A model of the manner in which environmental variations affect the life chances of specialist and generalist organizations was applied to a sample of restaurant organizations in 18 California cities. One finding was that specialist organizations are favored in fine-grained environments (i.e., when sales variations are nonseasonal). (Author/RM)

Identifies factors mental health executives (N=131) see as important barriers to their planning efforts. These executives can best be aided in their planning by actions which will clarify planning domains, insure that appropriate power and authority is vested in the executive, and emphasize planning efforts in innovative areas. (Author/JAC)

Examined relationships among self-regulatory behaviors, perceptions of social reinforcement from significant persons, and problem-solving performance of Black adolescents (N=33). Components of self-regulatory processes--self-reinforcement, self-evaluation, and self-monitoring--were interrelated highly. Perceptions of neither positive nor negative…

Experiments investigate hypothesis that vulnerable self-esteem internals and externals react more defensively to negative intellectual and personality feedback than congruent internals and externals. Suggested that consistently internal view of causation may increase stress in evaluative situations. Discusses implications for understanding…

Twenty-eight learned helpless children (ages 9-13) assessed as reading below grade level were randomly assigned to one of four reinforcement and attribution retaining treatments. Indirect and direct attribution retaining increased childrens' reading persistence and their attribution of failure on the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility scale…

Examines the history of the mathematics placement testing program used at the University of Houston Downtown Campus to screen entering students at registration. Discusses the remedial algebra courses required of students who do not pass the exam and analyzes the effectiveness of the program in reducing failure and attrition rates. (JP)

Factors to be considered in deciding about nonpromotion of students include child factors (such as physical disabilities, physical size, self-concept, and ability to function independently); family factors (such as attitude toward retention and number of geographical moves); and school factors (school's, principal's, and teacher's attitude toward…

Contends that students are not only passive respondents to external forces which determine school crime; rather, student social structures and subcultures are potential forces influencing school crime and the larger criminal and noncriminal communities. Preliminary data related to this thesis are reported. (RMH)

Compared attributions of success and failure in achievement tasks of White and Asian American children. Found that Whites took personal credit for success and attributed failure to luck, while Asians attributed success to luck and took personal responsibility for failure. Discussed attributional patterns in terms of socialization. (Author/MK)

Focuses on why some children succeed in school while others fail. Suggests five principles to guide educators in improving achievement levels--providing schooling and facilities for all students, involving parents in education, instilling good working habits in pupils at an early age, developing curriculum materials systematically, and providing…

Characterizes schools as institutions with more antieducational effects than educational ones. Sustains the case that the upshot of schooling for many people is a lifelong alienation from the knowledge and, more generally, the culture which schools transmit. (DB)

Differences in the characteristics of unsuccessful (N=17) and successful (N=60) community placed clients were examined. Discriminant function analysis identified a maladaptive behavior factor and sex to be significant discriminators between the two groups. (Author)

Two studies examined underachieving and control children's beliefs about the causes of their successes and failures. In Study 1, children (N=186) were administered a scale measuring locus of control in achievement situations. In Study 2, children rated the importance of ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck for success and failure in reading,…

The complexity of training teachers as facilitators in working with parents of handicapped children is pointed out, and possible causes of teacher ineffectiveness in this role are considered. (SBH)