Discusses a study of students in a college study skills course who self-reported procrastination in three critical tasks: studying for exams, writing term papers, and keeping up with weekly reading. Reports that procrastination scores were positively correlated with number of perceived barriers to academic success, including problems with time…

In this era of accountability and significant school reform, efforts to improve schools increasingly look to the principal to spearhead change efforts at the school level. Good principals are the cornerstones of good schools. Without a principal's leadership efforts to raise student achievement, a school cannot achieve its fundamental academic…

This report details a project that explored the utility of adding a character development component to the academic curriculum for a correctional education program. In addition to the academic curriculum, a character component based on Steven Covey's "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" was taught to a demonstration group; only…

The Quality Schools movement combines the principles of control theory with Edward Deming's principles of total quality management. The outcome is a school environment in which the focus is on quality work, discipline is maintained without coercion, and students continuously evaluate their own work. This book describes the application of Quality…

This study investigated children's practices and ideas or perceptions about self-regulation for two particular aspects of schoolwork: completing homework and learning for a class test. Subjects were 86 Anglo children (ages 7, 9, and 11) who were interviewed about their practices and ideas concerning homework completion and test preparation.…

To teach responsible behavior means to encourage children to be motivated from the inside and to follow rules that help themselves and others. This guide, part of the "Seeds for Success" series, provides advice for parents for creating in children an inner sense of responsibility by means of nearly 100 simple activity ideas designed for use with…

This document presents a curriculum (based on the author's own experiences listening to music) that aims to get children to become aware of themselves by having them write down their thoughts and feelings (their "contemplations") after listening to music or in response to famous quotations. The document discusses how the curriculum was…

The purposes of this study were to: (1) investigate the feasibility of including convergent, divergent, and imaginary factors in models of creative thinking in music; (2) identify the relationship between the processes involved in musical creativity and motivation for musical activities; and (3) determine the generalizability of Amabile's…

Dropping out of school may be laden with devastating personal and societal consequences. Actual and potential high school dropouts often face many problems in their lives, other than academic dissatisfaction. Low self-esteem may frequently be the source and result of these difficulties. This project, therefore, was intended to develop a manual for…

In this journal issue, articles examine various aspects of measuring creativity, productivity of gifted individuals, fostering psychological well-being of the gifted, and federal funding of gifted programs. Specific articles include: (1) "The Death of Creativity Measurement Has Been Greatly Exaggerated: Current Issues, Recent Advances, and Future…

This report is one in a continuing series of progress reports on the effort to increase the general level of emotional competency in the state of Rhode Island. This initiative, involving several departments of state government and other agencies comprising the Rhode Island Emotional Competency Partnership, is being targeted at various segments of…

This paper discusses the findings of a study that explored the role of self-efficacy and career decision-making in students with physical disabilities engaged in the career planning process. The relationships of career decision-making self-efficacy to adjustment of disability, severity of disability, and career exploration behaviors were examined…

Provides advice, models, and information concerning time management for higher education geography students. Reiterates the need for personal planning and scheduling. Addresses such issues as deadlines, reading time, field classes, work space, leisure time, and dissertations. Includes eight sample charts and schedules. (MJP)

Four studies examined preschoolers' use of the cue of action initiation to infer another's desired goal. Found that differences in action initiation play an increasingly important role in 3-year-olds' mentalistic explanations of action, and that this development may be related to other critical changes occurring in their developing theory of mind.…

The causal role of students' self-efficacy beliefs and academic goals in self-motivated academic attainment was studied for 102 ninth and tenth graders (50 males and 52 females) using path analysis procedures. Perceived efficacy to achieve motivates academic attainment both directly and indirectly by influencing personal goal setting. (SLD)