Student satisfaction with academic advisement was measured at eight community colleges employing four different advisement models. Comparison of satisfaction scores revealed significant differences among models and between full- and part-time students. No significant difference was found between two institutions using the same model or between…

Discusses the current state of instructional technology programs, highlighting two problems with a prescriptive approach to instructional design (ID): making ID entirely empirical by assuming finite and knowable instructional principles and the ultimate impossibility of using prescriptions in any procedural way. Explores why and what theory is…

Most upper-secondary schools in Norway are so-called combined schools, where vocational and general departments exist side by side. This paper investigates whether school characteristics affect academic students' performance. Academic performance is shown to deteriorate when the number of departments increases. There is an optimal department size,…

Discusses some conditions for understanding teaching as an act of responsibility towards others, rather than as an instrumental act identified through epistemology. Argues that in order to make teaching an ethical relationship between individuals, teachers must give up their position on the safe side of knowledge and participate in the risk…

Examines the development and implementation of a communication component of the general education curriculum at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Describes the model as incorporating a decentralized approach to teaching speech and writing. Details organizational and practical issues surrounding this major change in the undergraduate general…

A study of adults from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort found that four-year college graduates who transferred from community colleges have similar earnings to those who started at four-year colleges. Community college terminal degree students have better earnings than four-year college dropouts. Evidence of positive…

Ways to accommodate vocational electives in light of increased graduation requirements include eliminating early dismissal, offering earlier and later courses, offering required courses twice a day, minimizing schedule conflicts, allowing independent study, encouraging vocational/academic department cooperation, spreading graduation requirements…

Examines how, in the 1920s, policymakers and teachers in Buffalo (New York) designed and implemented a stratified curriculum as an outgrowth of the school district's character training program. They emphasized academics in higher- and middle-socioeconomic status elementary schools and character training in lower-status schools. (Author/BJV)

Among 852 Finnish high school students (20% academic, 80% vocational), those whose math study orientation style was confidence had higher math achievement. Those whose style was coping or anxiety tended toward lower achievement. Electrical engineering and business students were most confident, academic and handicrafts students least. (SK)

This article reviews 15 empirical studies in the area of academic skill improvement for students with behavior disorders being served in public school settings. The review addresses the nature of the samples, dependent variables, independent variables, and results. It concludes that the studies contain much useful information for practitioners and…

Examines the number and breadth of liberal arts courses offered in community colleges in various disciplines (i.e., English, fine and performing arts, humanities, mathematics, science, and social sciences) and enrollment in these areas. Shows how with rare exception course offerings and enrollments have remained consistent over the period 1975-91.…

Criticizes the emphasis of sports over academics at all levels of schooling, and the short length of the U.S. school year compared to that of other countries. Advocates minimum academic standards as a prerequisite for athletic participation, and students' choice of a college based on graduation rates rather than athletic achievement. (BC)

Christian fundamentalists must cease their scapegoating of outcome-based education, since churches, like other organizations, are goal oriented, and OBE is neither public education's devil nor its savior. Since finances are limited, schools should focus on the cognitive/academic domain and embed affective outcomes within it. Making…

Reviews the debate over the compatibility of education for academic degrees the competency-based approach required by Britain's National Vocational Qualifications. Considers problems in the definition of competence and the methods of assessment. (SK)

Studies the institutional characteristics and strategic choices of successful academies operating under the New York Regents system from 1838 to 1850. Identifies single-sex education and denominational affiliation as important for success. Suggests frameworks for investigating variations among the 19th-century academies and discusses implications…