From 1970 to 1983 the proportion of part-time college students increased steadily from 28 to nearly 40 percent. Enrollment at community colleges rose from 48 to 64 percent, while at four-year institutions the increase was from 20 to 23 percent. These trends are discussed and illustrated by tables. (MLW)

A comparison of language skill development by college students enrolled in a content course taught in French and in a French language course found that content-course students excelled in oral skills and language attitudes and that language-course students excelled in writing skills, challenging conventional assumptions about language-learning…

Elementary teachers were more apt to implement the language arts curriculum as specified by the district than were secondary teachers. However, curriculum fidelity was extremely low at both the elementary and secondary levels. Teachers who followed the prespecified curriculum attached greater importance to implementation tasks and their…

This field study examined learning effects attributable to instructional design characteristics when eighth-grade science students used a print encyclopedia or a videotex version of the encyclopedia to write term papers. Results suggest that specific effects of instructional design characteristics of a delivery system are of a limited nature. (MBR)

This study compared achievement of students learning programing in pairs and individually and examined relationships between cognitive abilities, style, and demographics. No differences were found in programing outcomes, but mathematics and verbal ability best predicted individual setting outcomes, while nonverbal reasoning, spatial ability, and…

Results of a study relating Washington State's college students' unmet financial aid needs to sector and student characteristics such as sex, age, dependency status, and family income and contribution are outlined and discussed. (MSE)

Compares bilingual education programs in the United States and West Germany, emphasizing instructional models and political and social influences. Summarizes current debate about the role of the home language in the education of minority-language children and points out general problems with home language instruction in the West German context.…

This study was designed both to determine if patrons are able to discern differences in library performance and to investigate relationships between patron evaluation and use of public libraries. Highlights include study procedures, instrumentation, data collection, results of data analyses, and interpretation of results. Eighteen references are…

Music therapy and music education majors' perceptions of teacher approval/disapproval given to elementary students were assessed. There were significant differences between the two groups regarding the perceived use of teacher time, with music education students estimating a significantly greater amount of time devoted to approval. (Author/RM)

A study of third- and fifth-grade students found that monolingual students use different reading strategies than do bilingual students reading in their second language. (FL)

Replicating a survey of high school students of the class of 1952, the author's survey of the class of 1984 shows greater agreement with the "Founding Fathers" on many issues, with a larger percentage of students willing to allow police searches without warrants and deny legal counsel to criminals. (JBM)

Results of a survey of 1,308 four-year college presidents ranking colleges and universities are presented. Rankings are in these categories: universities with a national reputation, liberal arts colleges with a national reputation, larger comprehensive universities, smaller comprehensive universities, and regional liberal arts colleges. (MSE)

Based on a comparison of criterion-based, checklist scoring of medical students' patient interviewing skills and the traditional method of faculty observation, it is suggested that the latter method is less reliable. (MSE)

A theoretical analysis of how nonformal education by radio represents a less expensive/more effective strategy for transmitting skills, knowledge, and values, increasingly likely to be adopted and directed toward adults in rural areas of developing countries. Illustrated with material from fieldwork in Huayacocotla, a village in Veracruz, Mexico.…

An analysis of national programs for monitoring student achievement in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia found that political considerations in all three countries have inhibited the clarification of program objectives and the implementation of the technology required to generate meaningful information capable of reliable…