Describes the number and types of incentives offered to teachers in 67 rural schools in Virginia and examines effect on teacher recruitment and retention. Finds success in recruitment/retention directly related to the range of incentives and rewards. Notes most school districts offer no rewards to superior teachers. (LFL)

Assesses the extent to which 30 third graders employ phonetically-based spelling strategies in representing synthetic words with high and mid front vowels. Finds spelling of good readers rule-governed and derived from judgement about language while that of poor readers showed less awareness of written language patterns. (LFL)

Studies condition of school facilities in 223 rural and small schools in Kansas in 1984. Finds condition of facilities closely related to bonded indebtedness of the school district and replacement estimates exceeding $56 million. Discusses inability of wealth-poor districts to maintain buildings and need for legislative action on equity issues.…

Surveys 383 rural/urban/suburban school psychologists to evaluate influence of child's background, school setting, and psychologist's work setting on educational expectations for hypothetical case study child. Finds expectations not influenced by student's background or school setting. However, rural psychologists have higher academic/vocational…

Evaluates effectiveness of resource teacher services in mainstreamed rural classrooms in four districts in Quebec. Finds relationships between distance, staff ratio, interpersonal skills/competence, and rate of service delivery. Verifies Hurder theory that service delivery is influenced by access, disposition, and organization variables. (LFL)

Three kinds of research concerning quality in higher education (reputational, objective indicators, and quantitative correlate) are described and illustrated, the merits and disadvantages of each are discussed, and the present state of research on educational quality is examined. (MSE)

An analysis of five dimensions of perceived stress (reward and recognition, time constraints, departmental influence, professional identity, and student interaction) among university faculty and their relationship to personal and professional characteristics is reported. (MSE)

A study is reported of the relationship of family education and income, high school grades, academic and social self-confidence, undergraduate institutional selectivity and size, academic and social integration, overall college satisfaction, bachelor's degree attainment, and financial aid on students' persistence to graduate school. (MSE)

An analysis of state college and university faculty salaries by region, rank, and discipline during a seven-year period is reported. It reveals that the ranges among salaries have been increasing. (MSE)

A series of humorous aphorisms reflect on why American higher education does not improve despite quantities of research and pervasive change in recent years. Topics covered include research, excellence, the liberal arts, administration, faculty, and students. (MSE)

A study of instructional costs in a large university focuses on graduate education, draws inferences about the economic costs of incremental or marginal enrollments, and examines how the costs facing faculty differ from those incurred by the administration and the state legislature. (MSE)

The characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of two relatively new debt instruments (variable rate demand bonds and tax-exempt variable rate demand bonds) and one soon to be available (real rate bonds) for short-term institutional finance needs and for reducing financing expenses are examined. (MSE)

A model is posited that teaching career choice at the end of the sophomore year of college was function, not only of aptitude, family backbground, secondary school experiences, and precollege career choice, but also of college characteristics, institutional environmental dimensions, and measures of the college experience. (Author/MLW)

University of Michigan faculty members were interviewed on matters related to their careers. The data were analyzed with regard to productivity, promotion rate, and perceptions and values of faculty with respect to the weight that research, teaching, and service are given in promotion decisions. (Author/MLW)

Data from 1982-83 random sample of K-12 public school districts under 900 students across the United States were compared with data from 13 states with largest proportion of small-rural districts. Enrollment figures and trends, district size, faculty turnover, teacher/student ratios, salaries, educational finance, academic course offerings, and…