Votaw, Bonnie L. (1987). Picacho Junior High School Excellence Award: A Report to the Department of Education, December 1987. Picacho Junior High School serves a student population of 1,070 and is located in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The purpose of the project, developed as a result of the school excellence award, was to improve student motivation, attendance and achievement through dual activities: (1) enhancing teacher competency through a staff development plan using the Classroom Management Training Program; and (2) increasing parent contact with the school. Thirty of the school's 54-member faculty were trained in two groups, with the first group of teachers acting as trainers and subsequent coaches for the second group. The training focused on an integrated model of positive discipline and positive instruction. Explicit efforts were made to increase the number of contacts with parents, through phone calls from counselors, conferencing with teachers, and mailing of mid-term grade reporting information. As an outcome of the training, teachers, students and parents saw improvement in student motivation. Office referrals for discipline dropped an average of 28 percent during the period of time compared to the same period the previous year. Attendance rates for students remained virtually unchanged for the comparison times, but membership in the Honor Society increased by 47 percent. (Appendices making up more than half the document include survey forms and extensive training material samples).   [More]  Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Attendance, Classroom Techniques, Improvement Programs

Fioke, Clarence J.; King, Richard A. (1982). Shifting Governance and Control in Church-Related Institutions of Higher Education. Factors related to shifts in governance patterns of church-related private colleges were investigated through historical document analysis, interviews with 34 presidents and board members, and 59 questionnaires returned by current and past board members of 2 New Mexico institutions. Document analysis focused upon mission statements, annual reports, catalogs, press releases, newspaper articles, alumni bulletins, school newspapers, and faculty council minutes. Attention was directed to shifts in governance patterns over the past three decades (late 1940s through December 1981) for two southwestern colleges, both related to the Roman Catholic Church and operated as coeducational, 4-year undergraduate institutions. Since the 1960s, board composition of the two institutions shifted from absolute religious domination toward a shared religious/law membership. In addition, the size of the boards increased to accommodate the demands for lay representation. The composition of the boards at both colleges reveals dramatic changes in the number of trustees, in the proportion of religious to lay members, and by the addition of students and alumni. Four major factors were involved in the shifting governance patterns: ownership, funding sources, value structures, and politics. The findings suggest that transitions in governance and control in a church-related college are influenced primarily by shifts in value orientations, while the formation of responses to these shifts is primarily a political process, dependent upon the ownership of and sources of funding for the institution. Additional theoretical propositions regarding governance patterns and recommendations for policy development are proposed. A bibliography is appended.   [More]  Descriptors: Administrative Policy, Catholics, Church Related Colleges, Church Role

Clark, Catherine P. (1985). Preventive Law Institute on Career Ladders and Merit Pay. The Proceedings. (Austin, Texas, August 7, 1985). This document reports the proceedings of a 1985 conference on preventing the legal problems that could grow out of the implementation of career ladder and merit pay programs for teachers. The contents of the report include a welcome by Preston C. Kronkosky; an overview by Virginia Koehler of the goals, characteristics, and demands of career ladder and merit pay plans; reviews by state legislators or legislative staffers of the state legislation regarding such plans in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas; and a brief discussion of some of the points covered in the legislative review. The report then presents addresses on "The Teachers' Perspective on Career Ladders and Merit Pay," by Karen Lee Johnson; "The Administrators' View on Career Ladders and Merit Pay," by Joe E. Hairston; "Preventive Law: Its Application to Career Ladder Policies," by William C. Bednar, Jr.; and "Local Education Agency (LEA) Perspectives," by Kelly Frels. Questions and responses raised in discussion among these speakers are presented next. "National Perspective: Liability and Risk for LEAs," an address by G. Ross Smith, completes the report. Among the topics addressed at the conference are planning, the attitudes of those affected, needs for local level commitment, possible conflicts, teacher evaluation, the nature and potential of a preventive law approach, client-lawyer relationships, and legal liability. Appendixes present the conference agenda, biographical data on the presenters, and addresses of conference participants.   [More]  Descriptors: Career Ladders, Court Litigation, Educational Quality, Elementary Secondary Education

Mick, Delores Bell (1982). Assessment Procedures and Enrollment Patterns of Hispanic Students in Special Education and Gifted Programs. Final Report. January 1, 1981-April 30, 1982. The study examined issues involved in nondiscriminatory assessment and special education placement of Hispanic exceptional students. Literature is reviewed on three aspects: proportionate representation of Hispanic students in special and gifted placements, assessment procedures used (specifically, modifications and alternatives in testing), and major differences among three major Hispanic subcultures (Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban American). The development and revision of a 35-item questionnaire on nondiscrimination in evaluation for Hispanic students and on proportionate numbers in special and gifted programs are described along with information on its completion by 101 administrators of special education in four states (Texas, New Mexico, Florida, and Massachusetts), and two cities (Philadelphia and New York). Findings are discussed in terms of Hispanic enrollment patterns and protection in evaluation procedures (with summaries of such accommodations as those for language dominance and language proficiency, culture fair tests, criterion referenced measures, and activities to improve Hispanic students' test taking skills). Among conclusions reported are that contrary to findings of other research, a majority of local educational agencies proportionately enrolled Hispanic students in special education as a whole, and to a lesser extent, in programs specifically for learning disabled and educable mentally retarded students; Hispanic students were grossly underenrolled in gifted/talented programs; there were differences in subcultures; and the majority of administrators frequently made adaptations in assessment procedures to ensure protection in evaluation.   [More]  Descriptors: Disabilities, Elementary Secondary Education, Enrollment Trends, Gifted

Association of Research Libraries, Washington, DC. Office of Management Studies. (1981). User Surveys and Evaluation of Library Services. SPEC Kit #71. This set of materials assembled by the Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) contains seven examples of general use surveys and eight examples of user surveys on specific topics from a group of major research libraries. Among the items included are (1) a final report on a library user survey from the University of California at Riverside; (2) a user survey from the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at New York University; (3) questionnaires on the adequacy of library service at Emory University; (4) library use surveys from Colorado State University, the University of Colorado, and the University of New Mexico; (5) an availability analysis report from the University of Arizona; and (6) an undergraduate library availability study from the University of Tennessee, a user assistance tally from the University of Georgia, a faculty questionnaire on branch and division libraries from the University of Colorado, a search services user and availability of citations questionnaire from Boston University, and the executive summary of a Cornell University user survey on the libraries' research support performance. Descriptors: Academic Libraries, Evaluation Methods, Higher Education, Library Catalogs

Association of Research Libraries, Washington, DC. Office of Management Studies. (1981). External User Services. SPEC Kit #73. This collection of policies for providing access to the collections and services of research libraries for users who are not associated with the library's parent institution includes six examples of general access policies, three documents on reference service, five statements of circulation policies, and descriptions of four cooperative agreements. General access policies from Brown, Georgetown, New York, and Northwestern Universities, the Utah College Library Council, and the University of Utah address such issues as borrowing and reading privileges, fee and nonfee access, circulation regulations and use of collections, equipment, and special facilities. Reference service policies are presented for Colorado State University and the University of New Mexico, as well as the results of a survey of reference questions in three British Columbia university libraries. User categories, lending conditions, loan regulations, and circulation policy are the focus of statements on borrowing privileges from the Universities of Alberta, British Columbia, Cincinnati and Colorado/Boulder, and Emory University. The final section presents the Duke University and University of North Carolina cooperative library lending agreement, the Infopass Program of the Illinois Regional Council, reciprocal borrowing statement of the Pittsburgh Regional Library Center, and a reciprocal agreement between State Technical Institute and the University of Tennessee/Knoxville. Descriptors: Academic Libraries, Criteria, Fees, Higher Education

Zelazek, John R. (1986). Learning Styles, Gender, and Life Cycle Stage: Relationships with Respect to Graduate Students. Interactions between learning styles, gender, and life cycle stages of graduate students were investigated. Six learning styles were identified through use of the Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Styles Scales: avoidant, collaborative, dependent, competitive, independent, and participant. Life cycle stages were based on Levinson's theory of the adult life cycle: entering the adult world (ages 22 to 28), age 30 transition (ages 28 to 33), settling down (ages 33 to 40), midlife transition (ages 40 to 45), and entering middle adulthood (ages 45-50). The sample consisted of 183 male and 322 female graduate students at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Students were enrolled in 500 and 600 level classes and were between the ages of 22 and 50. The findings indicated that the graduate students used different learning styles. While no significant difference in learning styles was found for men and women, men were more avoidant and females were more participatory. No significant difference in learning style between the life cycle stages occurred; however, individuals tended to be more independent the greater their life cycle stages. In addition, individuals tended to be less avoidant and more participatory the greater their life cycle stage. Implications of the findings for graduate-level education are considered.   [More]  Descriptors: Adult Students, Age Groups, Cognitive Style, Females

Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, Boulder, CO. (1987). Tuition and Fees in Public Higher Education in the West, 1986-87. Information Series, 11. The seventh in an annual series of reports contains tabular presentations of tuition and fee charges for full-time, full-year attendance at public institutions in 14 western states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming). Charges are reported for community college students, resident and nonresident undergraduates at four-year institutions, and resident and non-resident graduate students. For each category, student charges are reported for the current and prior academic years (1986-87 and 1985-86) and for 1982-83, to show the percent change over 1- and 5-year periods. Arithmetic averages for specific groups of institutions and states and percentage changes in these averages from previous years are also provided. Highlights of the findings include: (1) tuition and fees continued to increase, and increases continued to exceed the level of overall price increases; (2) for community college students, full-time attendance charges increased 5.9% to $605, excluding California; and (3) for nonresident students, tuition and fees are over three times the charges for resident students.   [More]  Descriptors: Community Colleges, Fees, Graduate Students, Higher Education

Bastida, Elena M.; O'Flaherty, Kathleen M. (1987). The Impact of Community Structure on the Status of the Elderly. This study examined the underlying influence of the social context, as measured by selected structural characteristics, on the resources available to the elderly in 99 counties across Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, and Arkansas. These four states were chosen because each reflected national patterns for age concentrations and for the historical development of aging programs and each exhibited variations in urban/rural population, migration patterns, socioeconomic structure, and ethnic concentration. Data on economic, demographic, health care, and political structures were taken from the 1980 United States Census of the Population and the 1983 County and City Data Book. Additional data were provided by the four state associations for hospitals and nursing homes. Data analysis indicated that the rural elderly were a unique population group, living farther from needed services, especially health care services. They lived in more age dependent populations and were older, poorer, and more likely to live in economically depressed communities than were the urban elderly. In general, demographic and economic indicators were the strongest predictors in analyses, explaining as much as 63% of the variance in median income residents 65 years of age and older. The importance of the social context was verified by the study. The political structure, however, was not as strong a predictor in the models as might have been anticipated. Descriptors: Demography, Economic Factors, Health Services, Human Services

Arrison, Inc., Santa Fe, NM. (1985). Master Plan: Santa Fe Community College. This master plan for Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) was prepared to provide the college with a base document to guide the initial and future development of the campus. The report begins with historical background of the development of the college from the recognition of the need for the college in the 1970's to its creation in 1983. Next, the mission and goals of SFCC are outlined. The following sections provide a service area profile, describing population and demographic trends; enrollment growth and student characteristics for fall 1983 through spring 1984; enrollment projections and growth patterns for New Mexico community colleges and for SFCC; a list of degree and certificate programs currently offered and to be developed; and instructional space needs and space utilization, based on projections of the number of students and the hours they will attend classes each week. Next, the facilities required to accommodate the enrollments projected for 1990 are specified within the categories of instructional support and instructional spaces. The next sections provide information on the selected site and how it can best be utilized. The final sections provide a schedule for the construction of the campus, discuss cost estimates, and address future considerations. Descriptors: Campus Planning, College Planning, Community Colleges, Educational Facilities Planning

Association of Research Libraries, Washington, DC. Office of Management Studies. (1981). Fees for Service. SPEC Kit #74. Issues involved in user fees for library services at research libraries are discussed in 29 papers in six sections: (1) general fees for service policies, focusing on library service proposals to the non-University of British Columbia community and including fees to off-campus users at the Universities of Miami and Michigan; (2) effects of fees, describing loans to extramural borrowers at the University of British Columbia; (3) delivery and photocopy services, discussing those at UCLA Biomedical Library, Case Western Reserve University and the Universities of Pittsburgh and California/Berkeley; (4) interlibrary loan, identifying charges at Cornell University and the Universities of Pennsylvania, California/Berkeley, and Tennessee/Knoxville; (5) online search services, highlighting costs at the Universities of Georgia, Tennessee, New Mexico, and British Columbia, Michigan State University, Temple University, Southern Illinois University, Brigham Young University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and identifying databases available at Northwestern University Library; and (6) Communication with users, discussing visitor use of libraries at Harvard University, the Universities of Chicago, British Columbia, and California/Santa Barbara as well as the Regional Information and Communication Exchange at Rice University and Information Transfer Source at the University of Michigan. A brief overview of the background and issues is provided. Descriptors: Academic Libraries, Databases, Fees, Higher Education

Anderson, Robert A., Jr. (1984). Performance Appraisal and Merit Compensation. Community Colleges: Quality Education for a Learning Society. Round Table Talk. Detailed information is provided on the Performance Appraisal/Salary System adopted by the New Mexico Junior College (NMJC) Board in 1981 as the basis for the performance evaluation of all college employees. Introductory material discusses the concepts of performance appraisal and merit compensation and provides an update on changes in NMJC's Performance Appraisal/Salary System that were implemented in 1982-83. Next, section I provides information on the philosophy and objectives of the system, the general assumptions upon which it is based and the responsibilities of the personnel involved in the evaluation process. Section II outlines the procedures for the performance appraisal, providing definitions of key terms and performance categories; a description of the seven parts of the appraisal forms; general instructions for performing appraisals; a short discussion of the college's normalizing procedure; an explanation of the performance appraisal review and procedures for handling the completed performance appraisal; a timeline; and a sample of a completed performance appraisal. Section III provides a general description of NMJC's compensation method, including information on compensation categories, meritorious points, and salary pool groups. Appendices contain performance appraisal instructions and sample forms. Descriptors: Community Colleges, Evaluation Criteria, Merit Pay, Personnel Evaluation

Weiler, Patricia J., Ed.; And Others (1982). Look to the Center. Conference Proceedings of the National Teacher Center Directors Conference (4th, February 10-12, 1982, Washington, DC). The fourth annual National Teacher Center Directors Conference, the proceedings of which are reported in this document, called for discussion on: (1) institutionalizing teacher-centered inservice education; (2) expanding the support base for teacher centers; (3) synthesizing the teacher center experience; (4) linking teacher center products with national dissemination systems; (5) improving staff development programs; (6) state leadership roles in inservice education; (7) implications of educational trends for teacher centers; and (8) how key constituent groups view teacher centers. Speakers at the conference's five general sessions, which are reported on in this document, represented the U.S. Department of Education, National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, National School Boards Association, Oxford Public Schools (Massachusetts), Albuquerque Public Schools (New Mexico), Hernando County Schools (Florida), and Western Nebraska Rural Teacher Center. Overviews of 14 workshop sessions present brief summaries of discussions on topics including teacher centers, collaborative research, professional development, networking, urban and rural education, parent and teacher cooperation, and education for the handicapped.   [More]  Descriptors: Economic Change, Educational Research, Educational Trends, Futures (of Society)

Johnson, Patricia T. (1988). A Program for Limited English Speaking Students. Necessity Is the Mother of ESL Programs. The development of a language development program for limited-English-proficient Spanish-speaking students in a New Mexico junior high school are described. Initially, the program was organized in response to sudden heavy enrollment of non-English-speaking students, and was intended to teach them English. In subsequent years, through application of research findings and theory on bilingualism and second language learning, the program has focused on developing literacy in both English and native Spanish. Currently, students spend two years in the beginning-level program and a year at the intermediate level, and some students remain in the junior high school an additional year to take advantage of the program. A beginning student's daily schedule includes: four periods of language arts, including instruction in oral and written English as a second language (ESL), Spanish and English reading, and Spanish for native speakers; math at one of two levels, taught in Spanish; and an activity class, usually physical education. At the intermediate level, students are systematically mainstreamed into the regular curriculum. All continue in appropriate native Spanish classes and mediated ESL instruction and most have math instruction in Spanish. The program has been successful in teaching and retaining students. Descriptors: Bilingual Education Programs, English (Second Language), Junior High Schools, Limited English Speaking

Halcon, John J. (1988). Exemplary Programs for College-Bound Minority Students. This report, an early component of a forthcoming set of publications intended to assist colleges and universities in building more effective programs for minority undergraduate and graduate students, provides short descriptions of 18 exemplary efforts to enhance the participation and success of minority students in higher education (including the names of contacts for additional information). The 18 programs are: Hispanic Mother-Daughter (Arizona State University); First Generation Award (Colorado State University); Project YOU–Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Texas College and University System); College Enrichment (University of New Mexico); STEP–Strides Toward Educational Proficiency (Mount St. Mary's College, Los Angeles); Student Affirmative Action Retention (California State University); Early Awareness (University of Texas); Pre-Collegiate Development (University of Colorado); PUENTE Project (University of California/California Community Colleges); Graduate Division Affirmative Action Program (University of California); Minority Engineering and Geology (Texas A&I University); Graduate Research Mentorship (University of California); Coors Hispanic Student Services (Arizona State University); STEP: A Partnership for the Advancement of Learning (University of California); Cal-SOAP (California Student Opportunity and Access Program–California State Aid Commission); Articulation, Matriculation and Two + Two (Compton Community College, California); Fall Institute Academic Program/University Learning Center (University of Colorado); and GEM Program (National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering) (University of Notre Dame, Indiana).   [More]  Descriptors: Access to Education, Black Students, Civil Rights, College Bound Students