Cooperative learning could transform our schools, our communities, and our society. Reexamining classroom reward structures and implementation strategies could provide opportunities for reflecting on content, harmonizing content and process, coordinating cooperative learning with other classroom values, empowering teachers and students,…

Merit pay replicates Reaganomics by breeding competition between entrepreneurs who design their own teaching and research in direct response to the merit pay system. It also breeds cynicism and discourages faculty service to the institution. (MSE)

Re-examines the concept of academic failure and competition. Ideally, education should endeavor to find and develop each individual's strengths, rather than hammer away at academic weaknesses. Schools should help the individual master the basic skills for surviving and functioning well in society. Grades and competition do not further these goals.…

Discusses ways to interest students in reading and describes a variety of informal book competitions suitable for elementary and secondary school library media specialists as well as public librarians to use. A more formal structure is described for "Battle of the Books," suitable for older students. (seven references) (LRW)

A study of 15 Messiah College (Pennsylvania) courses that students rated exemplary for testing looked at external and internal characteristics that distinguished them. External characteristics included class size, grading patterns, course type, and teacher experience. Internal factors included teaching and evaluation strategies. Lack of peer…

Reviews, from a management accountant and funding council chief executive's perspective, relationship among (British) funding council models for competitive funding of higher education institutions, resource management, and quality assessments of teaching and learning. Posits a constrained funding environment for the rest of the 1990s. Concludes…

The privatization of public schools in Buenos Aires during the mid-1800s provides a case to test the functioning of educational markets and the relationship between private and public education supply. Private education in Buenos Aires developed within a favorable framework from 1820 to 1860. Privatization produced a competitive environment that…

Borland and Howsen (1992) showed that public schools' market structure affected academic performance. This paper examines the effects of neighboring school districts' performance on that of six metropolitan Ohio school districts, modeling student achievement as a function of control variables and competition from neighboring school districts.…

Discusses developments in the three largest consumer online services, CompuServe, Prodigy, and America Online. Highlights include competition, strategic planning, service fees, access to information, graphics, price wars, content development, and interface improvement. (AEF)

Information needs of the business community vary depending on size and type of business, competitive environment, state and local support, managerial expertise, and other factors. Discussion includes ways libraries meet these diverse needs, including the offering of fee-based information services. (Author/AEF)

Discusses the current state of Canadian high schools. Examines the goal of competitiveness as a national policy and the debate over the purposes of education. Explores (1) a greater emphasis on basic subjects; (2) the use of performance indicators; (3) the demand for accountability; and (4) dropout rates. Argues that an economic agenda for…

Proposals to make major changes in the membership structure of the National Collegiate Athletic Association have been divisive. Advocates for women's sports, particularly frustrated by scholarship and coaching staff cuts, want to make federal antidiscrimination compliance a top issue. Delegates used a new electronic voting system. (MSE)

By committing to the development of partnerships between businesses and their institutions, board members will reinforce higher education's role in making the country competitive again. The result will be a nation whose workers are continuously educated and a university whose role in workforce development is more widely understood and valued.…

Summarizes the discussion issues from Canada's Prosperity Initiative: (1) Learning for the Future relates to developing a learning culture, school-to-work transition, and enrollment in math, science, and technology; and (2) The Competitive Challenge addresses new technology, financing growth, a competitive domestic market, and building…

As success of one Toyota-managed auto plant shows, U.S. workers can produce as effectively and competitively when given good, work-specific training and a well-managed environment. By blaming their own faltering performance on inadequate work force skills, the nation's top chief executives have found a cheap, convenient way to scapegoat U.S.…