The University of Hawaii posttenure review focuses on collegial professional standards rather than salary. By administration-union agreement, chairpersons apply departmental expectations to assess deficiencies, subject to final adjudication by a peer committee. Individual remediation plans emphasize faculty development. The process is seen as…

A discussion of the relationship between background knowledge and reading comprehension examines evidence that American students have insufficient world knowledge and reading ability for the demands of higher education, and suggests methods instructors can use to enrich students' prior knowledge to enhance reading comprehension. (Author/MSE)

Although critical thinking has become a pedagogical industry, its endorsement by educators is uncritical. The conventional critical thinking model assumes that only logical thinking is good thinking. However, good thinking also includes rational but nonlogical cognitive functions. To ignore them is to train students in only one aspect of thinking.…

The potential gains in efficiency of three types of contracts in college administration are contrasted. Contract types include explicit contracts in the budgeting process between the state and higher education institutions; institutional contracting for inputs; and interinstitutional contracting. The tradeoff between production cost savings and…

Trends in paid employment among college students since the early 1960s are described, effects on student persistence and the financial rate of return for individual students while in college are analyzed, and possible explanations for the rising trend in employment are examined. (Author/MSE)

Contemporary college life resembles older forms of the American youth culture but differs by being a projection of a wider youth culture into college rather than a specially collegiate tradition. Analysis of modern college life gives insight into why undergraduates are satisfied with American higher education although critics are not. (Author/MSE)

An analysis of the federal Stafford Student Loan Program summarizes its successes, limitations, and numerous problems and explains why reform has not yet occurred. A policy stalemate in Congress, lack of a well-developed reform alternative, and newly professionalized and mobilized interest groups are seen as making change unlikely. (Author/MSE)

A factual account of a 10-minute conversation between a husband and wife about their daughter's application to college depicts marital problems. Closer examination reveals the tensions facing the middle class family and the significance to them of academic competition, higher education, comparative generational success, and social acceptance.…

A survey of 138 chemistry, physics, psychology, and sociology department heads investigated the relationship between the administrator's graduate school department quality and the formality of sanctioning of colleagues for violating each of the four norms of science. The results and implications for professional socialization within disciplines…

Some of the ways in which a system of program evaluation works to suppress diversity, innovation, and nonconformist approaches in the search for knowledge are discussed. The Ontario experience calls into question the appropriateness of a total system-wide application of the connoisseurship model. (MLW)

Problems when developing and operating a successful student assessment program are described. Potential problems and solutions in three major areas are examined: the purposes and definitions of assessment, program implementation, and assessment designs and methods. (Author/MLW)

A small group discussion method of gathering feedback from students, when combined with student ratings, greatly enhanced the positive effect on teaching as compared to ratings alone. The results are explained in terms of teaching and learning as collaborative interaction. (Author/MLW)

The study examined the rhetoric of the promotional bulletins of 28 liberal arts institutions to describe how these schools are marketing the concept of liberal arts education. Analysis of descriptions of faculty, students, academic programs, and institutional persona yielded a common rhetorical profile. (Author/MLW)

The growth of new female doctorates has resulted in an increase in their participation rate and a decrease in their unemployment rate, although the female unemployment rate remains high relative to that of men. Gender-based differences still exist, however, and many new female doctorates hold part-time positions. (Author/MLW)

The history of organized research units suggests that they have played an important role in the reorientation of university research toward applied knowledge. This has allowed American universities to expand parts of their research commitments in response to social demands without significantly affecting their fundamental educational mission. (MSE)