Many high school and junior high school concert bands in Japan are performing on a level equal to America's college bands. Reasons why include long hours in rehearsal; the prominent role students play in the organization, preparation, and administration of the ensemble; and the strong sense of fellowship and cooperation. (RM)

Results of study of United States academic librarians listed in "Who's Who in Library and Information Services" indicate that: men had greater chance of being deemed successful; one-third of academic entries had advanced degrees in addition to M.L.S.; successful academic librarians tended to work in Association of Research Libraries institutions.…

Correlations derived from this study indicate that undergraduate students' (N=24) and graduate students' (N=18) performance in statistical methods is not strongly influenced by their aptitude in computer science. One implication is that no computer science prerequisite is necessary for courses utilizing statistical packages. (JN)

Applied Syntactic Language Computer Analysis and counts of legal jargon and power speech to analyze the language styles of plaintiffs, defendants, and attorneys in 20 civil trials. Concluded that successful trial participants speak differently than those who fail and that the differences in language style are significant and consistent. (PD)

Researchers examined the degree to which the teacher, past academic success, and student's sex influenced the self-concepts of ninth and tenth grade geometry students. Teacher influence and past academic success exerted more impact on geometry students' self-concepts than did their sex. (Author/PP)

Notes that school effectiveness research has identified particular process and content characteristics associated with gains in reading achievement. Examines the research and the application of research findings. (FL)

This article focuses on (a) the types and incidence of casualties reported for encounter groups; (b) participant, group, and leader variables associated with negative outcome, (c) procedures for minimizing casualties, and (d) research considerations. (Author/AM)

Based on his tour of Sweden, the author discusses the cultural, political, and methodological conditions leading to Sweden's highly developed involvement in adult education and recommends for emulation Sweden's emphasis upon student participation, the local coordination by local education councils, and especially, their simple but successful…

A continuation of articles on "May 7" cadre schools includes discussion on (1) transforming your world outlook while doing manual labor, (2) maintaining close contact with the masses, and (3) studying Mao's philosophy and applying it to transform your world outlook. (ND)

This study focuses on determining the relationship between communication apprehension and factors of student success for first-semester community college students. It specifically examined the relationship between levels of students' communication apprehension as determined by the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension, and indicators of…

This book tells the story of Tunxis Community College (Connecticut), which exemplifies the changes seen in higher education across America since the 1960s. The College, created in 1970, is part of Connecticut's public college system. The author discusses Tunxis' factual history, and presents a collection of "voices" of the people who fashioned a…

Many educators believe that comprehensive school reform (CSR) holds real promise for improving schools, as many CSR programs are based in research and have documented success. However, in the past year, there has been increased emphasis on CSR programs' evidence of effectiveness and scrutiny of CSR evaluations' degree of rigor. Questions exist…

Strategic Programs for Innovations in Undergraduate Physics (SPIN-UP) set out to answer an intriguing question: Why, in the 1990s, did some physics departments increase the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in physics or maintain a number much higher than the national average for their type of institution? During that decade, the number of…

Hallways, playgrounds, and hangouts hold a wealth of joys and risks that cannot be naturally separated. They are not places to go without some idea of what an individual is getting into, the impact it can have, and how to act once there. To help school counselors navigate these areas, the counselor's role outside the walls of the counseling office…