The Southern Regional Education Board found, after examining the transcripts of 6,000 college graduates, that strengthening the general education curriculum is the key to improving teacher training, and that the states must show greater leadership in specific areas in this reform effort. (MSE)

Twelve rule changes made by the National Collegiate Athletics Association to strengthen regulation of student participation, coach behavior, and sports program administration and to enforce penalties are outlined. (MSE)

Rule changes are summarized and the institutions and conferences voting against some of them are listed. The rules concern institutional self-study, academic reporting, member discipline, coach rule violations, eligibility, expenditures, playing season, compliance, meetings, sponsorship, and playing rules. (MSE)

The text of the Southern Regional Education Board's recent report on and recommendations for access to quality education is presented. The report concerns access to quality; improving quality; student qualifications and placement; remedial and compensatory education; student achievement standards; and faculty and curriculum. (MSE)

The new requirement that Florida state college sophomores pass a four-part academic skills test before qualifying for an associate's degree or continuing as juniors is outlined, the recent history of the new regulation is discussed, and the skills tested in the program are listed. (MSE)

A national board to certify teachers is expected to be chartered by late this summer and begin issuing certificates within five years. The objective is to establish high standards for teacher competence with voluntary certification, not replacement of state licensing. The plan has received widespread support. (MSE)

Intense competition for federal research funds in some areas of science is generating more narrow research training, conflict between research and teaching responsibilities, and alienation and frustration among young scientists, who must scramble for tenuous research positions that lead nowhere. (MSE)

Art historians are saying that while art outside the mainstream challenges many usual assumptions about art history, more attention should be given to nontraditional art genres such as graffiti, folk art, children's art, prehistoric cave paintings, and the art of the insane. (MSE)

Harvard University has found that insuring its retiring faculty for long-term health care was too expensive, blocking implementation of its planned benefits program and potentially affecting the planning of many colleges. (MSE)

Faculty unions are enticing new members and hoping to retain older ones with such extras as low-cost credit cards and insurance programs in addition to traditional collective bargaining functions. (MSE)

Aggressive community colleges are fostering linkages with government programs, large and small businesses, and educational institutions for special training to upgrade worker skills, prepare workers to cope with plant closings, and meet the skill requirements of advancing technology. (MSE)

Arguments between factions advocating more or less teacher education could slow down the reform process enough to allow gains in the trend toward licensing teachers lacking teacher training. (MSE)

Concern about problems that inflexible educational loan payments cause for some people has reopened the idea of income-contingent repayment schedules, but financial aid experts see insurmountable problems in stretching out loans indefinitely, increasing indebtedness by slowing down payments, overall inequities favoring high-income borrowers, and…

Following a trend in a number of states, Indiana has begun a project to improve college preparation and encourage high school students to pursue higher education. The effort includes a toll-free hotline, a statewide database for monitoring student characteristics, and standardized testing of basic skills. (MSE)

While some states are adopting uniform, statewide testing of college students to assess learning, most are relying on a wide variety of testing programs designed and administered by individual institutions. (MSE)