Surveys of drug and alcohol use conducted with 4,367 Mexican-American and 3,790 White non-Hispanic eighth and twelfth graders from similar communities find generally higher rates of substance use by Mexican Americans based on lifetime prevalence and last reported use and higher frequency of high risk drug behaviors. (SLD)

Describes a study of Texas public elementary schools that was conducted to determine whether there were significant differences between professional and paraprofessional media specialists in personality traits, interaction patterns with school staff, and status as an indicator of their perceived expertise in instructional matters among classroom…

In recent years, Latinas (females) have been graduating from high school, attending college, and attaining bachelor's and master's degrees at higher rates than their male counterparts, whereas Latinos (males) continue to attain doctorates, tenure-track professorships, and high-level administrative positions at higher rates than their female…

Findings are summarized from a comparative analysis of education-examination practices in selected European and Asian countries. The review of testing practices in other countries reveals that these practices are in transition in most countries. A central lesson is that changing teaching can lead to changes in testing. (SLD)

Describes a study of fifth graders that investigated whether types of revision and quality of writing vary for bilingual and monolingual students when using word processors as compared with paper and pencil. Topics discussed include keyboarding skills, bilingualism, and language art skills. (Contains 27 references.) (LRW)

Describes a study comparing the academic performance of 3 groups of students at a Kentucky university: former community college students who transferred with 60 or more credits; students transferring with less than 60 credits; and nontransfer students. Reports differences in grade point averages, graduation rates, and dismissal rates, indicating…

A study investigated the use of teaching portfolios and student evaluations in evaluating 97 college faculty members for contract renewal. Two faculty peers and a dean evaluated the portfolio of each teacher. Student evaluations correlated reasonably well with portfolio evaluations by the deans and one of the peers. (Author/MSE)

Describes experiments in Arabic information retrieval using 29 queries against a base of 355 bibliographic records. Using roots and stems as index terms worked better than words, and the root performed as well as or better than the stem at low recall levels and definitely better at high recall levels. (Contains 30 references.) (KRN)

Explores the use of a comparative approach in a library instruction workshop for culturally diverse populations. The distinct world views of Chinese and Western students are compared, and the impact of these views on each population's mode of thinking and on the design of the workshop is discussed. (seven references) (Author)

Reports on a study of citation retrieval performance using three Internet-accessible databases and a database composed of six Wilson databases. Variables examined included citation frequency, percentage of unique periodicals cited per search, and relevancy of citations to stated search topic. The implications of the data for database selection are…

Effects of instruction, grade level, and sex on persuasive writing were investigated using 55 fourth graders, 55 sixth graders, and 49 eighth-graders instructed in writing with 1 of 4 strategies. Older children wrote better than younger children. Girls wrote better than boys in assessments immediately after the study, but not two weeks later. (SLD)

Argues that critical thinking is best learned where fellow students respond and react as well as replicate and evaluate. Suggests methods and techniques for doing critical thinking. Discusses thesis formulation, concept application, judgments and conclusions, cause and effect relationships, criteria identification, structure and function,…

Examines the influence of two self-instructional approaches to classroom management used with undergraduate art education majors. Reports that there was no significant difference in results between the two approaches. Reveals that both groups' understanding and ability in classroom management were higher than those of the control group. (KM)

A program to teach young children about phonological structure was evaluated with 64 experimental group and 62 control group preschoolers in Australia. Results support the efficacy of the program and the principle that phonological awareness and letter knowledge are necessary but not sufficient for acquisition of the alphabetic principle. (SLD)

Roles of language proficiency and general developmental factors on metaphor interpretation were examined for 60 Spanish- and English-speaking and 60 monolingual English-speaking children aged 7-8, 9-10, and 11-12 years. Language proficiency in English and socioeconomic status were considered, but both were less important in metaphor interpretation…