In this article we describe the Books 2 Basketball (B2B) program created by a school counselor for Black youth along with some preliminary outcomes examined after its implementation. This program was not evaluated for effectiveness but to determine if the program was feasible and to share feedback from some of the participants. The B2B program is…

The study investigated the effects of basic concepts training on conservation acquisition in 41 kindergarten children (17 White boys, 15 White girls, 6 Black girls, and 5 Black boys). Only the conservation training program resulted in significant effects, and that was for the White students alone. (Author)

Conclusions about the performance of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students on mathematics exercises are reported and illustrated with exercises from the 1973, 1978, and 1982 National Assessment of Educational Progress. (RH)

This paper presents the results of a pilot study which explored the relationship between temperament, interest, and ability and the educational and vocational development of 44 disadvantaged black females. Data used in the study were obtained from the "Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire," the "Occupational Interest Inventory," and the…

Individually administered literacy assessments were conducted with approximately 6,000 adults representing the 20 million persons served by the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration through the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) or the Employment Service/Unemployment Insurance programs. Information-processing…

A 6-month study examined the attitudes of older, low-literate adults toward using computers to learn to read and tried to determine the effectiveness of Penn State Adult Literacy Courseware for beginning readers with older, low-literate adults at a community-based senior center. The students were 10 black adults, aged 66 to 86 and educated at the…

The Adult Learning Source Homeless Program of the Colorado Department of Education conducted an educational needs assessment of single homeless men in the Denver metropolitan area. A questionnaire was developed with the input of social services workers and administered to 74 homeless men in the summer of 1993. Forty-one percent were White, 24…

The potential usefulness of self-assessment of low-level aptitudes, such as basic or elementary reading, writing, and calculating, was explored in a test validation context, following the model of B. Davey (1980, 1990). Self-assessments were sought to provide criterion-related or construct validities that might otherwise be unobtainable for some…

A wide range of evidence was gathered to determine the interrelationship between participation in secondary vocational education, basic skills (reading, writing, and arithmetic), attainment, and gainful employment. Sources of data included research on basic skills needed in jobs, two national longitudinal data sets, previous studies, and test…

Correlation, regression, and score interval analyses were conducted for academic tests including the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), Test of Standard Written English (TSWE), and four subtests of the English Placement Test (EPT) for six different groups. The groups were men, women, Asians, blacks, Hispanics, and whites. The use of grade point…

The education of low-income urban students, particularly Afro-Americans, has been the subject of much debate in recent years. The purpose of this study was to determine the major educational concerns of a group of twenty-five low-income black parents in the Cobbs Creek area of West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. More than 50% of the parents agreed…

Since the U.S. Office of Education figures showed (at the time of this report) that on the average, 850,000 young people were dropping out of high school every year, 800,000 more were graduated from high school with no specific marketable skills, and 900,000 were dropping out of universities, junior colleges, and training schools, the study…

The relationship between item omission and item position on criterion-referenced tests in the Texas state assessment program is examined. Item statistics from the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) and Texas Assessment of Basic Skills (TABS) mathematics and reading tests from 1983 through 1985 are examined for three ethnic…

Data from interviews with 750 employers in Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles were used to analyze the job performance and retention rates of recently hired welfare recipients. The 20-minute interviews focused on employers' subjective ratings of recently hired welfare recipients' job performance and whether employers experienced the…

This paper describes ethnographic research in a community college banking and finance program in the context of the opposing positions of the need for basic skills and preparation for jobs and the need for critical skills and preparation for citizenship in a democracy. After these positions are reviewed, research is described on students in the…