The Mid-Century Committee on Outcomes in Elementary Education was assembled to describe for educations, test-makers, and interested citizens the measurable goals of instruction in American elementary schools. This 1953 report presents the specific objectives of elementary education as outlined by a distinguished group of consultants and evaluated by carefully selected critics.

Nolan C. Kearney was assistant superintendent for curriculum and research in the public schools of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Education and Training for Social Work examines vocational training in social work. The study is divided into two parts: part I, the field of social work, and part II, problems of education and training. Appendices include statistics on salaries and years of education, as well as registration statistics from institutions which offer preparation for social work.

James H. Tufts was professor of philosophy in the University of Chicago.

This book, published in 1959, examines systematic research in the field of parent education – the efforts, particularly between 1934 and 1959, designed to develop in parents a greater competence in the task of rearing their children – and describes the contributions of the social sciences to parent education theory and practice. It aims to provide a solid frame of reference against which the soundness of parent education efforts and concepts can be measured. It seeks to explore and clarify the contributions which social science theory and research have made and potentially could make to the successful planning of educational efforts directed to parents.

Orville G. Brim, Jr., was a sociologist at the Russell Sage Foundation. He taught at the University of Wisconsin and was the author of Sociology and the Field of Education.

This 1924 book documents a study on child welfare work in the District of Columbia begun in 1918 and revisited in 1922 by the Department of Child-Helping of the Russell Sage Foundation. It aimed to develop a plan of action to improve the conditions of children in foster homes and institutions. Topics include training schools, the juvenile court, and the care of mothers with children.

Hastings H. Hart was director of the Department of Child-Helping of the Russell Sage Foundation.

The Survey Study of Behavioral Outcomes of General Education in High School was organized to describe for educators, curriculum planners, testmakers, and interested citizens the objectives of general education in American secondary schools. It attempts to draw out what high school graduates should be able to do – how they may be expected to think and feel and act – as a result of the general education element of their high school program.

Encyclopedic in scope, Academic Women on the Move is an important volume on a vital topic. In twenty-one chapters specially written for this book by distinguished women, the authors summarize the vast research literature on women in higher education. They bring together and compare hundreds of studies on the problems and status of academic women, from their entry as students through their career development and eventual status as researchers, faculty members, and administrators. In addition the book gives an equally detailed account of the emergence of political activism among these women in the 1968–1972 period, with analytic chapters on the legal, internal, and external routes to rid academe of sex discrimination. A wide-ranging exploration of recent professional and political efforts to improve the status of women in American academic life, this book will serve as a superb research and reference work for years to come.

Contributors: Carol Ahlum, Helen S. Astin, Alan Bayer, Ann Calderwood, Jean Campbell, Constance M. Carroll, Marianne A. Ferber, Jo Freeman, Patricia Albjerg Graham, Judith Dozier Hackman, Florence Howe, Joan Huber, Katherine M. Klotzburger, Janet Lever, Jane Loeb, Laura Morlock, Katherine Nelson, Michelle Patterson, Cynthia Sterling Pincus, Brigitte A. Prusoff, Lora Hnizda Robinson, Pamela Roby, Alice S. Rossi, Margaret Rumbarger, Bernice Sandler, Pepper Schwartz, Lucy W. Sells, Myrna M. Weissman, Lenore J. Weitzman

Alice S. Rossi was professor of sociology and chairperson of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Goucher College.

Ann Calderwood was publisher and editor of Feminist Studies.

Your Community was first published in 1935. This later edition, revised by Donald S. Howard, director of the Department of Social Work Administration of the Russell Sage Foundation, to reflect changes in social work and community and civic organizations, examines the idea and scope of the local community and its efforts to conserve the health and safety and promote the education and general welfare of its inhabitants. Topics include housing planning and zoning, medical care, consumer protection, public assistance, worker wages and employment conditions, and recreation. Its followup, Studying Your Community by Roland L. Warren, was published by the Russell Sage Foundation in 1955.

Joanna C. Colcord was director of the Charity Organization Department of the Russell Sage Foundation.

A collaboration with the Russell Sage Foundation and the American Sociological Society, this report assesses sociologists’ contributions to the field of corrections and the study of crime and examines how sociological training and theory can be carried over into practical professional application in the field. Topics include the organizational aspects of the prison system, social-psychological aspects of prison life, probation and parole, and correctional career opportunities for sociologists.

Lloyd E. Ohlin was director of the Center for Education and Research in Corrections, University of Chicago.

This 1965 report serves as a guide to the extensive research literature concerned with the prediction of student performance. In his analysis, David Lavin reviews and evaluates research covering more than three hundred sources on elementary and high school, college, and graduate schools. The book presents a discussion of the various criteria of academic performance and several methodological problems such as standardized predictor measures and interpreting relationships between predictors and performance. The findings cover four broad categories of performance determinants: intelligence and ability factors, personality characteristics, sociological determinants, and socio-psychological factors. Each of these categories is carefully scrutinized in terms of a number of theoretical and methodological issues. It indicates several areas for possible investigation and concludes with a plea for a broader context in which to evaluate performance and apply new knowledge.

David E. Lavin was assistant professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Written in response to the question of who should organize, administer, and finance professional schools of nursing, this 1948 book, sponsored by the National Nursing Council, examines what the future of nursing entailed and presents a plan for standardized curricula and training in nursing education.

Esther Lucile Brown was director of the Department of Studies in the Professions of the Russell Sage Foundation.