October 22, 1990

Successful urban high schools have sharply defined academic and social goals for students and are strong organizations that solve their own problems, take initiatives and consider themselves more accountable to their community than to higher authorities, a new study has found. In contrast, the study by the RAND Corporation said, less successful public schools have diffuse programs, allow their students and staff to define their own roles, maintain rigid internal divisions of labor and emphasize compliance with the regulations of central bureaucracies.

The Pathe Communications Corporation said yesterday that it had agreed to sell exclusive rights to show some of Hollywood's most popular films to the Turner Broadcasting System. The deal is contingent upon Pathe's completion of its planned acquisition of the MGM/UA Communications Company. The agreement includes exclusive television rights in the United States for 10 years to show films from the library of the United Artists studio along with all movies released by MGM/UA from 1986 through 1988 plus some 1989 releases.

The Cincinnati Reds left California today with their championship and their new aura as a team of destiny, and with lingering resentment over the somewhat begrudging attitude of the Oakland Athletics, the team the Reds swept in the World Series. But they also left without Eric Davis, their injured superstar, who remained in the intensive-care unit of Merritt Hospital with severe kidney bruises.

Top White House officials stormed out of the Capitol late this afternoon, accusing Democrats of being unwilling to negotiate a fair tax compromise. The talks cannot be concluded without the White House. But lawmakers from both parties said that they expected a resolution of the issues this week and that they saw today's development as merely a temporary setback. This evening, Representative Richard A. Gephardt and George J. Mitchell of Maine, the Senate Democratic leader, resumed negotiations with Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, the Senate Republican leader. And Senator Dole said, "The talks have not broken down." 'We Made Them an Offer'

A year ago, when Mary Grace Wynn moved from downtown Manhattan to Norwood, in the north Bronx, she saw it as a safe bet. While other city neighborhoods crumbled under shootings and drug abuse, turmoil in Norwood amounted to an outcry over the city's inadvertent hacking of 67 old maple trees that lined Mosholu Parkway. But in a six-week period, three residents of the Norwood section were killed, and in a community where there was once little crime to speak of, people now seem to speak of little else.