Student attendance in K-12 schools is strongly associated with critical educational outcomes such as student achievement and graduation rates. Yet, the factors that contribute to chronic absenteeism are complex, with environmental, non-structural (student/family), and structural (school-based) factors all potentially affecting the likelihood of a…

Western intellectual heritage is characterized by a gradual but significant shift from a supernatural to a naturalistic worldview between 1880 and 1920. With the ascendancy of naturalistic worldview, various conflicting ideas emerge about the place and proper function of the family and the educational institutions. The social and legal…

This paper is a part of an ongoing empirical, multi-modal comparative investigation into corporate universities in the US and the UK, the first stage of which was reported in Walton and Martin (2000). This second stage consists of an in-depth comparative study of the aims and objectives of corporate universities in the UK and US compared to…

The last 10 years have been a distinctive decade in American education. There was much argument for change in the 1950s, but it was Sputnik that sparked action in the field of education. The assumption at that time was that if the U.S. was technologically "behind," the schools were to blame. Federal funds for schools began as an "emergency"…

The programs of the two back-to-basics schools in Jefferson County, Kentucky, are briefly described in this speech. The two schools, one high school and one elementary school, are alternative programs. The emphasis is on traditional curriculum, patriotism, respect, competition, and citizenship. Recitation, drill, and homework, along with…

This paper describes one instructor's experiences in teaching an introductory psychology course in a traditional college (Rhode Island College) setting and in the College's nontraditional Urban Educational Center. The students at the Center, which offered tuition-free enrollment classes in high school equivalency preparation, adult basic…

The Defining Issues Test (DIT), which utilizes the moral development stage theory of L. Kohlberg, was administered to 41 students from an upper middle class school district in Pennsylvania. The scores of students who elected to attend the alternative high school were compared with the scores of students who elected to attend the district's…

Assesses the factors that universities need to consider when developing a strategic response to "borderless education," discusses certain instruments which may be used in strategic analysis, and considers some options in the areas of organizational structures, support infrastructure, personnel policy, and quality assurance. (EV)

Middle school principals must continue to provide leadership for staff development programs. As the instructional leader of the middle school, the principal faces the challenge of assisting both new and experienced teachers in developing teaching strategies that are consistent with the characteristics and needs of transescent students. At the same…

Reflects on seminar presentations within four major themes: (1) the acceleration of change in higher education owing mostly to information and communication technologies; (2) complementarity and contrast between virtual and classical universities; (3) institutional responses to change; and (4) quality issues. Proposes various agendas for further…

This paper argues that the "old paradigm" in education is a collection of assumptions, beliefs, and values that underlie the workings of present-day schools. The old paradigm is based on the notion of education as a meritocratic enterprise, institutional rationality, the positivist approach to truth, commitment to efficiency, and…

This study is part of a continuing program of evaluation of open vs. traditional education at the junior high school level. Incoming seventh graders were assigned to open and control groups to evaluate relative effects on academic underachievement, socialization, and general academic "success" as a function of various means of student selection.…

This paper provides an example of how elementary school curriculum leaders can be mindful of student intelligences and can utilize the strengths of their student populations. It presents the findings from a national study that examined how 17 schools using a curriculum based on Multiple Intelligences Theory improved the self-concept and positive…

Although the literature abounds with speculation about open education, there are few experimental studies designed to test its effects. This research compared an open education program with a traditional program at the middle school level. Subjects were randomly assigned to comparison groups. Dependent measures included a self-concept scale, a…

This paper examines the goals of education which should include the transmission of knowledge, training of skills necessary in a technological society, training of intellectual/abstractive capacities, autonomy and flexibility, and healthy personal and interpersonal functioning. The author argues that a process-oriented classroom approach is more…