This report presents information on selected activities that preprimary children engage in with family members, based on the 1991 and 1993 National Household Education Surveys. Focusing on parent-child activities found to facilitate the development of literacy skills and the motivation to learn, the report examines (1) the changes between 1991 and…

Two ethnic groups of students, majority and minority, were compared on variables of a Psychological Productivity Model. Black and Hispanic students were grouped as minorities, and White students were considered majority students. Participants were 120 high school students from an urban high school in the Southwest. The Psychological Productivity…

Noting that literacy development is a social phenomenon, this book provides an account of the cultural conflicts and struggles experienced by two children from culturally different backgrounds and their teacher in a kindergarten program. The book is divided into eight chapters. The first chapter, "Introduction: History of the Struggle," introduces…

This document is a report of a symposium whose participants are involved with the Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development, a project engaged in a longitudinal study of 80 low-income families with preschool-aged children in Boston (Massachusetts). The project was designed to identify possible success factors for children from…

Project Know-How, a small intensive early childhood intervention program, stresses family involvement in attempting to maximize the development of children. Three main components are involved: a preschool program, a mothers' program, and a fathers' program. Project goals are addressed through a three-fold intervention plan involving cooperative…

Assessment of the special education needs of Indian children in the Aberdeen area and six possible courses of action for the Pierre Indian School are discussed in this evaluation. The first section reports in detail the findings of the needs assessment, which was conducted with a survey questionnaire completed by 137 individuals concerned with…

The U.S. educational system and student achievement are examined using a historical perspective. Academic achievement, school budgets, educational innovations, and educational philosophies are compared across different periods of U.S. history. Problems associated with various changes in the educational process are outlined. Parental attitudes on…

This report includes information conerning demographic trends affecting children over the past few years, the status of children as determined by critical normative data pertaining to their health, education, welfare and the identification and targeting of programs and services to meet the needs of children. Section I covers demographic trends in…

This report of family social class influences on children's characteristics is based on data from a longitudinal study of more than 1,000 children, black and white, of various social backgrounds. The sample was originally selected for another study (the St. Louis Baby Study) giving only secondary consideration to social factors. It includes a…

This report presents findings from the 2000 Youth in Transition Survey 18-20-year-old cohort, which documents Canadian youth education and labor market experiences. By age 20, most youth had graduated from high school, and 70 percent were participating in postsecondary education. Dropout rates were higher for males than females. High school…

This report presents national estimates of the prevalence of diagnosed attention deficit disorder (ADD) and/or learning disability (LD) in children in the United States. Differences in the prevalence of these conditions are examined for children with selected sociodemographic characteristics. Estimates in the report are based on data from the 1997…

The experience of long-term poverty affects many child outcomes, in part through a family stress process in which poverty is considered to be one of the major factors causing family dysfunction, depression among caregivers and inadequate parenting. Recent scholarship extends the classical Family Stress Model by researching the ways in which…

This article examines the literacy events of two Puerto Rican kindergartners and their interactions with siblings and cousins of similar age. This work is part of a broader study that analyzes and describes literacy events in bilingual classrooms, homes, and churches of Spanish-dominant Puerto Rican beginning readers. Using a qualitative approach,…

This study explored individual differences in educational disadvantage-- deficits in formal and informal education in the school, home, and elsewhere--in the SAT test-taking population. Factor analysis identified six educational disadvantage factors--four concerning the students' schools and two the students' nativity and parenting--and one family…

Examines the effects of economic stress on children and their families through changes in family relationships and economic adaptations. Uses data from two longitudinal studies of child development begun during the Great Depression. Discusses findings in relation to an interactional model of the process by which families adapt to stressful times.…