Compared 51 seventh-graders considered at-risk for school failure with 51 classmates. Students with a history of school failure, although of normal intelligence, were found to be significantly less intellectually, academically, and affectively competent than their more successful peers and were rated by their teachers as significantly less able to…

Controversies exist in the research literature on student evaluation of instruction in higher education. In three studies, one of these controversies is explored, namely the relationship among student personality characteristics, teacher ratings, and student achievement. Findings suggest four conclusions relevant to summative evaluations of…

Describes how young unmarried Canadians cope with sexuality in the era of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Responses of 1,775 Anglophone and 493 Francophone college students in Canada indicate that those who are most aware of the risks of AIDS are also the most careless in putting themselves at risk. (SLD)

A study of 19 public schools in Washington and 20 in Alberta found that more Canadian teachers perceive principals as using positive motivation in social control communication; more male teachers think principals use negative motivation to communicate expectations; and teachers perceive that more male principals communicate expectations from a…

The validity of a scale, from the Ontario Health Survey, measuring the subjective sense of well-being, for a large multicultural population in Metropolitan Toronto, is examined through principal components analysis with oblique rotation. Four factors are extracted. Factor 1, is a stress and strain factor, and consists of health worries, feeling…

This study reported a number of differences between kindergarten children perceived by their teachers to be "thriving,""average," or "not as yet thriving." Subjects were 340 4- and 5-year-old children from 59 kindergarten classrooms. Results indicated that the three groups of children differed in a wide range of…

French-Canadian high school students (n=558) participated in study of relationship between suicidal ideation and selected personality variables, stress, and social support. Results indicated that suicidal ideation was positively related to depression, negative stress, and drug and alcohol use and negatively related to self-esteem, satisfaction…

The term "socioeconomic gradient" is often used to describe the relationships between social outcomes and socioeconomic status (SES) for individuals in a specific community. In research on child development the social outcome is typically a measure describing cognitive ability, health, behaviour, social skills, or personality traits.…

Reports a series of ethnographic studies of student behavior concerning examinations, conducted in a Canadian university since the mid-1980s. Describes techniques of data gathering and the link between methodology and theory. Examines implications for higher education, including dealing with students' exam-related stress, factors influencing…

Relationships between colleague ratings of 29 personality traits and student ratings of teacher effectiveness were studied for 46 faculty members in 6 types of courses ranging from freshman lectures to graduate seminars in a Canadian university's psychology department. Teachers are differentially suited to different course levels because of…

Predictors of school dropout and their stability over time were studied in 791 white French-speaking Canadian students aged 12 to 16 years in 1974 and 791 similar students in 1985 through self-administered questionnaires. School, family, behavioral, social, and personality variables predicted dropping out in both samples, and these predictors were…

To determine if there are critical differences between the social and psychological environments of coeducational and single-sex schools, researchers investigated five coeducational, four all-female, and four all-male high schools in Ontario (Canada). All of the schools are "Separate" schools; that is, they are Roman Catholic and,…

How does a dean or department or division chairperson fit into the administrative structure of a community college? How do these middle managers best work with faculty? These are questions that have evolved in community and technical colleges, as they moved into this new century. The roles of the middle manager will vary by campus throughout the…

The major purpose of this study was to assess the degree to which cognitive style, as indexed by the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT), is related to the way in which children respond to problems with social or interpersonal content. Fifty-two reflective and 64 impulsive first- and second-grade boys were presented with a number of stories in…

This investigation examined students attending U.S. and Canadian visual and performing arts secondary schools for distinguishing personality characteristics, locus of control, acceptance of talents, labeling, family dynamics, anxiety levels, perceived personal and school problems, and views of peers, artists/teachers, and counselors. One hundred…