The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a peer-taught freshman seminar course on the grade point averages and retention rates of freshman students. Freshman students who entered the University of Texas at Arlington in the fall 1989 and fall 1990 semesters and enrolled in the voluntary 1 credit hour course "College Adjustment" were matched with freshman students who did not enroll in the course. Matched pairs were formed based on orientation attendance, college major, gender, and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores. For both years, the Freshman Seminar Group was similar to the group of All Other Freshman Students regarding the following characteristics: college major, age, gender, ethnicity, SAT scores, and number of first semester hours completed. Analysis of variance was used to determine if statistically significant (p < .05) differences existed between the first semester and first year grade point averages for the Freshman Seminar Group and Freshman Seminar Matches. Chi-square analysis was employed to determine if statistically significant (p < .05) differences existed between the second semester and sophomore year retention rates for the Freshman Seminar Group and Freshman Seminar Matches. The freshman seminar course was more beneficial to African American students, as evidenced by …

This study follows the progress of 11 elementary students who exhibited similar language-arts deficiencies and were treated with traditional and non-traditional language-arts remediation methods. Non-traditional methods were exclusively Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) lessons that required students to observe, talk about, and write about art images using a DBAE framework. Portfolios maintained by the students during one complete school year included writings and art production. Writings were marked using a color-coding system developed for the research project and designed to track growth in art cognition. Interviews for affective measure and the Test of Non-Verbal Intelligence, Edition II were administered as pre- and post-tests. Evidence indicated art understanding improved as cognition in language arts improved. Change in attitudes toward art and artists demonstrated a slight positive change. No significant difference was detected in non-verbal intelligence.

This study traced the development of the Equity 2000 Program in the Fort Worth Independent School District from its inception in 1990 to its sixth and final year as an exemplary program for equal access to higher education for minority and underserved youth. Program components included mathematics, counseling, staff development, academic enrichment activities, parent education and higher education linkages. Both primary and secondary sources were evaluated from the perspectives of internal and external criticism. The following conclusions were reached: 1) District policy must change if minority students are going to access algebra and geometry. 2) The lack of involvement of other curriculum areas created primarily a mathematics inservice program. 3) Required inservice was necessary to provide improved and more effective campus and district results. 4) The precollege guidance and counseling component needed integration with the mathematics component. 5) Lack of principals' involvement in the early development of the program contributed to uneven administrative support. 6) There was no definitive strategy for parental inclusion. 7) Funding sources were inadequate to fully implement all parts of the program. 8) There was limited participation of local institutions of higher education. 9) There was a lack of an ongoing, structured evaluation process to document …

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of using word processing and proofreading software in freshman composition at a community college. This study used pretest and posttest measures to determine if significant differences in the improvement of composition skills occurred between students in a composition class that did not use microcomputers and students in a composition class that did use microcomputers. Objective tests and writing samples were used as measurements. The population for the study consisted of students enrolled in freshman composition classes at a two year community college. Students self-selected enrollment in each class. Three hundred students who completed the pretest and posttest measures and completed the course were included in the study. There was no significant difference found in the improvement of writing skills between the two groups as measured by the objective test or the writing samples. There was a significant difference found in the withdrawal rate of students from the classes. The computer class had a significantly higher withdrawal rate than the non-computer class.

With the advent of national storm water regulations, municipalities with populations greater than 100,000 are required to obtain National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permits (NPDES) for storm water discharges. In addition to the sampling required for the permit process, the City of Fort Worth contracted with the University of North Texas' Institute of Applied Sciences to conduct acute toxicity testing using Pimephales prcmelas and Ceriodaphnia dubia on storm water samples received from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. A Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) was performed on four samples that exhibited acute toxicity to C. dubia. High levels of metals as well as diazinon were some of the probable toxicants found.

An activity for principal improvement that has not received much attention is the structured management effectiveness profile. The concept is to provide the principal and a group of teachers at that campus with an opportunity for assessment of the principal's management and leadership skills. A comparison between the two provides the principal with information on their perceived management strengths and weaknesses. One such profile, available through the American Association of School Administrators is the Educational Administrator Effectiveness Profile (EAEP). The EAEP was originally given to 66 principals in Tarrant County, Texas. This study reports the results of reassessment of 40 of those principals after a five year period.

Is there a relationship between work role and information seeking behavior? Three behaviors were examined: choice of information channel, choice of method for information retrieval, and choice of method for storing retrieved information. The Protestant clergy was selected as a profession with clearly identified work roles, including preacher and administrator. Questionnaires were mailed to 150 randomly selected ministers in Tarrant County, Texas. Sixty-four responded. Additionally, fifteen ministers selected at random were interviewed for additional data. The data collected through the questionnaires were analyzed using nonparametric statistical techniques.