Increases in competency testing as a basis for student promotion and graduation are described. Examines the complexities and implementation of minimal competency testing and argues for consideration of unresolved issues: (1) definition of "minimal competency," (2) determination of appropriate measures, and (3) use of minimal competency concept in…

The evaluation by Abt Associates, Inc., of the Follow Through program, an extension of Head Start designed to improve primary education for disadvantaged children, created a controversy about the program and its assessment, which is discussed in this article. The authors see serious flaws in the evaluation design and interpretation. (MF)

The authors examined the effects of school finance reforms on equality of educational opportunities in several states, analyzing court cases in California, New York, and Illinois, and suggest that reform policies may not work as their designers intended. Illinois was used as a case study in constructing tests to measure school finance reform…

Suggesting that American ideas of individualism may be responsible for the failure of radical school reform, the author advocates fostering a collectivist character in children based on altruism, cooperation, and concern for others. She reviews literature on education in socialist nations and on experimental research and suggests activities for…

The Academic Achievement Game (TAAG) summarizes the findings of two research studies in a kind of parlor "game" that incorporates predictable, chance and change elements in student performance. A brief description of TAAG is followed by evidence on validity. Its advantages and disadvantages are discussed in the context of transition to higher…

The Dundee School of Economics is seen by the authors as a maverick institution fitting no recognized pattern of organization of higher education in Scotland. Describes the events leading to the school's establishment in 1931 and its incorporation in the University of Saint Andrews in 1955. Outlines its curriculum and academic policy as well as…

The Scottish Council for Research in Education recognized in 1971 that research in the field of adult education could not be divorced from the associated employment and training of young workers. A program was developed that was designed to illuminate the complex variety of associations between education and aspects of employment and training.…

The study of guidance systems in Scottish secondary schools is interesting especially for its relationship to organizational theory. On the one hand is the development of personal, caring relationships between students and teachers; on the other hand, the problems of institutionalizing this system within the bureaucratized context of large…

In 1965 3rd year students of a Scottish burgh school chose their friends predominantly within the same streamed class. This arrangement indicates being taught together with students of similar academic achievement and similar social background. Students studying vocational courses would not spend much time with students bound for higher education.…

This is the first in a series of information papers that are intended to supply information on matters of general importance to the educational system. It focuses on the complex committee structure for curriculum development in Scotland beginning in 1965 and outlines its growth up to the present. (Editor/RK)

Argues that ways exist to include parents and communities in educational decision making without sacrificing the gains which teachers' unions have won. Describes and assesses several strategies for opening up the bargaining process. (Editor/RK)

Discusses the deficiencies of the nativistic explanation of language acquisition, reviews and critiques existing theories of syntax while highlighting the trend toward a semantic description of linguistic development, and argues that a satisfactory account of language acquisition will not emerge until this process is viewed within a larger…

Educational historians have increasingly turned their attention to the origins of compulsory schooling. The development of compulsory-school-attendance laws was discussed in a broad social context. (Editor/RK)

The relationship between teachers' attitudes and behavior and the subsequent adult status of sixty children was examined. The findings showed a positive correlation between one first grade teacher and the adult success of children from a disadvantaged urban neighborhood. Includes fourteen tables of data. (EM)

Notes that the most common educational research methods (large-scale surveys and field observations) have failed to examine the processes by which school participants create school structures. Advocates constitutive ethnography as a new approach and presents examples of its application in examining classrooms, lessons, educational testing, and…