Traditional approaches to defining academic quality (reputational, resources, and outcomes or value-added) are criticized as not providing useful information. An alternative perspective is offered, focusing on fundamental course-level academic processes and defining the quality of such processes as the level of understanding of course content…

Used the Revised Class Play to assess dimensions of peer reputation among two cohorts of ninth-grade, inner-city students. Found that popularity, isolation, aggressive/disruptive reputation, and prosocial orientation generally showed expected patterns of associations with students' adjustment, with the exception that aggression was linked with…

The University of Phoenix, once belittled as providing "McEducation" and branded a diploma mill, has garnered respect among higher education professionals. The school is attracting increasing numbers of adult students for its practical approach and 64 locations in 10 states and Puerto Rico, and is a financial success. The heavy use of…

In early 1997, over 100 University of California, Hayward faculty members signed a statement of concern about the heavy use of part-time faculty as lecturers. Professors fear that increased use of lecturers threatens tenure, hurts quality of education, and reduces departmental continuity. Part-time faculty are generally treated as a different…

Used the Revised Class Play measure to examine measurement of peer perceptions of behavioral reputation in elementary, middle, and high school environments. Found that data did not fit the original 3-factor structure; cross-loading of items and different patterns of association between subscales across age groups contributed to poor fit.…

To develop and validate a framework for assessing academic program quality, national data from the fields of computer science and electrical and mechanical engineering were examined. Results, which are evaluated from four perspectives of quality assessment, support the notion that single-variable or single-dimension concepts of quality are…

Consequences for institutional quality when playing the Prestige Game are examined. Six behaviors that characterize participation in the Prestige Game are identified: recruiting star faculty, tightening admissions standards, raising tuition, reforming curriculum, building partnerships with business, and institutional imaging. (MLW)

A total of 60 boys in second, fourth, and sixth grades participated in a study of the development of children's situational attributions and dispositional inferences about peers. All age groups were able to use attributional dimensions, but younger boys were less likely to use them to form negative dispositional inferences about a target peer.…

Examines background factors of nineteenth-century education, especially the development of systematic training for elementary school mistresses, and social class. Concentrates on Whitelands College's recruitment of future teachers with reference to their social class. (NH)

Two studies of variables influencing graduate students' consideration and choice of school found positive association with university personnel was a prime enrollment motivator. Students' decision process has changed over time. Evidence suggests students prefer an institution that is "user-friendly," affordable, and committed to quality. Cost and…

Surveys 32 officials of federal agencies and educational researchers to express historically grounded judgments on issues in educational research, including the poor reputation of the field. Criticisms that recur are that it does not pay off, that the community is in disarray, and that the field is politicized. (SLD)

A study investigated the factors influencing the decision of 180 doctoral students in higher-education administration to apply to their current institutions. Factors found particularly important to students of color included academic reputation and faculty friendliness, in addition to those factors rated as important by students in general. (MSE)

In terms of the attention that they have attracted from researchers, and in comparison with teachers of other subjects, religious education specialists would seem to be a neglected and marginalized group. This paper looks at some of the reasons why this might be and also describes a study that is using a life history approach to explore what it is…

During the last third of the twentieth century, Christian schooling in the United States was typically identified with the growing conservative, evangelical Protestant movement of that time period. After several United States Supreme Court cases had effectively secularized public schooling by the mid-1960s, the American educational landscape was…

For many undergraduate students graduate school may seem a remote, futuristic possibility at best. Yet, reality may dictate that an advanced degree will be necessary to attain one's career goals. Undergraduate education is not designed to be an end-all to the learning process, but rather an introduction to the experiences and ever-changing…