Although a considerable body of research has been developed in recent years on participation in adult education, little has been done from the standpoint of social policy and its impact on participation. To assist investigation of this aspect of participation, three social policy models are presented: market models, progressive-liberal-welfare…

Efforts to prevent mental retardation have been encumbered by lack of scientific and technical knowledge, vague understanding of incidence and prevalence, and scarcity of resources to implement effective public policies. Scientific and social progress toward prevention has pursued a wavelike, erratic course, driven primarily by prevailing social,…

Features of the matrix model of the research university and myths about the academic enterprise are described, along with serious dissonances in the U.S. university system. The linear model, from which the matrix model evolved, describes the university's structure, perceived mission, and organizational behavior. A matrix model portrays in concise,…

Using Amitai Etzioni's (1961) sociological model as a basis for analysis, the paper examines the relationship between central student characters and their chief reference group or significant other(s) in the schools as portrayed in three films: "If" (1969), "Child's Play" (1972), and "Educating Rita" (1983). Two…

Approaches to promoting justice education on a Catholic university campus are considered. A model of experiential learning for the sake of justice, based on the insights of liberation theology and research on cognitive development and style, suggests that there are a variety of instances within campus life where skills of justice can be learned.…

Theoretical models of social structure are analyzed in light of modern work patterns, social affiliations, and social attitudes. It is hypothesized that previous paradigms for society were based on classic theory which analyzed the then emergent forms of social structure and relationships. Because social structures and relationships have changed,…

This paper examines the relationship of urban reform and school reform to class conflict and assesses the adequacy of a class conflict model for explaining school reform in Atlanta in 1897. A model which explains urban reform (including school reform in urban areas) in class conflict categories is based on an ideology protective of middle-class…

One of 52 theoretical papers on school crime and its relation to poverty, this chapter proposes that school crime and disruption be conceptualized as a function of the congruence or fit between the personal characteristics of individual students and the social environments of the schools they attend. In developing a conceptual model, a selective…

The increasingly important role of transportation and its environmental impact is given major emphasis in this curriculum unit for secondary students. Four purposes of this unit are to describe and show (1) the historical development of transportation in America; (2) the effect of current transportation practices upon the environment; (3) some…

The material reported here was developed as part of a systematic effort to develop techniques to evaluate the effectiveness of a nationally implemented early childhood program. The Classroom Attitude Observation Schedule technique has been implemented in a number of school districts as a means of assessing program implementation of the Tucson…

This conference paper proposes a classification of possible psychological activity and illustrates some ways that cognitive development depends on affective development. Through diagrams and examples, the following assumptions (based on Piaget) are developed: (1) Learning is socially as well as materially oriented. (2) Affective and cognitive…

This paper describes the TALK (Technician/Apprentice Language Kit) model for "blue collar" Peace Corps trainees. The model seeks to overcome the low language aptitude of such trainees in academic learning situations by emphasizing their demonstrated task-oriented language learning ability. It also seeks to address the problem of…

A theoretical framework for mapping school political life is developed which distinguishes elite, bureaucratic, coalitional, and participant types of school political organizations. The framework provides tools for analyzing and comparing patterns of political behavior within and across school political behavior settings. Definitions and…

A need to provide more data about the impact of schools on children in terms of manipulable variables prompted an examination of the relationship between school organization and student aspirations for further education. A causal model is examined which would enable investigation of the mechanism by which school contexts could alter aspiration.…

In order to make formal instruction more responsive to individual needs, the following study implemented a procedure for transforming a conventional set of course materials into an interactive learning environment. The basic mechanism for interaction was a computer generated and computer administered quiz that sampled from concepts in the reading…