Competencies or general life skills and understandings that a political sciences course attempts to promote in the student in a general education curriculum are examined. General education is described as a set of skills which help individuals exercise control over their own lives. These compentencies consist of the understandings that (1)…

As the first volume of a 4-volume report evaluating the University of Massachusetts Non-Formal Education Project (UMass NFEP) in rural Ecuador, this volume presents summary responses to the following evaluation questions: (1) What does UMass NFEP purport to do? (2) How does UMass NFEP go about implementing its goals? (3) To what extent is UMass…

As the second volume in a 4-volume evaluation report on the University of Massachusetts Non-Formal Education Project (UMass NFEP) in rural Ecuador, this volume details the evaluation design. Cited as basic to the evaluation design are questions which ask: (1) What kinds of effects (changes) can be observed? and (2) What are characteristics of the…

Presenting a descriptive and prescriptive analysis of the social variables important to planning and informed public participation in the development of the West River Diversion Project in North Dakota (WRDP), this report is organized via the following sections: (1) Knowledge and Evaluation of the Project (How aware are people of the WRDP and its…

The purpose of this study was to apply a theory of latent culture to describe the role of middle class black parents and students in effecting change in an elite educational organization and to use Schein's conceptual model of the Kurk Lewin paradigm of the change process (Unfreezing--Changing--Refreezing) to analyze this process over a three year…

This study identifies important skills, knowledge areas, and attitudes of effective facilitators of nonformal education in community-based learning groups in Ecuador. A facilitator is an uncertified, nonprofessional educator who develops and maintains village learning groups outside the formal schooling system. Chapter one discusses the…

Although the principalship has existed for almost a century and a half, principals' roles are as varied as their surroundings and almost as difficult to generalize about. No part of the principal's role is debated with more fervor than the role he or she must play in the instructional program. As school systems have become more bureaucratic, many…

This study was undertaken to determine the nature of innovation, change, and reform in higher education institutions, and to suggest how the use of educational technology might be made more effective in contributing to achievement of educational objectives. Visits were made to over 100 institutions in which externally-funded experiments were being…

The study reported in this newsletter looked closely at one community, a city school district in a northeastern state, where the pace of change in public schools was especially rapid and unusual over a seven-year period (1965-72). The purpose was to find out, through interviewing, the thoughts of a selected number of informed individuals and…

The seminar began with a report of some research that W.M. Phillips, Jr. had done in Newark. Three purposes guided the design of that study of educational change and race from 1958 to 1972: First, there was the fundamental curiosity to discover the changing nature of participation by the Black community in the creation and implementation of public…

Evolutionary processes are described for Native (American Indian) voluntary associations in the U.S. and Canada in aboriginal times, in the twentieth century generally, and in cities specifically. These processes at different times and in different social settings are shown to be related to each other through specific historic continuities and…

Home visitors were used to teach mothers to be more effective educational change agents in their own homes. The one-hour visits continued over 30 weeks. The initial sample consisted of 72 Negro mothers and their first grade children. All children has had 8-week summer Head Start. Five treatment groups were (1) Mother-Involved Cognitive home…

This pamphlet is a capsule commentary on the Kirschner field research project which attempted to obtain a greater understanding of Head Start's role in influencing community health and educational programs. The general goals for Head Start are summarized and expanded to include objectives unique to this survey. Specifically, the Kirschner project…

The objectives of the research project described in this report are: (1) to determine if there have been changes in local educational and health institutions relevant to the objectives of Project Head Start; (2) to determine if local Head Start centers were influential in bringing about relevant changes in community institutions; (3) to analyze…

This study was designed to determine if the regional educational laboratories funded under Title IV of Public Law 89-10 had accepted the charge to become educational change agents. Thirteen critical variables that describe essential change-agent functions were extracted from pertinent literature to provide the framework for a content analysis of…