Part of the School Improvement Research Series, this report describes two peer tutoring programs, one at the secondary and one at the primary level. The schools where the programs are conducted are both in the Lake Washington School District, across Lake Washington from Seattle. The report first cites Lake Washington High School (Kirkland), where…

Peer Intervention Network (PIN) began in New Jersey in 1980, as a group process intervention for improving the school performance of 7th and 8th grade students with motivational and attitudinal problems which interfered with their learning. Traditionally, these students tend to develop a "delinquent" profile and frequently became…

To investigate the influence of group settings on the receiver's perception of an inducement to rhetorical transactions, 45 undergraduates in a basic speech communication course were asked to rank from most important to least important a group of items that might help survivors of an arctic plane crash. After completing individual rankings,…

This publication consists of papers and discussion from a comprehensive RAUS (Research Analysis and Utilization System) review focusing on factors relating to a multi-year increase in inhalant abuse among high school seniors. The document contains the following articles: (1) "Inhalant Overview" (Raquel A. Crider and Beatrice A. Rouse);…

Instructional modules for driver education programs were prepared to improve safe driving knowledge, attitudes, and performances of 16- to 18-year-old drivers. These modules were designed to provide supplementary instruction in five content areas critical to the safe and efficient operation of motor vehicles by young drivers--speed management,…

The Youth Leadership Program (YLP) has been in operation in schools throughout Albuquerque and the State of New Mexico for four years. Students selected for the program represented two groups: high risk, or negative, leaders; and positive leaders. The program established situations in which pupils from both groups could work together in individual…

To address the problem of increasing professional isolation of building administrators, the Principals' Inservice Project helps establish principals' collegial support groups across the nation. The groups are typically composed of 6 to 10 principals who meet at least once each month over a 2-year period. One collegial support group of seven…

The literature on children's acquisition of sex-typed knowledge, preference, and behavior is reviewed, and a matrix of sex-typing constructs and sex-typed content areas is offered. Two major themes are discussed. The first theme concerns the importance of activities, interests, and peer associations in the early acquisition of sex-typing…

This document measures two sociological theories against patterns which emerge from six studies on former student activists. Because the existing data neither confirm nor contradict each theory, a third orientation is introduced. Briefly stated, the social integration theory suggests that former activists assume adult work roles, retreat from…

Current data on youth substance abuse behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes are important in addressing social and health issues. To obtain these data, students in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 from 144 Iowa school districts completed a 105-item survey assessing demographics, peer influence, parent influence, school influence, personal preferences, and…

This paper reports feedback from 349 fifth through eighth graders who participated in Say It Straight (SIS), a school-based drug abuse prevention program which combines assertiveness training with role playing and guided imagery. The feedback presented concerns students' feelings about sending and receiving messages using the following…

Cooperative learning is a generic classroom technique that requires students to work and talk together about academic material while learning effective interpersonal skills. This packet, prepared in conjunction with the Minnesota School Effectiveness Program, describes the benefits of cooperative learning and defines its critical attributes,…

The use of small instructional groups can make several contributions to college writing courses. First, small group instruction is participatory, it provides helpful feedback, and it fosters higher levels of cognition. There is near universal acceptance of the theory that students of all ages learn best when participating actively in their own…

This book looks at the problem of drug abuse, particularly the use of marihuana by children ages 9 to 14, and describes one strategy parents can use to prevent drug use by their children. On the premise that nonmedical drug use is not acceptable for children, parents need to provide guidance and exercise discipline with respect to drug use among…

A teacher's experience of being a student in high school for a semester is recounted. The wide differences between teachers' and students' perceptions of responsibility for learning and teaching are pointed out as well as differences in attitude toward school and the world in general. Some suggestions are made for improving teaching and rapport…