Although minority-serving institutions (MSIs) educate nearly one fifth of the nation's college students, there is to date little research on MSI's return on investment (ROI). To address this, the University of Pennsylvania and Educational Testing Service commissioned four papers focusing on the ROI for MSIs, which were presented originally in…

Twelve articles (including two rounds of commentary) consider the proposition that the use of multi-item scales requires only that conditions of simple structure and metric invariance be satisfied at the scale level, rather than for each item individually. The place of the approach in confirmatory factor analysis is debated. (SLD)

The six chapters of this theme issue describe and discuss many complex factors affecting teacher education throughout the world. Following an overview, two chapters focus on external factors, two relate to design decisions in teacher education institutions, and one contains case studies to examine program designs in different countries. (SLD)

Contrasted three major theories on attitude change: cognitive dissonance, incentive, and social judgment. Results from student questionnaires provided little support for cognitive dissonance. Also provided credible, though overlapping, evidence for incentive and social judgment theories. Improvised role playing produced more change than did…

The conclusion that learning disabled children have a deficit in perceptual organization is not accepted because of two major methodological problems. Dean refutes this criticism showing that learning disabled children have a perceptual organization deficit when compared with emotionally disturbed children. (Author/BEF)

S. Graham comments on taking a meta-analytic approach to reviewing race differences in need for achievement, discussing limitations of the methodology. A rejoinder by H. Cooper and N. Dorr supports the utility of meta-analysis in such studies and discusses disadvantages to narrative review. (SLD)

The eight chapters of this theme issue describe studies of learning environments conducted in a variety of conceptual and methodological perspectives by researchers in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands. Studies reflect perspectives on conceptualizations of learning environments that range from objectivist to more…

Eight papers discuss issues comparing public and private education. New studies are included to emphasize the international dimensions of the public school versus private school debate, addressing national policies toward private education; research evidence comparing the effectiveness of public and private schools; and reasons for these…

Three studies are presented, which illustrate situations in which researchers and funders agreed on the primacy of either the experimental or pragmatic paradigms but acknowledged a role for the other. The studies involved evaluations of mental health care, information systems, and a curriculum for behavioral and academic dysfunction. (SLD)

Provides 35 articles that address such topics as black enrollment in higher education, declining black Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, abolishing race-based admissions in California, and the quality of doctoral programs at black universities. Several articles address educational financial support, the black experience at Ivy League colleges and…