Near-death experiences, profound subjective experiences occurring during a close brush with death and containing transcendental or mystical elements, have been reported to reduce suicidal ideation, despite their "romanticization" of death. Further studies are indicated in regard to the effect of those experiences on subsequent suicidal…

Research suggests that motivation of autistic children can be increased and that this may be a crucial variable in the acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of their treatment gains. Discussion focuses on effects of failure on motivation, learned helplessness, shared control and increased success, and strategies for increasing exposure to…

When people work together over time, certain key events stand out as having the potential to teach lasting lessons for the future. Leaders can use the Critical Reflections process to help their groups learn these lessons, whether the key event was a great success or a wretched failure. The goal is to affect future outcomes in similar situations:…

This article presents the history of a school's involvement in a curriculum founded on the principles of open education. The program as described, however laudable the intentions behind it, proved a resounding failure. (JA)

The focus of this statement from the computer industry is on types of failures and their causes. (MM)

This study examined the effects of .5-, 1.0- and 5.0-second interresponse intervals on children's lever-pulling responses following success and failure on a ball tower task. (WY)

The author outlines six tactics which undermine the success of programs designed to mainstream handicapped students. Among the measures pointed out is failing to include regular education teachers in special in-service workshops. (SBH)

The Risk Appraisal Instrument was adapted and applied to records of 538 graduates of a nursing program 1995-1998. The instrument correctly classified nearly 61% of failures on the National Council Licensure Exam for Registered Nurses and correctly predicted 72% of overall results. In comparison, statistically more complex methods classify 76-92%…

Describes methods for salvaging training sessions that are unsuccessful. Includes examples of problems caused by office politics, disruptive students, equipment failures, and cultural differences. (JOW)

Suggests that being fired is not the stigma it once was. Looks at 20 famous "failures" and where they are now, including Steven Jobs, Michael Milken, William Agee, Jimmy Johnson, and Ivan Boesky. (JOW)

Contends that, examined in terms of its outcomes, permanency planning movement has failed. Argues that movement has failed mainly because of its lack of impact on provision of preventive and supportive services and because of its superimposition on child welfare system with dysfunctional structure in regard to prevention. Proposes fundamental…

Cascade training is the process of articulating training for different levels of employees in order to provide the necessary competence to ensure that organizational change is institutionalized. Four designs for cascade training are hierarchical, process, employee role, and target. (Contains 17 references.) (SK)

In this comment the author reviews briefly the evidence documenting the failure of Holland's (1997) hexagonal congruence model to predict meaningful vocational outcomes, considers the excuses generally offered for the failure of Holland's system, and comments briefly on Eggerth and Andrew's (2006 [this issue]) proposed modification of the C index.…

There is a growing body of literature linking curriculum based measurements and general outcome measures to state test outcomes. With an increasing focus on the early identification of students at risk for academic failure, the present study investigated the predictive validity of preschool early literacy general outcome measures (GOMs) in a low…