From a sample of eighth-grade pupils, 96 class clowns were identified and compared to a sample of 237 nonclown classmates. Clowns were predominantly males, and were seen by their teachers to be higher than nonclowns in Asserting, Unruliness, Attention Seeking, Leadership, and Cheerfulness, and to be lower in Accomplishing. (Author/CP)

The current state of theory, research, and practice in realistic job previews (RJP) for recruitment is still immature. RJPs have been used to reduce employee turnover, but not necessarily to influence the job performance of newcomers. This research looks at the background, research results, and unanswered issues. (Author/RK)

A total of 189 entering class medical students at Baylor College of Medicine were surveyed to test the hypothesis that personality traits, as measured by structured tests, are of at least equal importance to cognitive qualities in predicting medical school performance. Preliminary results supported the hypothesis. (LBH)

The notion that medical education is a rigidly structured system, consisting of a few, relatively fixed patterns leading to different career outcomes, was not supported in this study using data from the Association of American Medical College's Longitudinal Study. Evidence was found of stratification among structural factors that influence access…

Approximately 14,000 sixth grade students, representing the 10 major regions of Indonesia, were tested in mathematics, science, social studies, and Bahasa Indonesia, the offical language. Results showed that rural children learn much less than city children, and that lack of Bahasa Indonesia in the home is not a serious disadvantage. (Author/MV)

Discriminant function analysis was used to predict which college students were graduated in four years, were still enrolled after four years, left the college in good academic standing, or left after being on probation. Results were moderately successful. (Author/JKS)

Social studies grades were predicted from a variety of affective and cognitive predictor variables on a sample of eleventh grade students. Significant relationships were found for both types of variables. A measure of motivation toward education predicted grades nearly as accurately as any of the cognitive variables. (Author/JKS)

Intelligence test scores were found to predict achievement in high school chemistry more accurately than the Piaget-derived Longeot Test Scores. However, the construct measured by the Longeot is more clearly defined than the construct measured by the intelligence test. In this respect, the Longeot measure may be preferable to the intelligence…

Seven easily obtainable background variables were used as predictors of academic achievement in a sample of fourth grade pupils. A combination of five of these variables yielded high predictive validity. (Author/JKS)

A discussion is presented of five categories of patient variables that seem to have useful relationships with both successful rehabilitation outcome and ease of management from the standpoints of medical and vocational rehabilitation. These classes of variables have been identified through clinical experience and validated empirically.…

The Automatic Interaction Detector (AID) method of data analysis is utilized with 512 low income families. Results show that associations of the predictor variables with marital intactness are neither linear nor additive. Nevertheless, two variables emerge in explaining marital intactness: mode of decision-making and strategy of conflict…

Recognition of various abilities and skills in university degree work, and the development of an appropriate range of assessment modes to test these abilities, presupposes that students will perform differently under the various forms of assessment. The limited data available to test this supposition are reviewed and analysis of one geography…

Attempts to answer the question of whether it is profitable to operate Catholic schools and whether the failure to build new schools will cause financial and educational disaster for the next generation. (Author/RK)

Describes a study in which respondents were asked to evaluate their local newspaper, to tell which parts of the paper they considered the most useful, to state which newspaper items they read, and to tell why they read those items. (GW)