Described are the camps, competitions, and tests of the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad. International competition, local exams, participating high schools, and national exams are highlighted. A summary of test results from the 1988 national examinations are presented. (CW)

Decentralization is usually accompanied by central state organizations' renewed efforts to control schools through managerialist policies and accountability processes. In New Zealand, such mechanisms have been adapted from "agency theory." This article examines the central tenets of agency theory, the New Zealand approach, and…

Faculty in 40 research university departments of physics, sociology, electrical engineering, and education were surveyed about their attitudes toward universities' competitive strategies (clever adaptation, sudden changes, elimination of less attractive units, entrepreneurial ventures). More productive, satisfied, and committed faculty were found…

Dimensions of Type A behavior were studied in 990 healthy Finnish adolescents; and conceptualization was clarified in terms of achievement striving, self-concept, and sense of control. The two independent dimensions identified are discussed in terms of healthy adjustment and social maladjustment. (SLD)

Project Athena is a $100 million, eight-year project to install a large network of high performance computer work stations for education and research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Organizational, legal, and administrative aspects of the project allow two competitors (Digital Equipment Corporation and IBM) to work together…

To help public schools experience free-market competition, Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander and President Bush propose parental choice among private, parochial, and public schools, supported by public financing for program design and tuition grants. Sidebars highlight church/state separation concerns and school choice experiments in…

Most higher-education institutions cannot compete with business/industry for information-technology (IT) workers, but can level the playing field by capitalizing on workers' desire for professional-development opportunities. Strategies include using the appeal of the institution's mission and as a training ground for future IT workers; redesigning…

Connecticut State University has achieved success in recruiting and retaining information technology (IT) workers through six strategies: modifying the administrative structure to make positions and salaries more attractive; grooming students for IT positions; promoting benefits of university employment; transferring state civil-service employees;…

Examines the changing environment for serving adult learners, with special attention to new modes of delivering instruction: distance education; use of information technology; emphasis on convenience; focus on special markets; and emergence of large-scale, profit-driven enterprises. Argues that, to develop an effective response, universities must…

Under British school-choice systems, parental perceptions of school quality motivate considerable pupil migration. Headteachers are cast into managerial roles stressing their ability to retain catchment populations and attract pupils from elsewhere. A South Wales study shows that school location and local environment figure prominently in a…

Defines case methods, a potentially valuable instructional tool for encouraging authentic, active learning. Describes an approach to the design and use of instructional design (ID) cases, and reports on the design and use of a Web-based ID case in a team case competition involving six universities. Team collaboration and competition were noted as…

Maintains that a proper understanding of the Augustin Cournot model of imperfect competition and strategic interactions among firms in various contexts is essential for economics education. Although most models rely on complicated algebra, this one requires nothing more than high school level geometry. Includes a graphical analysis. (MJP)

Some want schools reformed to produce high-performing future leaders. Others desire schools that teach students how to live, share, and serve others. Competition and high performance need not substitute for happiness, love, and service-values that counter America's culture of hyper-individualism, isolationism, and declining social/political…

Superintendents, principals, and teachers can no longer work in isolation or on parallel tracks. Leaders must be role models, engage in meaningful dialogue about children, and create new learning opportunities for the adults teaching them. Schools must cultivate talented leaders, not managers, to create what does not exist. (MLH)

During their elementary school years, many students develop a dislike for school. Their alienation is due partly to the school environment and discouraging educator behaviors. Children sense they are overly assessed and classified, arbitrarily promoted, confined to large groups, and bound to a routine work schedule that values competition and…