The levels of political knowledge of 62 institutionalized and 55 noninstitutionalized mildly retarded adults were compared with those of fifth- and eighth-grade children and nonretarded adults. On all four knowledge indices, the retarded adults' performance closely resembled that of nonretarded fifth-grade children. (Author)

The loss of public confidence in the schools can be countered through carefully thought-out programs of individual and group action. (Author)

Compares 15 campaign speeches on methods of presentation. Results indicate that the dual responsibilities of appearing to speak out decisively and intelligently on issues, while focusing on images to which voters will respond favorably, are met by speeches with ambiguous content but rhetorical correlates of specificity and decisiveness. (JMF)

Examines the extent and nature of social bias in the recruitment of school board members. Concludes that board members of both races tend to have family origins that are generally of higher socioeconomic status than those of the corresponding adult public, and that they have achieved more upward social mobility than their respective general adult…

Traces the career of Francis Richard Lubbock, Governor of Texas from 1861-1863, and offers an explanation for Lubbock's refusal to run for re-election. Data indicate that Lubbock believed he could be more effective in the Confederate Army than in the role of governor. (Author/DB)

To illustrate what happens when a partisan political organization becomes involved in nonpartisan educational politics, this case focuses on the intervention of an urban unit of the California Democratic Council in a referendum for the establishment of a community college and the election of its board members. (Author/SJL)

Using three interpretations of community control, the attitudes of local elites in New York City were analyzed. Findings indicate substantial levels of support for some form of community control among both white and minority respondents. (Author/RLV)

This instrument was developed to measure a teacher's propensity for militant behavior. Its conceptual framework reflects current developments in public education labor-management relations. It was tested for reliability and validity. The experimental index was validated by using a multitrait-multimethod validation matrix. A reliability coefficient…

An American politics text should offer a realistic account of the political process and develop the student's own ability to observe, analyze, and criticize political institutions, processes, and ideologies and statements about them. (Author/RM)

Presents case studies of school district's efforts to get a school construction bond passed. It reveals multiple-year work where the districts put politics to work and succeeded in securing funding for their students' futures. Fifteen organizational steps for successful bond passage are highlighted. (GR)

Describes a long-standing Montreal bilingual program that completely immerses Anglophone students in a French academic context. Support from the target-language culture and environmental reinforcements contribute to students' academic success and steady program enrollment. Such immersion education has produced functionally bilingual Anglophone…

Misunderstandings about power flourish amid unintellectualized notions of democracy, fairness, and idealized realities. To possess power, individuals and institutions must develop, take, exercise, and assert it. They empower themselves. It took a revolution for the Americans to secure independence from the British Empire. In school management…

California's legislature voted overwhelmingly to extend the charter of the Council for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education, which regulates most of the state's for-profit institutions and is credited with reducing fraudulent schools. The Republican governor, however, has vetoed the measure amid heavy lobbying by trade-school officials,…

Analyzes developments in the Western Australia educational system between 1983 and 1989, a period of dramatic, unprecedented change. Shows how patterns of control are underpinned and shaped by ideologies existing in a wider sociopolitical context. Major changes proceeded from opposing ideological strands--a social imperative that ultimately became…

Discusses how, like Australia, Canadian higher education has experienced large-scale cuts in government funding, the deregulation of tuition and general cost shifting to students, inability to accommodate increased student demand, faculty "brain drain" and shortages, and an erosion of public policy toward viewing higher education as a…