Charting is based on the assumptions that relevant curricula will attract and maintain student interest, and that continued poor enrollment in courses is indicative of weaknesses in instruction, curriculum, or site/environment. Charting success or failure in these areas within the model of weekly student contact hours, average daily attendance…

A two-year study was undertaken in Massachusetts to evaluate the impact of vocational education on released ex-offenders. In the first year, evaluation procedures and interview instruments were developed, a survey of inmates was conducted, and the data collected was analyzed and summarized in a report. Since the second year of the study was not…

The Joint Dissemination Review Panel (JDRP) was established in 1972 by the Education Division of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to review projects that seek federal funding for nationwide dissemination. Since very few career education programs have been represented among the exemplary programs approved by JDRP, a project was…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 25 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) reading comprehension and visual creativity; (2) family interaction and reading achievement in high school males; (3) conceptual tempo, Piagetian level of…

This paper describes the operations of a community-based, racially-mixed, day-long, day care center, its social environment and the staff's response to one very young, disruptive black boy. Data for the study were collected over a 3-year period of participant observation among approximately 25 children ranging in age from 2 through 5 from low…

The cross-levels hypothesis is presented as an explanation for program evaluation failures. It states that the usefulness of evaluation data as feedback for decision making varies inversely with the number of organizational levels between the action the data describe, and the decisions they are intended to influence. To be useful for decision…

This paper surveys the recent literature on the implementation of educational innovations and reviews and synthesizes research findings and recommendations for improving educational practices. It focuses on the implementation processes, influences, and effects that are considered to be important variables in educational change, and explores…

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between self-esteem and achievement and to explain why changes in self-esteem have not resulted in changes in achievement. It is postulated that self-esteem affects achievement indirectly through the medium of coping skills. Data from a study of 1657 students in 53 sixth grade classrooms in…

A program was conducted by the New York State Health Deaprtment's Veterans Health Manpower Center (VHMC) from April, 1972, through March, 1979, to serve the health career interests of Vietman-era veterans. (For two years prior to 1972 the program was carried out by the Health Department's Office of Special Health Manpower Programs.) Since its…

This paper describes an educational program for 28 adolescent delinquents at a training school for boys. All of the students had histories of educational failure. Individualized programed instruction and a system of extrinsic learning reinforcements were the experimental basis of the program. Points, exchangeable for money, were given to the…

A major reason for the public's concern about curriculum and instruction at all levels of education has evolved because of the serious decline in student academic achievement. After two decades of innovation in teaching styles there are increasing complaints about academic grade inflation, functional illiteracy, and student inability to read,…

Despite the support for the proposition that learning is enhanced by the reinforcement of correct responses, there remain learners who continue to fail when contingent reinforcement is administered, even though they may have the ability and be motivated to succeed. This condition, known as learned helplessness, presents a problem for instructional…

Conceptualizing progress through college as a sequential process, the study examined factors that affect rates of persistence and dropping out, using longitudinal data for a national sample of young men attending college in the late 1960's. A principal conclusion was that factors important to understanding persistence vary with the stage of the…

School characteristics associated with reading achievement and characteristics of low achievers in reading are examined in separate articles in this report. The first article begins with a review of the literature on school effects, arguing that there are school variables that show consistent associations with achievement, when the structure and…

The Astin study of dropouts is a national survey covering a large population; it is a longitudinal study and is related to action programs. This paper highlights some of the major aspects of the study, draws implications that have special significance to the black colleges, and suggests areas for further research that would appear to be of…