The major emphasis of "A Nation at Risk" is that less time in school is spent on academic areas and that the number of required courses has decreased. However, public opinion does not favor removing "personal development" and "general track" courses or lengthening the school day or year. (MLF)

A unified model of teaching and learning, representing a synthesis of internal and external forces influencing learning processes, diagrams interrelationships between the following processes: activator, situational evaluation, anticipated ends, stress, action, outcome, external evaluation, feedback, internal assessment, curiosity, and internal…

Several measures of the speed of information processing were related to ability factors derived from the Cattell-Horn theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence. Correlations among the ability measures, among the information processing measures, and between the two domains were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis. (Author/PN)

The effects of using immediate feedback versus feedback delayed by 24 hours on academic self-concept and performance in arithmetic were studied, using 236 fourth graders as subjects. Delayed feedback seemed to benefit students with low perceptions of their academic ability; other students were unaffected by the type of feedback. (Authors/PP)

The chair of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports discusses reasons for engaging in lifetime sports and gives guidelines parents can follow to steer their children toward sports they can enjoy. (PP)

Classroom observation and parent interviews in 18 elementary school districts in suburban Chicago (Illinois) tested an economic model of the impact of differing administrator, parent, teacher, and student perceptions of costs on teachers' allocation of resources in the classroom. Research results and administrative implications are presented.…

Investigated the relationship between shift time and use of leisure time, nonwork satisfaction, and mental and physical health among rank-and-file workers and nurses. Found employees working on fixed shift had higher job performance, motivation, and patients' care skill, and probably enjoyed better physical and emotional health. (Author/JAC)

Compared the Matching Familiar Figures Test performances of 53 children in grades five and six, identified as being depressed, to performances of 53 nondepressed children. The depressed group had longer latencies, made more errors, and was less efficient, even when intellectual differences were taken into account. (Author)

Commitment of the full-time faculty to instruction in elementary legal writing is debated. Pedrick suggests that teachers of English composition should teach basic writing, while N. William Hines and William A. Reppy assert that faculty commitment to skills training produces tangible results in improved competence. (MLW)

Three possible ways to link teachers with research on teaching and teaching practices are described: (1) rules, (2) evidence, and (3) schemata (which provide a way to "see" a phenomenon and to think about it). Illustrations are drawn from the Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study. Schemata on classroom time and teacher behavior are…

A study analyzed an elementary school physical educator's interactions with students, using the Academic Learning Time-Physical Education instrument. Data were collected to show differences in learning opportunities: (1) for girls and boys; (2) for high, medium, and low ability students; and (3) in different instructional units. (Author/PP)

Twelve characteristics of effective schools are described, including: (1) academic and social goals; (2) curriculum; (3) rules of conduct; (4) administrator, teacher, and student responsibilities; (5) time on task; and (6) parental and community support. (CJ)

Although the proportion of full-time women faculty at medical schools is increasing, the distribution is uneven. The greatest increase is in female Ph.D.s, while the greatest increase for males is in M.D.-Ph.Ds. Nondoctoral faculty showed the greatest decrease for both men and women. (MSE)

Presented is a list of social indicators which OECD has adopted as an international inventory to measure individual well-being. Variables included are health, education, employment, time and leisure, goods and services, physical environment, social environment, and personal safety. (DC)

Reports the continued development of a multivariate theory of personality styles and a scale, the Multivariate Personality Inventory, designed to measure these styles in both pathological and normal populations. Results supported the validity of the Multivariate Personality Inventory in regard to the need profile of each personality style group.…