Administrative skills are defined, rated, and compared by contrasting their magnitude between an effective and an ineffective group of university leaders. Twenty university administrators who were American Council on Education Fellows in the Academic Administration Internship Program served as raters. (LBH)

Conducted an experimental evaluation of Teen Outreach, a national volunteer service program. Found that rates of pregnancy, school failure, and academic suspension, at exit nine months later, were substantially lower in the Teen Outreach group, even after accounting for group differences at entry. Results suggest potential value of interventions…

The principalship may be the most demanding school administrator role. Principals strive to provide vision and unity of purpose within challenging, dynamic, and highly political settings. To enhance job security, principals should refine their interpersonal skills, maintain a proper world perspective, delegate tasks appropriately, look for signs…

Describes a study that examined the extent to which failed Indiana principals showed deficiencies in meeting six standards developed by the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium. The superintendents surveyed agreed that, generally, principals who failed did not demonstrate attainment of the ISLLC standards. The most troublesome area was…

An independent study of Baltimore City's Tesseract schools analyzes why the privately managed program failed. Results showed no gains on Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills scores. Baltimore was paying about 11% more per student than in comparison schools. EAI has succeeded in establishing the supremacy of Wednesday afternoons for staff development…

Undergraduate students (N=215) were surveyed in a study that explored the relationships between trait test anxiety (fear of failure) and state test anxiety (emotionality and worry). The study also examined the relative strengths of trait and state measures of test anxiety as predictors of college academic performance. (IAH)

Bureaucratic inefficiency aside, Chicago public schools are failing dismally in their basic educational mission. A new school reform plan promises to turn systemwide failure into success by weakening the central bureaucracy's power and turning the ignition key over to 541 school-based councils. A sidebar claims that courts could determine the real…

The language of geriatrics and gerontology reflects the generally held belief that potential for growth and development disappears when the elderly are severely disabled. To counter this mystique, the right to flourish must be advocated through policy, behavior, and attitude change. (SK)

Teachers tend to teach children in different reading groups in qualitatively different ways. Crows (slower readers) work on phonics in isolation twice as often as more accomplished Blue Jays and spend much less time on reading silently or in context. Since this situation inhibits reading achievement, teachers should seek Blue Jay potential in…

Reviews literature supporting "cultural deficit," the idea that membership in ethnic minority group is linked with academic achievement or, more specifically, failure. Examines ethnic paradigm of Asians as high achievers. Suggests researchers committed to ideas of cultural deficit support ethnicist conceptions of reform,…

Draws an analogy between the insurance business and at-risk students. Argues that being at-risk in reading means a failure to gain control over reading and reading to learn, leading to learned helplessness. Discusses factors associated with learned helplessness. Outlines what teachers can do for at-risk students. (RS)

Observations of mothers of 47 6-month-old infants with early histories of nonorganic failure to thrive indicated these mothers demonstrated less adaptive social interactional behavior, less positive affective behavior, and more arbitrary termination of feedings when compared to mothers of physically normal infants. (DB)

Experiences from evaluation of the American Sociological Association's Project to Improve Undergraduate Training in Sociology, and ways that evaluators can avoid alienating program participants are discussed. Data highlight the futility of measurement couched solely in terms of success and failure. A conceptual framework based on organizational…

Academic failure must be seen as a failure by school and student together. By discarding faith in the "average needs" of the "average child" and instead accepting diversity in learning styles (both abstract and concrete, sequential and random), teachers can approach school failure from a problem-solving perspective. (PB)

Discusses the physical, psychological, and developmental consequences of physical abuse, nonorganic failure to thrive, and sexual abuse. (RJC)