Bjork, Lars G. (1984). Environmental Uncertainty and External Resource Acquisition: Implications for a Developing Research University. External resource acquisition was investigated as one factor associated with the development of the University of New Mexico from an undergraduate teaching institution toward becoming a nationally-ranked graduate research university. A longitudinal, ethnohistorical study was undertaken for the 1967-1978 period. The qualitative research methodology involved an extensive review of institutional documents and informal interviews with key university administrators. Attention was directed to the strategic decision by key university administrators to establish the Office of the Vice President for Research as a means of promoting campus research and securing external research support. The findings indicate that the greater the dependency of an institution on its external environment for the support of faculty research, the more active key administrators will be in securing resources. In addition, the greater the threat to the university's ability to secure research support, the more likely the institution will be to participate in interinstitutional coalitions. Administrative corrective action, triggered by an exogenous shock, took the form of a political-economic coalition focused on enhancing the institution's resource position. Theoretical propositions suggested by the findings are identified. Descriptors: Administrator Role, Case Studies, Change Strategies, College Role

Moreno, Rosa Maria (1982). Mental Health Planning in Texas: The Impact on Mexican American Service Needs. Focusing on the role and process of planning in the delivery of mental health services to the Mexican American community in Texas, this monograph examines the nature, context and purpose of planning; analyzes the interplay between federal and state mandates for planning; and assesses the status of current community mental health centers' (CMHCs) planning activites. A study of selected CMHCs and their respective planning systems examines their planning policy, structure, nature of planning, and relationship to other planning functions. A synopsis of the planning process at the Bexar County and Tarrant County CMHCs is provided. The following topics are discussed: culturally relevant service delivery; role of planners; a participatory model of planning; state plan requirements of Public Law 94-63; national guidelines regarding planning; the Connecticut and New Mexico mental health authorities' state planning activities; Texas' dynamic planning process; state planning and its relationship to service delivery to Mexican Americans in Texas; and the scope and level of citizen participation in planning, particularly Mexican American input into the process. The future development and impact of mental health planning is evaluated in light of current and potential changes in the community mental health system of Texas and the nation.   [More]  Descriptors: Agency Cooperation, Citizen Participation, Community Involvement, Content Analysis

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families. (1984). Children, Youth, and Families in the Southwest. Hearing before the Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families, House of Representatives, Ninety-Eighth Congress, First Session (Santa Ana, California, December 7, 1983). The last in a series of five regional information-gathering hearings, this hearing report presents testimony from concerned citizens and private and public social organizations in California, New Mexico, and Arizona. Information and statistics are given on the following social problems: (1) child sexual abuse and child pornography; (2) infant mortality, immunization, sight and hearing screening, and medical care; (3) working and student parents and the need for child care; (4) education and medical care for the disabled, including those with rare disorders; (5) family violence; (6) alcohol abuse; (7) foster care and adoption; juvenile delinquency and status offenses; (9) treatment for the mentally ill, especially juveniles; (10) the adverse effects of teenage sexual activity, including venereal disease and pregnancy; (11) homelessness; (12) unemployment; and (13) the problems of Hispanics, Blacks, Indochinese immigrants, and American Indians. Suggestions to improve social services include better interagency cooperation and restoration of funding for effective programs. Prepared statements include information on family programs sponsored by the Marine Corps and studies on Hispanic women's access to prenatal care.   [More]  Descriptors: Adolescents, Adoption, American Indians, Blacks

Reece, Jerald L. (1984). Inservice Needs: Perceptions of Rural Teachers, Principals and School Board Members–A Nine State Study. To determine perceptions of school board members, teachers, and principals in rural schools about the quality of their educational programs, the type of preparation they had received in preservice programs, and the inservice opportunities available to them, responses to questionnaires from 2,028 teachers, 119 principals, and 113 school board members throughout the states of Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming were analyzed. Background data were broken down according to sex, school placement, linguistic fluency, ethnic origin, and educational attainment. More than 80% of teachers and principals and more than 65% of school board members were satisfied with selected aspects of their school program, 80% of teachers and 75% of principals had no specific preparation for service in a rural setting, and approximately 92% of teachers and 100% of principals had participated in inservice training. Inservice programs designed to upgrade rural school personnel may need to be different from those in the past. Such programs should include expanded off-campus, field-based graduate programs, rural school program models, leadership roles for rural teachers and principals in planning, directing, and presenting inservice workshops, procedures for multiple teaching activities, and increased understanding of rural cultural issues. Descriptors: Administrator Attitudes, Boards of Education, Educational Attainment, Educational Attitudes

Gaston, Caroline (1984). New Futures School: An Overview. New Futures School (NFS), located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a comprehensive program for adolescent parents. NFS is an alternative school of the Albuquerque Public Schools and is supported by a non-profit, community-based organization, New Futures, Inc. There are two departments of the NFS in-school program: the Perinatal Program, serving the teenager who enters during her pregnancy and remains until the end of the semester in which her child is born, and the Young Parents' Center, serving school-aged mothers and fathers who cannot successfully participate in a regular school program in the year(s) following the birth of their child(ren). Educational services of the NFS include academic classes required for high school graduation, special education classes, classes to prepare the young mother to care for herself during pregnancy, vocational classes, and classes in parenting and child development. Health services include individual health counseling, group health instruction, and nutrition counseling. Additionally, each client is provided individual counseling upon request. Each NFS student is involved in group counseling once a week through one of her classes, and weekly counseling groups are held for those young women who are considering relinquishing their children and for other students with special needs. NFS operates three child care facilities; offers employability training and vocational awareness instruction; and includes outreach, volunteer service, primary prevention, technical assistance, and networking functions. Descriptors: Adolescents, Counseling, Day Care, Health Services

Nevin, David (1981). Left-Handed Fastballers: Scouting and Training America's Grass-Roots Leaders, 1966-1977. From 1966 through 1977, 700 men and women were selected, primarily because they had demonstrated some capacity for personal initiative, to be fellows in the $11 million Leadership Development Program (LDP) supported by the Ford Foundation to develop new leadership in rural America. To operate LDP a decentralized organization with offices in Maine, Georgia, New Mexico, and Colorado was created and staffed by regional agents who recruited fellows and planned individually tailored programs usually involving extensive travel, new experiences, personal stresses, and some rethinking of career directions. Fellowship experiences included: teaching paralegal techniques in Tennessee; establishing an Atlanta street academy for dropouts; working in agencies such as the Mexican-American Community Services Agency in San Jose, the Southwestern Indian Development in Phoenix, and the Economic Development Administration in Washington, D.C.; touring rural Headstart programs and studying Headstart techniques at Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee; examining alternative education methods in California, London, and North Dakota; and studying mountain music in Tennessee. LDP experiences expanded fellows' understanding of society, reduced their insularity, and gave some of them new tools with which to work. LDP created bridges between unaware communities and the largely urbanized nation that surrounds them. Descriptors: Change Agents, Citizen Participation, Community Change, Community Leaders

Cummings, Tom (1984). The Report of Engineering Special Programs July 1, 1983-June 30, 1984. In an effort to achieve ethnic parity for underrepresented minorities at the University of New Mexico College of Engineering, precollege and undergraduate programs were developed to recruit and retain Hispanic and American Indian students. The Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement (MESA) program is a coherent, longitudinal program organized to increase awareness and motivation in bright minority Algebra I students and to support their interest through high school graduation and university matriculation. It provides such student services and activities as short on-campus college/engineering orientation programs; tutoring; academic, university, and career counseling; field trips; summer enrichment and employment programs; and scholarship incentive awards. The undergraduate program supports minority students through the Hispanic Engineering Professional Advisory Committee and the Hispanic Engineering Organization, the Native American Program/College of Engineering, and the College of Engineering tutoring program available to all engineering freshmen. Comprehensive tabular data indicate student ethnic breakdowns for program participation, college enrollment, degree received, and sex. Figures for corporate contributions and federal funding are included. Descriptors: American Indians, Black Students, College Preparation, Engineering Education

Southwest Educational Development Lab., Austin, TX. (1982). Communication: A Tool for School Improvement. Participants representing public relations offices in state education agencies and school districts in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas attended a conference held to explore positive approaches to school public relations. There were three objectives set to meet this general purpose: (1) to increase awareness of the School Climate program as one means of accentuating the positive; (2) to provide various approaches and information to enhance external communication for school improvement; and (3) to provide information and strategies to facilitate internal lines of communication for total school improvement. These conference proceedings synthesize the content of the following presentations: "School Climate" (Barbara Case); "Getting Your Message to the Public" and "Surveying Your Community" (Larry Ascough); "Working with the Media" (Rodney Davis); "Involving Total Staff for Good P.R." (Bonnie Ellison); "I Have Met the Enemy and They Is Us" (Barbara Dudlacek); and "Internal Communications" (Mary O'Neill). Copies of handouts distributed by the speakers, the conference agenda, and an evaluation are also included.   [More]  Descriptors: Communication Skills, Educational Environment, Educational Improvement, Elementary Secondary Education

Long, Vonda Olson; Heggen, Carolyn Holderread (1986). Clergy Perceptions of Spiritual Health for Adults, Men, and Women. Although the relationship that spiritual health and religious values might have to mental health has long been a focus of research, there is no research to date that has investigated actual perceptions of what constitutes spiritual health. A study was conducted to examine the perceptions of clergy on spiritual health as it pertains to the ideal for adults, adult males, and adult females. A questionnaire consisting of 62 bipolar items was given to active clergy (N=77) in New Mexico with one of three sets of instructions. Respondents indicated which of each set of characteristics listed on the questionnaire was most descriptive of a spiritually healthy: (1) adult, gender unspecified; (2) adult male; or (3) adult female. The results showed that judgments differed as a function of the gender of the person being judged. It was also found that spiritual health for males was not viewed as significantly different from ideal adult spiritual health, while spiritual health for females was viewed as significantly different from spiritual health for both adults and males. These findings have direct implications for counseling and represent an obvious dilemma for women who are in search of both spiritual and psychologcial health. A three-page list of references and two data tables conclude the document. Descriptors: Attitudes, Clergy, Mental Health, Sex Bias

Case, Elizabeth J.; King, Richard A. (1985). Influencing State Fiscal Policymaking: The Superintendent as Lobbyist. Perceptions of the political behavior of superintendents in New Mexico vary widely throughout the state. Questionnaires and interviews were used to gather information from superintendents, school board chairmen, and state legislators concerning the frequency, extent, and kinds of political activity in which superintendents were involved. Four kinds of activity were assessed: involvement in issue definition and proposal formulation, the mobilization of support for or opposition to policy proposals, attempts to influence policy as an individual rather than as a member of an association, and activity affecting specific fiscal issues. Superintendents were classified on a continuum from highly active to relatively inactive. The degree to which a superintendent was active was taken to reflect the superintendent's own beliefs concerning appropriate levels of political activity as well as those of his community and school board. Superintendents at both ends of the continuum saw themselves as less active than they were perceived to be by either legislators or board chairmen. The training and experience levels of superintendents appeared to affect the extent of their activity. Those closer to the state capitol proved more active than those located farther away, perhaps reflecting greater community support for political activity. Five pages of references are appended.   [More]  Descriptors: Administrator Attitudes, Administrator Role, Community Influence, Elementary Secondary Education

Indian Education Training, Inc., Albuquerque, NM. (1981). Alternatives in Indian Education. Final Report. To discover student attitudes and student, teacher and parent perceptions of school performance, 29 Navajo parents living on Canoncito Reservation, their children who attended Albuquerque, New Mexico public schools, and the children's teachers were interviewed. Results illustrated wide diversity of family and cultural characteristics within a small, ostensibly homogenous community and problems inherent in looking at groups of Indian students rather than individuals. Findings included: average family size was 5.7 children; students from 20 families spoke Navajo; at least 10 families used medicine men, some in conjunction with western medicine; 40% of families interviewed had no employed head of household; 83% used wood-burning stoves; 62% of homes had no running water, 17% no electricity, and 44% no television. Teachers reported most Canoncito students worked together as a group, resisted being singled out, and wanted their group to be good; despite skills-test scores slightly lower than school average, school performance differed widely among Canoncito students. The decision-making process was also investigated, revealing that parents felt the children themselves had decided whether they would attend the Canoncito Bureau of Indian Affairs day school or Albuquerque public schools. Translated transcripts of comparison interviews, conducted in Navajo, with nine parents and one student from Torreon, a community similar to Canoncito, comprise two-thirds of the document.   [More]  Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Access to Education, American Indian Education, American Indians

Casellas de Kelly, Maria del Rosario (1985). Spanish for Professionals. A University of New Mexico program in Spanish for professionals began in 1981 as a Spanish and Portuguese program to provide language training for personnel in health care, business, law, and education. The program encountered early problems of uneven enrollments, funding difficulties, and some lack of interest from the campus professional schools until the Department of Modern and Classical Languages indicated willingness to integrate courses into department operations and further liaison with the Division of Continuing Education and Community Services was established. Early results of this effort were intermediate classes for business, law, and medical professionals, to which were soon added introductory classes. These classes attracted teachers needing recertification. When enrollments had begun to stabilize, organizational and publicity problems threatened the program. Restructuring of program aspects such as faculty payment schedules, class locations, information dissemination, and contacts with the public school system solved many problems. Enrollments increased, a new curriculum for educators was developed, and a summer institute for Spanish teachers was inaugurated. A regional survey was undertaken to determine other educational needs and provide a basis for further program development. Reproductions of the university catalog pages relating to the program, course descriptions, flyers, and news releases are appended. Descriptors: College Second Language Programs, Enrollment Trends, Financial Support, Higher Education

Linares, Thomas A. (1981). Articulation Skills in Spanish-Speaking Children. The purpose of the research was to develop an articulation test for Spanish-speakers and to field-test the instrument in both a monolingual Spanish-speaking environment and a bilingual Spanish/English environment. Such a test is needed because there has been little available to enable the diagnostician, whose clientele includes Spanish-speakers, to determine if speech production is normal, deviant, or due to the interaction of two languages. The test consists of 40 black and white drawings testing 23 different consonant phonemes in respective word positions. To obtain normative data from a monolingual Spanish-speaking environment, 97 children aged three to six years, from four schools in Mexico, were tested. A second study was undertaken with 148 Spanish-speaking children in southern New Mexico. This study was conducted by speech pathologists in the school district; the children tested were classified as either monolingual Spanish speakers or bilingual Spanish-dominant speakers. Results of this study were similar to the findings of the Mexico study. One indication from the test data is that the children in the Mexico study tended to master phonemes at an earlier age than monolingual English-speaking children or Spanish-speaking children in the United States. Descriptors: Articulation (Speech), Bilingual Education, Comparative Analysis, Cultural Context

Pohland, Paul A. (1986). Administrator Preparation Models and the Impact of the Practice Context. To be responsible, educational administrator training programs must take the context of practice into account in program design and execution. Adaptation in content, instructional processes, and support systems are required. The University of New Mexico's Spanish Language Master's Program, which has graduated 127 students, provides a model for relevance in training program design. This program is designed to prepare educational administrators to work within an economy of scarcity where the national ethos is likely to be idiographic, conventionalist, and generalist. Because graduates will occupy senior positions in universities or ministries and professional mobility will be high, courses focus on issues germaine to centralized decision-making bodies, include observational field experiences in a variety of educational institutions, and are general in scope. Sufficient flexibility exists to permit minors. Adaptations in instructional processes must accommodate both faculty/student role reversal to allow display of student expertise and cultural demands for formalism/social distance between faculty and student. Extraordinary support systems are required to provide personal/logistical, bureaucratic/institutional, instructional, social/psychological, and continuing post-program professional services. Beyond faculty commitment and institutional support, changes in power relations are required if the prevailing homogeneity of contexts assumption is to be challenged successfully. Descriptors: Administrator Education, Cultural Context, Educational Administration, Educational Strategies

Duckett, Willard R., Ed. (1980). Planning for the Evaluation of Teaching. NSPER: 79. A CEDR [Center on Evaluation, Development and Research] Monograph. This is a series of papers delivered at three National Symposia for Professionals in Evaluation and Research (NSPER) sessions in 1979. The agenda was the same at all sessions. The main topic was "Planning for the Evaluation of Teaching." The sessions were conducted in Charlotte, North Carolina; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Albuguerque, New Mexico. The participants agreed upon the importance of planning, the situation-specific nature of evaluation, and its dynamism. They believed a statement of philosophy concerning teacher evaluation is important. An examination of evaluation instruments for teacher evaluation indicated an emphasis on organizational maintenance rather than teaching improvement. A responsible evaluation must include formative, process, and summative considerations.  The primary sources of data to be used include students, colleagues, administrators, and teachers' self reports. The secondary sources for data collection include observation, interviews, and rating scales. Feedback procedures such as audiotape, videotape, minicourses, interaction analyses, and student description are helpful in improving instruction. The editors and co-directors of NSPER: 79 developed a summary of the sessions, "The Basis for Evaluating Teaching." Descriptors: Data Collection, Evaluation Methods, Evaluators, Teacher Evaluation