Examines reasons for early school dropout among high school students and their plans to resume their education. Dropout data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 reveal various reasons for dropping out that include school-related, family-related, and job-related causes, as well as influences from peers and residential mobility.…

An international research project investigated the role of principals in developing and supporting information -literate school communities. Principals and teacher-librarians completed three surveys examining their perceptions/beliefs about their current and future roles, and views on such concerns as strengths and challenges of the school…

An English for academic purposes needs survey conducted at a Canadian university among first-year Bachelor's and Master's level students reveals native speakers (NS) and nonnative speakers (NNS) of English perceive that the language skills necessary for academic study are of different levels of difficulty. English language difficulties appear to…

Social work students (n=57) enrolled in two University of Georgia graduate-level practice courses were exposed to approximately equal amounts of live, in-class instruction, and two-way interactive televised instruction. Post-course evaluations significantly favored live instruction over televised distance learning. More empirical research…

Examined friendship among 160 African American, Latino, and Asian American ninth graders from low-income families. Found significant gender and racial/ethnic differences in the characteristics and quality of close and general friendships. Correlates of friendship quality varied across the type of friendship and across gender. (Author/KB)

Describes the experiences of Rhode Island's Higher Education Library Information Network (HELIN) Consortium in purchasing electronic journals and databases. Discusses criteria and guidelines developed to help in the decision making process, including coverage, indexing, search features, help features, screen design, full text availability,…

Examines and compares five available computer programs intended for self-instruction in Italian, focusing on their attention to learning strategies and personalized learning pace. Content, format, and other features of each are noted. General issues discussed include overall organization, cultural content, sequencing, exercise types, and ancillary…

Controlling for precollege aptitude and other influences, a study found male intercollegiate football and basketball players tended to have significantly lower levels of second-year writing skills and third-year critical-thinking and reading-comprehension skills than nonathletes and athletes in other sports. There was little evidence of similar,…

This cross sectional study used verbal protocol analysis to compare the temporal distribution of formulation processes of Spanish English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) writers composing first and second language (L1, L2) argumentative texts. Studied three groups at different levels of second language proficiency. Results showed the same total…

The difference in gain scores produced by traditional pretests and those produced by retrospective pretests when compared to posttest scores on the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument for preservice teachers was investigated in this study. Results indicated that gain scores using the traditional pretest produced significant improvement in…

This exploratory case study investigates relationships between use of an inquiry-based instructional style and student scores on standardized multiple-choice tests. The study takes the form of a case study of physical science classes taught by one of the authors over a span of four school years. The first 2 years were taught using traditional…

This article investigates attitudes toward seeking mental health treatment in a national epidemiological sample. Young adults reported the most negative attitudes, as compared to older adults. Males reported more negative attitudes, as compared to females, a consistent finding in young adults. The gender difference was not consistent in Latinos…

This study examined the role of religious orientation and social support in health-promoting behaviors of African American college students. Data were collected from 211 students attending a historically Black university. Results from a 4 x 2 MANOVA revealed significant main effects for both variables. No interaction effects were observed. Post…

The primary aim of this study was to determine whether naturalistic, interpersonal contact with persons with a severe mental illness (SMI) could reduce stigma. Participants from the agency Compeer (which pairs volunteers with people with SMI) were compared to volunteers from a control agency and to nonvolunteer participants from the community on…

The present study investigated the relation between executive functioning and symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) in children aged 4-6. A population-based sample (n = 201) was used and laboratory measures of inhibition, working memory and verbal fluency and teacher ratings of…