Since the end of World War II, the number of returning college students aged twenty-five years or older has increased so rapidly in American colleges and universities that college administrators, either through lack of interest and understanding or through failure to function as proactive change agents, have not kept pace with the needs of older student populations. In recent years, as enrollment among traditional younger students has declined, enrollment among mature returning students has grown to the extent that they presently constitute more than a third of all college and university students in the United States. As a result of findings obtained in the study, the following recommendations are offered for consideration; (1) institutions of higher learning should place major emphasis upon development of Services and Programs for Returning Students; (2) colleges and universities should give greater priority to orientation program(s) for returning students; (3) returning students should be given credit for life experience and independent learning; (4) financial resources for returning student services should be standardized as line items in the institution's budget; (5) existing programs should be evaluated in order to determine their effectiveness; and (6) a follow-up study should be conducted in five years to provide statistical …

This study investigated whether Reality Therapy classroom management techniques could be used effectively to improve teacher attitudes, student attitudes, student achievement, and student classroom behavior. The findings of the study support the following conclusions. 1. Reality Therapy inservice education and implementation of Reality Therapy Teaching techniques in classrooms produce significant changes in the way teachers regard student discipline. 2. implementation of Reality Therapy practices in junior high classrooms produces positive changes in attitude toward school environment. 3. Implementation of Reality Therapy techniques in junior high classrooms does not seem to be effective in producing changes in student attitude toward self. 4. Implementation of Reality Therapy techniques in junior high classrooms can be effective in producing higher student grade point averages. 5. Reality Therapy techniques in junior high classrooms are not effective in producing lower rates of student misbehavior.

The purposes of this study were to identify the problems and issues encountered in the development of an educational information and counseling brokering service for adults and to determine their relative significance to the success of an educational brokering service. To accomplish this, the relevant developmental issues were identified by a search of the literature. These were sent to a consultant of the National Center for Educational Brokering who selected forty issues and problems as salient. These statements were formulated into a questionnaire to determine their significance in each stage of development. The initial questionnaire was submitted to four additional consultants for recommendations. The questionnaires were then mailed to the directors of 135 educational brokering centers listed in the Directory of the National Center for Educational Brokering. Based on the findings of the study, eleven issues were considered very significant by the total population of respondents. The three most significant issues were: flexibility and responsiveness in service, maintaining clarity of purpose while attempting to meet diverse needs, and insuring continuing financial viability.

Interest in this study was evoked by concern over the small percentage of women employed as school administrators. Despite recent legislation, this situation has not changed markedly. This study was needed to determine the current status, attitudes, and concerns of women certified as administrators in Texas with those of the superintendents of Texas public school districts? and to compare the differences of the two concerning this situation. It was concluded that not only did a larger percentage of the women prefer to be employed as elementary school administrators, but also the superintendents felt they would be more likely to be employed at that level. It was further concluded that a majority of the superintendents were likely to give women substantial consideration for employment as elementary school administrators, but were unlikely to hire them as chief administrators of their secondary schools. Many of the women also perceived that Texas school districts are still "in effect" participating in sexually discriminatory hiring practices whether or not the superintendents are aware of the situation. The attitudes of the women and the superintendents very clearly differed concerning opportunities available for female administrators in Texas.

This study dealt with the effect of low-level noise and high-level noise, of white noise and varied noise, and of high manifest anxiety and low manifest anxiety on college students' performance on a coding task. The conclusions of the study, based upon the hypotheses, were as follows: 1. Level of anxiety does not affect performance on a coding task. 2. The level of white and level of varied noise does not affect performance on a coding task. 3. Varied noise has a positive effect on performance on a coding task.

This study investigates the relationship between the school climate, as perceived by the professional staff, and specific leadership behavior, as reported by the school principals in a selected school district in the state of Washington, The purpose of the study is to determine the extent to which the leader behavior of the principal correlates with- the total school climate as well as with the individual factors comprising the school climate. There are no statistically significant relationships among the variables studied. The hypothesis that the higher the leadership skills of the principal the more beneficial would be the climate of the school is not supported. The results suggest that the school climate is independent of the leadership behavior of the principal. Since no difference was found when the factors of climate were considered cumulatively, the individual factors were analyzed for significance. The seven factors of climate, identified by James Tunney and James Jenkins from the CFK Ltd. School Climate Profile, were independent of the leadership ability of the principal.

This study assesses the continuing education needs of social caseworkers employed by the Community Care for the Aged, Blind and Disabled Program Division of the Texas State Department of Human Resources. A model by which needs assessments and discrepancy evaluation can be conducted was identified. The study was designed to answer three major questions. These were (1) What are the behavioral competencies critical to the effective practice of C.C.A.B.D. social casework within the Texas State Department of Human Resources? (2) What are the current continuing education needs of C.C.A.B.D. caseworkers with respect to these competencies? (3) What significant discrepancies exist as to the perception of these needs among caseworkers, supervisors, and administrators that hold implications for continuing education program planning. The needs assessment model developed in this study is designed to overcome many of the limitations of traditional approaches to needs assessment by defining critical job requirements from the perspective of current practice as well as administrative policy, establishing a profile of the successful worker as a model for staff development, and integrating the perceptions of administrators, supervisors, and workers in identifying continuing education needs.

This study was concerned with determining the effect of two levels of electromyogram (EMG) induced physiological arousal and therapeutic instructions on self-reported test anxiety, test performance, and on-task behavior. The rationale for such a study is the fact that treatments of test anxiety have presented inconsistent results. Little research has been undertaken with regard to the effect of EMG biofeedback as a treatment for test anxiety or non-specific effects associated with such a treatment. Results indicated that self-reported test anxiety was significantly higher (p<.05) under the high physiological arousal condition than under the low physiological arousal condition and that self-reported on-task behavior was significantly greater (p < .05) for the positive therapeutic instruction group. Physiological arousal levels did not have any significant effect upon test performance or self-reported on-task behavior. Also, therapeutic instructions did not have a significant effect on self-reported test anxiety or test performance. The results indicated a cognitive change with regard to test anxiety which was not reflected in test performance. Also, on-task behavior did not enhance test performance

This research study was developed to investigate a group of Outstanding college personalities in Iran. The purposes of the study were: (a) to identify a "frequently nominated" group and an "infrequently nominated" group of University of Isfahan students based on the social criterion of "outstanding personality development"; (b) to determine whether or not "friendship nominations" unduly influenced the selection of "frequently nominated" students; (c) to determine whether or not "frequently nominated" and "infrequently nominated" students could be reliably differentiated on stressful life events, developmental histories, mental health adjustment, expressed needs, and descriptive data; and (d) to present a summary of the most striking and consistent findings on personality development of the "frequently nominated" students. This study concludes that 1. A "frequently nominated" group and an "infrequently nominated" group of normal Iranian student personalities, based on the social criterion of "outstanding personality development," can be identified and statistically differentiated. 2. "Outstanding" Iranian student personalities have greater affiliative capacities than other normal Iranian student personalities. 3. "Outstanding" Iranian student personalities possess ego strength, as evidenced by their desire to make decisions from inner self evaluations and to break parental standards, to a greater extent than other normal Iranian student personalities. 4. "Outstanding" …

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is the ascertainment of the attitudes of members of the Texas film industry toward the film curriculum offered in Texas institutions of higher learning. Based on the findings the following conclusions have been reached. There is not a high regard overall for film-studies programs in Texas institutions of higher learning within the film industry. This may be overcome by an interaction of the professional film community as an active participant in curriculum planning and development. Of prime consideration should be an association of film schools coordinating programs in cooperation with the Texas Film Commission. An effective curriculum for film-studies education may be organized by utilization of learning modules. This plan would organize the learning experiences in a functional manner and would move toward involvement of a career nature.

The problem of this study was to ascertain the status of Texas secondary school industrial arts programs in regard to serving physically handicapped students and to analyze the attitudes of industrial arts teachers toward the physically handicapped students in industrial arts classes. The purposes of this study were, (1) to describe the nature and extent of participation by industrial arts programs in Texas secondary schools in complying with federal and state laws concerning the education of handicapped children, and (2) to acquire and interpret information which may be included in college courses for preparing industrial arts teachers and/or in-service programs for industrial arts teachers. Among the major findings revealed by an analysis of the data are the following. 1. Of the 366 industrial arts teachers surveyed, 86 per cent had no pre-service courses and 79 per cent had no in-service instruction concerning handicapped students; however, 67 per cent had experience teaching physically handicapped students. 2. Of the 37,659 students who were served by 355 industrial arts teachers during the 1977-78 school year, 727, or 2 per cent, were physically handicapped; 171 students were in separate special classes and 566 were integrated into regular classes. 3. Of the 727 physically handicapped …

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a death education laboratory approach on the participants. Measures of death anxiety, general anxiety, and self-concept were thought to be of particular importance and thus were used as dependent variables. The study was designed to obtain measures of the variables through appropriate testing administered immediately following participation in a death lab and one month after participation in the 16-hour death lab. This design was selected because the possibility exists that anxiety levels may increase during a workshop on death and dying. None of the eight hypotheses in this study were statistically validated. Thus the assumption that the death lab as used in this study would have a positive impact on the participants was rejected. However, non-statistical observations and inferences from analysis of covariance and t-test data suggested that the use of a waiting list control group may have biased the results of the study. A second observation made in this study was that high death anxious treatment group members tended to have reduced anxiety scores on post-testing and low death anxious treatment group members tended to have increased death anxiety scores on post-testing. It is not known if this …

This study was an investigation of teaching strategies and student outcomes of the drug education program in five pilot schools in Oklahoma as these programs relate to the "ideal" program recommended by drug education experts. This study had a twofold purpose. The first was to determine the differences of the perceptions of students, teachers and administrator toward the drug education program in their own school. The second was to compare this perceived "actual" program with the "ideal" program as described by selected drug education experts. The study centers on five exploratory questions. With the completion of the five exploratory questions, it was concluded that the factors that are descriptive of the "ideal" and "actual" drug education programs can be identified from opinions of persons who have an interest in or responsibility for effective information concerning the drug scene.

The purposes of this study were to 1) compare the characteristics between the elections that were successful and unsuccessful; 2) identify the purpose of the school bond issue (demographic characteristics); 3) identify the financial resources and structure of the school districts (economic characteristics); 4) analyze the public relations and publicity techniques used in the school bond campaign (communications variables); 5) determine the degree of responsibility assumed by individuals and groups for the educational, building, and bond needs of the school districts (group involvement); 6) ascertain personal and professional information about the district superintendent as it related to voter influence in the bond campaign; 7) determine prior bond election experience. The major conclusions were that the trend of large or small eligible voter turnout was inconclusive, urban districts had more difficulty than rural or suburban districts in passing bond issues, and bond issues were passed mainly for new facilities. School districts with large assessed valuation per resident student had better results than others. The newspaper, "general talking it up," speakers, public meetings, and telephone committees were effective means of communication. The superintendent, board of education, faculty, principals, P.T.A., and lay groups assumed the most responsibility in the elections.

This investigation examines the differences in perception of the role of staff-development trainer in organizations, a role identified as an emerging occupation, held by three professional groups. The focus is on sources of stress and strain in the job performance of the trainer. Purposes of the study are (1) to collect data from three coworker groups, administrators, directors of nursing, and trainers relative to the role of the trainer, (2) to examine differences in perception between the groups, (3) to examine the differences as potential sources of stress when viewed from the perspective of role theory, and (4) to delineate the role. This study indicates that knowledge about behavioral sciences and skill at interpersonal communications are important areas in both background and in personal qualities needed. Nurses and trainers widely perceive a lack of commitment to training by administrators. This relates to sources of strain in the role of trainer. There is a generally held expectation in the field that the role will grow in importance and scope.

This study investigated the role of the public library in serving children from infancy to age six. The purposes of this research were to obtain recommendations from early childhood education authorities pertaining to the areas of services, programs, materials, physical facilities, and personnel and to utilize these data in the development of guidelines for public libraries. Findings revealed that the majority recommended utilization of volunteers and of early childhood education consultant; preparation of children's librarians in working with adults and young children; provision of services and programs focusing on parent education, led by specialists; preparation of child care personnel in storytelling; programs involving parent and child participation; coordination of public library efforts with those of other community agencies in order to avoid duplication; and services, programs, materials, and physical facilities which facilitate and encourage interest in books and which relate to reading. The minority recommended services, materials, and physical facilities which focus on unstructured recreational play; and services, programs, and materials which focus on formal teaching or testing in cognitive areas.

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of developing (a) the concept of instructional claim, and (b) credible principles for instructional claim formulation and evaluation. The belief that these constructions are capable of contributing to the advancement of curricular and instructional research and practice is grounded in three major features. The first feature is that of increased precision of basic concepts and increased coherence among them. The second feature is the deliberate connecting of instructional strategies and goal-states and the connecting of instructional configurations with curricular configurations. The third feature is the introduction of fundamental logical principles as evaluative criteria and the framing of instructional plans in such a way as to be subject to empirical tests under the principles of hypothesis testing that are considered credible in the empirical sciences.

The purposes of this study were to determine if there are differences between the responses of abusive and nonabusive adults to potentially anger-provoking child behaviors; if there are differences between abusive and nonabusive adults; if there are differences between the children of abusive and nonabusive adults; and if there are combinations of these characteristics of the adults and characteristics of children as well as the behaviors of children which relate to child abusiveness in adults. The basic problem was to determine factors that help identify potentially child abusive adults. Certain factors, such as the limited size of the sample and the initial use of a new instrument, served as limitations to broad generalizations. However, based on the analysis of the data of this study, the following conclusions seem tenable 1. Certain behaviors of children are more upsetting to abusive adults than to nonabusive adults. 2. Characteristics of adults are not necessarily related to child abusiveness in adults. 3. The age of the child and the number of children living in the home are significantly related to child abusiveness in adults. 4. The findings indicate that a predictive model may be developed in conjunction with the Child Behavior Inventory for use …

This study concerned the paucity of group counseling procedures designed specifically for use with parents of handicapped children. Purposes of the study were- (1) design of an affective-cognitive group counseling procedure, (2) investigation of affective-cognitive group counseling procedural effects with parents of handicapped children, (3) determination of procedural effects in a. changing the intra- and interpersonal attitudes of parents, b. increasing parents' knowledge of Positive Behavior Management, and (4) determining comparative procedure effects. Four research hypotheses related to the efficacy of the affective-cognitive group counseling procedure were formulated and tested at the .05 level of confidence. Statistical analysis of data indicated that parents participating in the affective-cognitive group counseling procedure did not achieve significantly higher posttest mean scores on the Acceptance of Self and Others test or in the five areas of the Parent Attitude Survey Scale than did parents participating in the affective, cognitive, or control group. Data did reveal that parents participating in the cognitive group did achieve significantly higher adjusted posttest mean scores on the Positive Behavior Management Assessment than did parents participating in the affective-cognitive, affective, or control group. Data also indicated that parents in the affective-cognitive group did not obtain greater mean scores on goal-attainment …

The problem of this study was a comparison of the responses of students to three techniques of teaching literature. From this comparison, the most effective technique of teaching literature was identified. The three techniques selected for the study were silent reading, Readers Theatre, and videotape Readers Theatre. These three techniques were compared on achievement and attitude response. Effectiveness of each technique was examined by noting each grade level and the pooled-technique effectiveness scores. Also, black and white video-tape scores were examined in comparison to scores from the presentation of color video-tape. The analysis of data revealed that Readers Theatre resulted in significantly higher mean scores on attitude-scale tests than either of the other two techniques. The teaching technique of silent reading produced significantly higher mean comprehension scores than did either Readers Theatre or black and white video-tape, although Readers Theatre resulted in higher mean comprehension scores than did black and white video-tape. Silent reading produced a higher mean score than did black and white video-tape on the attitude-scale tests. Since silent reading produced significantly higher scores on comprehension of literature, it was concluded that silent reading is the most effective method for achieving comprehension. However, it was also concluded that …

The history of day care licensing standards in Texas was traced from the beginnings in voluntary welfare organizations to the 1976 revisions. The jurisdictional foundations of day care licensing was presented in a summary of the related legislation passed in Texas during the years from 1848 to 1975. Categories of licensing requirements in the different sets of standards promulgated in Texas were compared. The attempt was made to derive a contextual milieu of social, political and educational factors which influenced Texas day care legislation and the development of licensing standards. It was recommended that funds are essential to adequate enforcement of licensing standards. In addition, to facilitate acculturation of day care licensing, consultation and training efforts should expand proportionately to the expansion of day care. The fact that issues related to specific requirements surfaced repeatedly in the different decades studied, a need for carefully controlled research to validate the individual requirements was indicated.

The problem with which this study is concerned is the development of a process model through which culturally-relevant learning materials could be developed. "Culture-based learning materials" are defined to be materials which take into account the child's cultural/linguistic/experiential background and his natural interests. An illustration of the use of the model, for the purpose of demonstrating how to devise culture-based learning experiences via the model, is provided. Teachers of elementary school children in three school districts in northeastern New Mexico were invited to participate in the illustration. Their duty was to collect data via the instrument designed in the second part of the model. The data collected indicate that the majority of children attending these schools are "bilingual" in Spanish and English. Certain literature on teaching Mexican-American children is therefore summarized. For illustrative purposes mathematics was chosen to represent the school's curricula. Hence a synthesis of certain literature on teaching mathematics to "bilingual" children is also provided. Illustrative culture-based mathematics learning experiences for use by teachers in northeastern New Mexico are presented and discussed.

This study assesses the attitudes of resident college students and staffs toward the concept in loco parents as it pertains to residence hall administration. It also describes relationships between attitudes toward in loco parentis combinations of four demographic variables: university, status (staff or resident) academic level, and sex. The chi-square analysis indicated thirty-one significant relationships between attitudes toward the eleven residence hall situations and the four demographic variables. Major findings indicated that: (a) resident students and staffs were ambiguous toward in loco parents; (b) resident students and staffs were for or against in loco parents depending upon the situation (eleven situations are discussed); (c) attitudes of resident students and staffs were similar in most situations; and (d) the majority of resident students and staff members felt positively toward an objective description of in loco parentis, but this attitude did not prevail when the concept was manifested in university staff behavior in typical residence hall situations.

This study examined correlations between assessed intelligence and two major categories of reading comprehension: literal-explicit and inferential-implicit. In addition, efficiency of prediction for criterion variables was investigated by utilizing two regression models which incorporated intelligence scores squared and the square root of intelligence scores. Since it is generally accepted that the higher the assessed intelligence of an individual, the higher will be his achievement in all areas of reading comprehension, the present study sought to discover whether there was a curvilinear relationship between intelligence and the two categories of reading comprehension with the factor of intelligence statistically controlled. It was felt that the hypothesized curvilinear relationship would result in significantly better performance by brighter students on inferential questions and significantly better performance by less-bright students on literal questions. Although no cause and effect has been established, based on the data presented in this study and within the. limitations of this study, the following conclusions seem tenable. 1. Since reading comprehension may be viewed as a thinking process, it is important to note that a relationship exists between the assessed intelligence of an individual and his performance on both literal and inferential tests of that process. 2. This study has demonstrated …