Examined maternal employment decisions after birth of first child. Findings from 164 new mothers revealed that occupational status, family income, role commitment, division of labor, and job stress distinguished mothers who returned to employment and those who stayed home throughout first year. Financial need was most important reason for…

Experimentally examines reorganization, a fundamental component of William T. Powers' theory of mind based on the control theory of behavior. Attempts to model reorganization, focusing on improvements in performance with practice and how practice influences attention. Speculates how outputs from higher levels of the control hierarchy are involved…

Studied the ability of 8- and 11-year olds, and college-age subjects, to allocate attention rapidly. Older subjects were better able to reallocate attention. The developmental change in the reallocation of attention appears to be continuous and quantitative. Improvement is linked to the ability to use active attentional strategies. (Author/GH)

Investigated the effect of computer programs that require the use of spatial skills on third and fourth graders' spatial ability. Students who used a software program that required rotation of objects scored better than other students on a measure of figural classification, but not on a measure of object rotation. (BC)

Administered an open-ended survey to 187 rural and urban tenth grade students in Minnesota. Students were asked to describe their community, state, nation, and world. Comparison of rural and urban students' responses revealed both similarities and differences. Discusses implication for rural education and rural education research. (Author/KS)

Eighty-five elementary and secondary teachers completed a questionnaire about the characteristics of gifted students. The perceptual differences identified were related to grade level taught and whether teachers had taken courses or workshops on gifted education. The paper concludes that teachers of the gifted need more grade-specific course work…

As a means of improving their writing skills, mostly African-American students from Elizabeth City State University gathered reports from African Americans in 16 northeastern North Carolina counties about extrasensory perception, contact with the dead, and other anomalous experiences and compared them to reports from Chinese students and students…

The traditional trustee-superintendent relationship is based on trustees' lack of direct access to knowledge and both parties' expectation that the paid expert (the superintendent) should do the work. This article calls for a drastically revised board-superintendent relationship and outlines new ways to recruit board members and move current…

Summarizes a case study revealing divergent judgments of a teacher career ladder in two junior high schools. Educators in the two sites strongly disagreed over how "reformed" tasks and responsibilities influenced instruction and student learning. A deductive case analysis disclosed individual/group dynamics embedded in group role perceptions.…

Political and economic realities in changing South Africa brought about restructuring of the nation's Department of Education and Culture. Using semistructured interviews with principals, this study attempted to determine how principals in one state-aided school perceived changes regarding their roles and tasks, staff structure, and internal…

This study, involving 44 boys (ages 10 to 16), found that exposure to sexual abuse prevention programs was associated with a lower perceived likelihood of being sexually abused, whereas discussion of child sexual abuse with parents was associated with a higher perceived likelihood. Results are attributed to emphasis on controllability of sexual…

Reviews current writing center debates about the peer tutor's role and authority. Presents three case studies investigating the ways in which first-time tutors and their clients enact role and authority in their tutorial relationships. (RS)

Teacher rankings were collected from 16 elementary teachers for 28 students with communication disorders and 28 nondisabled students who had the same achievement/ability indices. Results indicated that teachers trained in a collaborative model of service delivery were more accurate in their perceptions of ability levels for students with…

Inspired by observation of a teacher-designed management studies program at an Irish secondary school, this paper demonstrates that whole school improvement is possible only after staff have acquired proficiency in the disciplines required of learning organizations. Free of externally imposed syllabi, teachers were forced to rethink, relearn, and…

Investigated the understanding of gender stability on the part of Argentinean children aged three to nine years. Children were asked to explain effects of time, psychological trait, situation, and physical attribute transformations on their own gender and the gender of another child of same sex and one of opposite sex. Judgments of gender…