisition and testing, and…

Successful curriculum implementation must be deliberate, planned, and supervised. Characteristics affecting the success of curriculum innovations include the degree of change from the status quo, complexity, explicitness, practicality, and comparative advantage of the curriculum. Teachers' personalities, comprehension, and willingness to…