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Award winning projects in K-12 and college level economics are described in this publication. There are two major sections. Section I describes winning projects for 1979-80. A senior research seminar in economics offered undergraduate students a chance to build inexpensive, simplified forecasting models of the U.S. economy. Each student develops one sector of a macroeconomic model. These models are then used to forecast aggregate demand and supply, inflation, and monetary variables over the next four quarters. An introductory course entitled "Principles of Microeconomics" helped students understand how the price system works in the U.S. economy. In another project elementary and secondary teachers from Indiana attended a workshop on money, banking, and economic stabilization policies sponsored by a local bank. After the workshop each teacher was required to develop a curriculum unit and to participate in a 1-day internship experience at the sponsoring bank. Section one ends with very brief descriptions of some additional projects. Projects of previous winners are described in section two. Included is a college-level, problem-solving course in consumerism, a college course which uses role playing to teach economics, a macroeconomics development game, and a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) simulation. (RM)

Self-instructional booklets simulating computer-assisted instruction (CAI) were used to teach four basic concepts in science to first graders in three treatment groups which received different types of feedback--hints, correct answers, and right or wrong. A control group received neither instruction nor feedback. A multiple-choice test was administered to the 47 students in the 4 groups following completion of the instruction. It was found that the group provided with hints had the highest mean; the group provided with the correct answer had the second highest mean; the group provided with right/wrong feedback had the second lowest mean; and the control group had the lowest mean. The results were inconclusive with respect to the hypotheses as there were no significant differences among the group means. Possible causes are suggested in the discussion that concludes the report. A table summarizing the means and standard deviations, a flowchart showing the hypothesized model of relationships between different forms of feedback, and samples of generalities, practice items, and test items are provided. Lists of 12 references and 10 prior IDD&E working papers are also included. (Author/RP)

A three-stage model transition program is proposed for the successful transition to higher education for learning disabled (LD) secondary students. Transition planning is defined as a process initiated by high school personnel to establish and implement a plan upon high school entry for LD students with college potential. Such planning should occur well before the senior year of high school, involve parents, and include interdisciplinary cooperation. The three stages of the process are: (1) high school instruction, (2) planning for transition, and (3) placement into an appropriate college program. The high school functional curriculum should be based on those entry level college skills needed by LD students and on integration into regular college preparatory classes. Individual transition plans should focus on any continuing services the college should be prepared to provide as well as careful selection of the college based on admissions criteria and availability of special services and accommodations. Colleges need to play a more active role in the transition process by assigning individuals to serve as high school liaisons and providing counseling support. Follow-up of students after college placement is important for program improvement. (DB)

Private sector training is a primary force in education in the United States for a number of reasons: (1) the sheer amount of such training makes it a major factor; (2) this training has a significant impact on the nation's productivity and competitiveness; (3) it plays a major role in creating innovative and cost-effective solutions to training problems; and (4) innovations in training in the corporate world can be transferred to the schools. The role that the private sector plays in education is not widely known. The application of its solutions to broader education problems fails to occur because of lack of awareness. A conceptual model of training such as that used in private industry is described; this approach could be used to improve education. This model of training considers the audience, the content, the process of training, and the cost. These factors are first described individually and then integrated into a data-based, multivariate model. Use of the model represents an opportunity to achieve a full understanding of private sector training. (KC)

Prepared for State University of New York/Buffalo researchers participating in a state-sponsored educational financing project, this background paper focuses on the vocational education "program effects" of changing financial aid formulas and/or the rationale for organizing school districts and regional services. It scrutinizes the role of Boards of Cooperative Educational Services and school district organizations which prepare students for specific occupations through traditional vocational education. The first of nine sections examines occupational education in New York and the transition from vocational to career education. Section 2 traces vocational education's historical development (1917 to the present) and the emergence of career education. The third section reviews the New York State Regent's (1971, Position Paper #11) citing of needs for educational system reorganization, developmental continuum adoption, and design flexibility. Section 4 discusses problems in traditional vocational education. Section 5 interprets and evaluates the influences, goals, and activities of New York's occupational education plan. The sixth section examines implementation of three occupational education projects, and section 7 identifies issues involved in implementing occupational/career education programs. Section 8 discusses strategies of individualization versus standardized program expansion. The final section presents an occupational education planning paradigm. (CSS)

This paper proposes a broad outline of a variable model of language development and explores several particulars of such a model in the language behavior of four two-year-old children. The process by which information about language is progressively transformed and integrated rather than merely being added together can be seen in the shifting relations between form and function in the vertical levels of language development. At the same time, knowledge of language proceeds horizontally as the child takes in more than one aspect of the linguistic system being learned. Language development is not compartmentalized with respect to comprehension and production or to phonology, lexicon, pragmatics, semantics and syntax. A study of the co-occurring lexicon, discourse and grammatical complexity variables revealed that these factors influence what children are able to say with different effects: either to facilitate or to constrain sentences. More important, however, is the fact that the variables operate at the same time to influence the child's language behavior. These observations lead to the conclusion that varying lengths of a child's sentences appear to be due to the covariance in different aspects of the child's knowledge of language. (AMH)

Needs assessment is a young and growing field. Needs assessments contribute to effective educational planning and help educators improve services to students. Needs assessment can be used to identify goals and objectives, but probably has the most utility as a problem-focusing strategy that includes the following sequence: (1) identification of problems, purpose of assessment, and target audiences; (2) determination of what and how data are to be collected and analyzed; and (3) recommendations to ameliorate situations related to these problems. The literature indicates four needs assessment models, not necessarily those most often used, that seem applicable for higher education, industry, and business needs assessment. These models--Kaufman's Needs Assessment Model, Coffing's Client Needs Assessment Model, Lee's Needs Assessment Model, and Harless' Front-End Analysis Model--are compared. Evaluation must be distinguished from needs assessment. Needs assessment looks from the present toward the future; and evaluation looks from the present toward the past. In systems models, needs assessment is the first step and evaluation is the last step. It may also be said that needs assessment is proactive and evaluation is reactive. (SLD)

This paper discusses the mixing of theories that make up the theoretical framework the researcher uses to apply the systematic method of narrative analysis called the Listening Guide (L. Brown and others, 1991). The Listening Guide, a voice-centered relational method was developed to uncover how girls and women talk about themselves through their relationships while considering research themes. The paper discusses the multitude of discursive theories and practices that guide the researchers current research on female coaches as she explores the coaches sense of themselves as seen through the narratives of their coaching relationship. The Listening Guide asks the researchers to encounter the participants narrative several times, each time listening for different voices, each of which tells a different narrative of the relationships. The Listening Guide is based on many theories, but to the researcher, it is most effective and useful when grounded in the discursive theory of feminism. As a voice-centered methodology the Listening Guide allows the researcher to hear the voices of women, and feminist theory guides the listening to empower the research. (Contains 6 notes and 41 references.) (SLD)

This paper describes the difficult task of performing a critical evaluation of a Professional Development School (PDS). The paper notes the often contradictory opinions of the stakeholders in regard to acceptable conceptual models and the tensions involved. The description is a result of active participation in PDS related activities, document analysis, and in-depth interviews with a select sample of 15 PDS stakeholders in a small New York rural PDS initiative. The analysis leads to the proposal of a conceptual model that clearly establishes the desired outcomes through negotiation and consultation with all stakeholders that ultimately informs the evaluation path. (Author/SLD)

This paper discusses findings from an evaluation of the effectiveness of a pre-referral intervention program that was being implemented in seven school districts in the Southern Tier of New York. The initiative is known as 7 SHARE, which stands for 7 districts supporting and helping to affect regional education. The paper explores the methods used to improve the effectiveness of data gathering and program monitoring. It critically examines the methods that are currently used to collect and manage long-term data regarding perception, practice, and performance. Second, the paper explores the finding that practitioner attitudes about referral and labeling are beginning to change. In this discussion, the report looks at how teacher's and planner's involvement in the data cultivated student success, and considers the claim that through participation in the program evaluation, teachers have begun to deconstruct their long-held assumptions about ability and disability in students. Lastly, the paper briefly explores the dilemma that is faced by program evaluators when there is a mismatch between what program funders, implementers, and program evaluators find to be compelling data for continuing the program. Appendices contain additional information on how instructional support works and interview protocols. (Contains 35 references.) (CR)

In 1998, the researcher participated in a graduate-level interpretive methods class as a teaching assistant. This paper considers several aspects of the approach used in this class to teach interpretive research methods. These approaches include: (1) the introduction of five different research traditions recognized as qualitative; (2) the assignment of a class research project; and (3) the absence of either a disciplinary perspective or background readings to guide the research project. The paper is informed by observations in class, conversations with students and other instructors, and the review of student research papers. The implications for teaching qualitative methods are discussed. The study suggests that when a novice researcher proceeds without a grounding in a relevant discipline or theoretical perspective, she may have difficulty bounding the case under study. In the absence of theory, novice researchers need to be able to rely on their personal response to their field experiences and on careful examination of those responses in order to focus their attention on arguments they care about. (Contains 10 references.) (SLD)

Reviewing the research literature in literacy studies demands patience to deconstruct the multilayered meanings of the concept of literacy. Literacy is a loaded term that is also embedded in myths associated with social and economic progress, political democracy, social and educational mobility, and the development of cognitive skills. Graff (1995) reminds readers that literacy has historically represented and continues to represent different things to people. Scribner (1988) "unpackages literacy" by using the metaphors of "adaptation,""power," and "state of grace"--if students' literacy skills are at level they are in the adaptive mode, below level and they have fallen from grace, and above level they attain power or status. Viewed as an abstract set of decontextualized skills, literacy contributes to the creation of the "deficit" model in educational and social systems. This model has been applied in many remedial reading and writing programs at all educational levels. Ironically, attempts to teach literacy skills in the schools often restricts literacy development because of educators' lack of knowledge and awareness of the interweaving of social, cultural, and oral literacy contexts of language use and identity. Students' language use in other contexts dramatically conflicts with school discourse and many students fail to acquire higher literacy skills. "Multiliteracies" must be studied in many contexts to better understand their role in instruction and curriculum development. There is a pressing need to define and recognize "non-schooled" literacies associated with different mediums and tools, including the technological, visual, and mathematical, and literacies associated with using information technology. (Contains 58 references.) (NKA)

Students need in-school mathematical experiences to build on and formalize the mathematical knowledge they gain in out-of-school situations. This paper presents illustrations from research that was conducted to better understand how mathematics practice and problem solving in everyday work situations compared to secondary students' solutions of the same problems. A research framework for studying the interplay between sociocultural and cognitive developmental processes is described. The framework consists of three analytic components: (1) goals that emerge during activities, (2) cognitive forms and functions constructed to accomplish those goals, and (3) interplay among the various cognitive forms. The paper concludes by linking the framework to classroom practice. Contains 23 references. (MKR)

This paper describes the status and development of a school/university partnership from the point of view of the participants. Descriptions of the paths collaboration has taken, anecdotal recall, and reflections about working toward a collaborative relationship support comparisons of this relationship with the Professional Development School (PDS) models described by some researchers. The particular focus is on the effort to maintain and increase the relationship between the university's urban teacher education program and one urban elementary school. The PDS concept views the school as a learning community, and a central idea is that teacher learning and development support student learning. The university in question has urban and a suburban campuses. The suburban campus has committed to PDS relationships, and its programs have received both internal and external financial support. The urban campus has sponsored collaborative programs, but they have not reached the level of the PDS model. At the urban elementary school studied, relationships with the university have continued over 30 years. Student teaching and cooperating teacher support were the original bases for the collaboration, and they are still its most stable feature. The collaboration has not reached PDS status for several reasons, the first of which is a lack of acceptance for the concept of the PDS, which may be perceived as having negative impact on the mission of the school to educate its students. Another reason is that the university may be perceived as an ivory tower, rather than a realistic partner in education. The urban context and the competitive environment also pose barriers to creating a PDS relationship. A look at the experiences of this school leads to the conclusion that several factors are necessary for the establishment of a PDS: (1) clarity around issues of starting a PDS; (2) a focus on collaborative benefits to parents, students, student teachers, teachers, administration, and faculty; and (3) insulation from negative forces. To support the collaboration, communication, connection, and commitment are required. (Contains 1 figure and 14 references.) (SLD)

In an effort to establish the domain of organizational communication (OC), this paper defines variables, presents models of their relationships, explains the three dominant approaches to OC, and proposes ways to test their competing claims. Having defined characteristic, causal, and result variables, the paper stresses the importance of establishing whether communication behavior is deliberate, intentional, and purposeful, or the much more limited result of coping mechanisms. Next it presents the three dominant approaches to OC--Instrumental, Process, and Functional--and proposes how the predicted effects of each approach could be used to construct variables that will test the approaches' domain claims. The paper then describes the three criteria for the measurement of variables--utility, validity, and reliability--and reviews the four methods used in OC research: survey questionnaire, interview, experiment, and observation. The paper concludes that the resolution of domain issues will provide an understanding of the genuine significance of OC, or even its lack of significance. (JL)

A model of teacher education (and the system of education; more broadly) that is largely derived from research in ecology is described. Potential problems associated with imposing mechanistic approaches on the ecological system are postulated. Finally, some pedagogical implications are presented. (Contains 30 references.) (Author)

In an effort to meet the new challenges for improving teacher education and student learning in P-12 schools in New York, and to develop a shared vision among partners of a National Council for Accreditation in Teacher Education (NCATE) conceptual framework, the faculty and staff of a school of education in New York conducted a school-college action research project to determine what is important to its partners in the preparation of quality teachers for the future. Data were collected from 123 partners who were invited to participate in the development of the conceptual framework. Over 4 months, six 2-hour focus groups were conducted, and participants completed questionnaires. Findings show that the Colleges internal and external partners share a vision of a teacher who is professionally confident, can write and speak English fluently, is compassionate, and is one who possesses in-depth knowledge of content and pedagogy. An updated version of the conceptual framework has been submitted to the NCATE as a step toward the development of a vision of a quality teacher. An appendix contains three illustrative figures. (Contains 14 references.) (Author/SLD)

A model of educators' learning experiences in educational technology was developed by studying 205 educators who participated in professional development in educational technology at metropolitan area graduate schools of education over a 7-year period. Data were gathered over the entire semester for all participants. Additional data on a limited number of participants were also gathered one and 12-14 months after they had completed the professional development experience. All 205 participants completed a pilot survey. Additional data sources were as follows: 748 entries in electronic journals; 58 interview transcripts, and 25 reflective essays about the professional development learning experience. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the data resulted in a model of the teachers' journey of transformation that consisted of four stages and 10 perspective transformation stages as follows: (1) fear and uncertainty (a disorienting dilemma; self-examination); (2) testing and exploring (a critical assessment of epistemic, sociocultural, or psychic assumptions; recognition that one's discontent and the process of transformation are shared; exploration of options for new roles, relationships, and actions); (3) affirming and connecting (planning a course of action; acquiring knowledge and skills for implementing one's plans; building competence and self-confidence in new roles and relationships); and (4) new perspectives (reintegration of a new perspective into one's life). (20 references) (MN)

The effects of selected variables on the academic persistence of adult students were examined in a study of a random sample of 469 adult students aged 24 years or older enrolled in a four-year college. The survey questionnaire, the Adult Student Experiences Survey, collected data regarding 12 endogenous variables and 13 exogenous variables pertaining to student background. A two-step data analysis that included measurement and structural stages was conducted. The following four focal variables emerged: academic integration (students' feelings about being part of the institution's academic life); perceived stress; academic performance; and goal commitment. Eleven endogenous path relationships were identified. Adult student academic integration, perceived stress, cumulative grade-point average (GPA), and goal commitment attitudes were explained through the dynamic interplay of the theory of planned behavior. Perceived stress had significant total effects on 7 endogenous variables above the effect size of 0.10 and cumulative GPA had significant total effects on 6. The findings were said to suggest that the academic and social systems of the adult undergraduate experience must be more attuned to adult students' percepts of academic performance and perceived stress and that higher education institutions must offer curricula and services that are challenging, supportive, and relevant to adult students. (Contains 54 references.) (MN)

Researchers used cross-sectional survey research to reexamine the problem of adult persistence within undergraduate degree programs. They identified a variable--perceived stress--that permitted a richer explanation of the process of student persistence. A model was presented that examined the attitudinal and behavioral impacts of unmet need, financial aid, financial satisfaction, financial difficulty, and academic performance while maintaining a loosely coupled conceptual kinship to the integrated model of student persistence of Sandler (1999). Empirical considerations of St. John, et al. (1994, 2000) and Sandler were explored to produce an innovative path analysis, thereby investigating nonrecursive and reciprocal interactions that were new to the literature. The hypotheses and effects examined explicated adult student decision-making constraints, attitudes, choices, and behavior allied to the theory of planned behavior of Ajzen that bore an empirical impact and other outcomes within the model. Unmet need was empirically shown to be illustrative of nontraditional students' decision making, having an orthogonal impact, as a direct effect, on financial aid, financial satisfaction, and persistence borne by learners continuing their studies for a degree. Findings indicated perceived stress and cumulative grade point average had the widest range of influence on endogenous variables. (Contains 42 references.) (YLB)

As a response to the problem of adult-student retention at two-year and four-year urban colleges, a new structural model, "Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy, Perceived Stress, and an Integrated Model of Student Persistence" (Sandler, 1999), has been identified to better explain the integration, finances, behavior, and career development of non-traditional students. The following three subsystems at the core of the integrated model of student persistence are explored: (1) the academic and social feelings adults experience upon being in a learning institution; (2) the relationship engendered between this system and the commitments of personal goal and the institution; and (3) the capacity for academic performance and persistence. Five endogenous variables are found to be embedded in an environmental and social cognitive framework of student decision-making and social adaptation that lead to persistence: academic integration (18 percent), social integration (27 percent), institutional commitment (39 percent), cumulative grade point average (11 percent), and goal commitment (12 percent). The effects of financial satisfaction and goal commitment on the integration subsystem are new to the persistence literature. Policy implications for higher education institutions providing undergraduate degree programs for adults include helping adult students achieve their goals and assisting non-traditional learners with career decision making and planning. (Contains 37 references.) (KC)

The purpose of this study is to develop a model to teach procedural knowledge using the Internet. Over a 3-week period graduate level education students (N=10) were provided 12 hours of instruction and access to the Internet. Data collection methods included pre-workshop questionnaires, weekly journal entries, and post-workshop questionnaires. The preliminary questionnaire contained questions about teaching experience, computer background, level of familiarity with the Internet, expected use of the Internet for personal and professional development, predicted usage time on the Internet, and reasons for participating in the workshop. The teaching model involved three phases: (1) direct group instruction; (2) tutoring; and (3) open exploration. The findings of the evaluation suggest several effective means of integrating Internet training into teacher education programs. The recommendations include anchoring instruction in an authentic activity, providing guided practice, integrating Internet training into a concise time frame, and minimizing overall instruction time. (DDR)

This paper reports on a longitudinal study of the incorporation of engineering design into secondary classrooms by math, science, and technology teachers who were alumni of a week-long intensive inservice course at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College (New Hampshire). Data collection methods included observations and interviews, surveys, written materials, and site visits. Results indicate that about three-quarters of the teachers effected a full implementation of the problem-solving method during the first year following the workshop. Other findings include: (1) math teachers were less likely to have their students build concrete models and less likely to do any implementation than science teachers; (2) implementation was most common in a teacher's highest-ability class; (3) some teachers were genuinely surprised by the resistance that students expressed to doing the projects; and (4) teachers were candid in admitting that they did not cover subject matter content that they had covered previously in their teaching. It was concluded that engineering design is good science education as it incorporates imaginative views on teaching about technology and society and can engage students in sociologically authentic science. However, engineering design is also revolting, since its implementation requires that teachers rethink what it means to teach science. Contains 27 references. (JRH)

The purpose of this exploratory study was to develop a model for evaluating teachers' instructional practices in mathematics and the cognitions associated with these practices. The sample consisted of seven beginning and seven experienced teachers of secondary school mathematics, who each taught one lesson of his or her own design. To evaluate instructional practice, a Phase-Dimension Framework for Assessing Mathematics Teaching was developed. It consisted of three dimensions (tasks, learning environment, discourse) that were adopted from the "Professional Standards for Teachers of Mathematics" of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1991). To evaluate teacher thoughts, a Teacher Cognitions Framework was developed. It also considered teachers' overarching cognitions (goals, knowledge, beliefs) and their cognitions before (planning), during (monitoring and regulating), and after (evaluating and suggesting) their lesson enactments. Data were obtained through observations, lesson plans, videotapes, and audiotapes of structured interviews during the course of one semester. Data analysis suggests that teacher cognitions play a well-defined role in classroom practice. The findings provide useful insights for researchers, supervisors, and teacher educators interested in assessment techniques reflecting recommendations from current reform movements. Three appendixes contain practice ratings of highlighted lessons, a summary chart of lessons dimensions, and a summary of patterns of cognitions. (Contains 1 figure 2 tables, and 74 references.) (Author/SLD)

This paper summarizes current knowledge on the transition to adulthood of youth with serious emotional disturbance in terms of epidemiology, effective interventions, and program models. The first section is introductory and provides definitions and characteristics of transitional youth noting special developmental tasks, outcomes for young adults, challenges to positive outcomes, and the special needs of homeless youth with serious emotional disturbance. The second section reports on ways in which the existing service systems (the child/adolescent system and the adult system) fail to meet the needs of these youth and the resulting poor outcomes. It urges establishment of a comprehensive and integrated system. Section 3 focuses on what works. It identifies transition service principles and essential service components and suggests ways to integrate systems and finance strategies. Section 4 looks at innovative approaches, including programs for transitional youth, adolescent programs, adult programs, and program evaluation and research. The final section offers specific recommendations for transition planning and for action. Five appendices provide: definitions of emotional disturbance, information on longitudinal data bases, summaries of conducive laws and policies, a listing of technical assistance/research and training centers, and a paper by Michelle Antholine: "The Transitional Community Treatment Team." (Contains approximately 180 references.) (DB)

Modeling, simulation, and discrete mathematics have all been identified by professional mathematics education organizations as important areas for secondary school study. This classroom study focused on the components and tools for modeling and how students use these tools to construct their understanding of contextual problems in the content area of vectors and forces. The study was conducted in an integrated algebra, trigonometry, and physics class at an alternative public school with 17 students in grades 9 through 12. Computer models used by students were Interactive Physics and Function Probe. Results showed the emergence of four major themes related to student model building: (1) diversity in student approaches, (2) challenging of conventional notions of closure and completeness, (3) integration of the simulation environment as access to an expert's model, and (4) progressive complexity in student models. Contains 35 references. (MKR)

Mathematical problem solving has been the focus of much concern. This study investigated the relationship of various cognitive factors, attributions, and gender to the solution of mathematics problems by 100 high school seniors. The independent variables examined in this study included: (1) mathematics knowledge as measured by a score on the mathematics section of the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT); (2) metacognitive regulation as measured by a score on the Assessment of Individual Mathematical Metacognition (AIMM); (3) beliefs, including attributions and generalized beliefs, as measured by scores on selected questions from the Inventory of Students' Mathematical Beliefs and Behavior (ISMBB); (4) metacognitive awareness as measured by a score on the Metacognitive Awareness Assessment (MAA); and (5) gender. No gender differences were found in any of the variables except in the high knowledge group: (1) high knowledge boys outperformed high knowledge girls on one problem, and (2) high knowledge girls were less likely to attribute their success in mathematics to effort than were high knowledge boys. Contains 53 references. (MKR)

The focus of the AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) Peer Educators project (based on Kohlberg's Cognitive Stage Theory of the Development of Moral Judgement) is to change behavior using a peer-based approach. Good mental preparation is essential if the Peer Educator is to be effective, for the AIDS Peer Educator is frequently required to help students resolve issues the AIDS Peer Educator may not have yet resolved for themselves. Additionally, there are a number of mental traps into which an AIDS Peer Educator can fall. This intervention model, loosely based on reality therapy. provides a useful framework from which the AIDS Peer Educators can base their specific interventions. The most significant aspect of the model is that it allows the AIDS Peer Educator to adjust the intervention to meet the individual student's developmental stage. The assessment phase of the model is the most critical and demands the most discipline on the part of the AIDS Peer Educator. The effective AIDS Peer Educator slowly illicits information and tests his or her understanding of the student's behaviors and motivations. Interventions take many forms, but should be based on the student's needs and developmental level, not with the feelings of the AIDS Peer Educator. With rare exceptions, an AIDS Peer Educator will need to engage in a series of interventions and provide support until the student is able to internalize the safer behaviors. (ABL)

Vitkus and Horowitz (1987) found that lonely people demonstrated adequate social behavior when they were assigned to controlling interpersonal roles. Despite this successful performance, they evaluated themselves and their behavior negatively. Study 1 replicated these findings and extended them to naturalistic interactions. In a hypothetical problem-solving dyad involving paired college students (N=76), students were diagnosed as either lonely or nonlonely and then assigned respective roles of Person with the Problem or Springboard (listener/advisor). Analysis of videotaped sessions showed that all subjects were capable of adequate social performance, but adopting a passive social role interfered with expression of this behavior. Study 2 followed the procedures of Study 1 with the difference that all subjects were assigned to the Springboard role (who listens to a partner describe the problem) and positive or neutral feedback was provided. Results showed that unambiguous positive feedback reduced the negativity of lonely students' self-evaluations. An interpersonal model of loneliness is proposed to explain these results. The model suggests that in typical interactions, lonely people adopt social roles that prevent them from expressing appropriate social behavior. In addition, without clear performance cues, lonely people fail to recognize occasions when they do perform adequately. Their resulting negative self-appraisals reaffirm their initial feelings of inadequacy, thereby sustaining their loneliness. Therapeutic implications of this model and limitations of the present research are discussed. (TE)