A program called OM (originally titled Olympics of the Mind), aimed at encouraging creativity in gifted and talented students via the industrial arts curriculum, is examined. Creative problem solving is discussed and examples of problems and format are included. Program effectiveness and public relations are described in detail. (CT)

Compares American and Chinese school-age (K-2) children's cooperative-competitive behavior using a puzzle completion task. No significant cultural differences between the two groups' cooperative and competitive behaviors were found. Variance analyses indicated that children in the higher grades performed more cooperatively than children in the…

A Massachusetts school faced with low teacher and student morale as a result of severe budget cuts initiated a year-long competitive program to improve school morale. The program was successful and virtually cost-free. (MD)

One of the consequences of recent changes in Czech society and education is that schools are more than ever expected to be able to gain support for their activities, searching for them over and above the regular extra-school grant resources. It seems that today's opportunities of grant and foundation support to Czech schools are quite varied. The…

The author forthrightly declares in this book of essays on school reform that teachers are no more saintly than anyone else, that poor schools should be closed and lousy teachers should be fired, that philanthropy may sometimes do more harm than good, that teaching experience is not essential to being a school principal, that schools should be…

This paper reviews the use of a segregation ratio in analyzing changes in the pattern of socioeconomic segregation between schools in England and Wales, addressing how the modifiable areal unit problem affects results. Researchers are developing methods for assessing socioeconomic stratification among school admissions and for comparing those…

This paper focuses on collaboration and cooperation as aspects of higher education in California, considering the three public systems and the independent sector. The context is the 40-year experience of growth and change in these 4 segments of higher education since the enactment of California's 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education. The first…

A study was conducted on the influence of female athletes' dispositional and situational tendencies on the selection of sources of sport confidence. It hypothesized that task orientation and perceptions of mastery climate would be positively associated with the selection of maladaptive or normative sources of confidence. Participants were 180…

Utility services (telecommunications, power, water, and gas) throughout the world were traditionally provided by large, usually state-owned, monopolies. However, encouraged by technological change, regulatory innovation, and pressure from international organizations, many developing countries are privatizing state-owned companies and introducing…

Effective academic advising is recognized as key to college student success and academic retention (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991; Mastrodicasa, 2001). There are at least seven different structural models for academic advising; each depends to a greater or lesser degree on a level of "engagement" by faculty in the process (Kramer,…

This quasi-experimental study evaluated the effects of levels of participation and award structure of science fairs on elementary students' attitudes toward science and interests in science. Fifth grade students participated in one of four science fairs: mandatory/competitive, mandatory/noncompetitive, voluntary/competitive, or…

This paper suggests that libraries are losing market share and can address external threats from competition through unique partnerships and technological innovation. The concepts of competition, technological discontinuities, and innovation are discussed. The following four projects at the Scholarly Communication Center (SCC) of the Rutgers…

This paper describes the United States' first public voucher program, which was launched in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1990. It discusses the three phases that school competition has undergone in the Milwaukee Public School (MPS) district. These phases are a period of minimal competition from 1990-95, the passage of new charter-school legislation…

Each year the Constitutional Rights Foundation creates a mock trial that addresses serious matters facing young people. This year the lesson confronts the recent shootings at U.S. schools and the subsequent criminal trials. The nature of such violence and its causes including unresolved peer conflict, questions of responsibility, peer pressure,…

In September 2002, the California Legislature adopted Supplemental Report Language (SRL) directing the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) to convene a task force to examine alternative delivery systems for the State's Cal Grant program. This report responds to that legislative request. The recommendations contained in this report…