A pilot survey was conducted to explore why some young African American men living in cities stay in high school and why others drop out. Between October 1993 and March 1994, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 360 young black men aged 17 to 22, randomly drawn from census tracts in New York (New York), Chicago (Illinois), Los Angeles…

Social Skills Training (SST) has become a popular and effective means of prevention and intervention with adolescent populations exhibiting behavioral difficulties. Early in their development many African-American youth are exposed to homicide, crime, and interpersonal violence. The acquisition of social skills is critical to the development of…

Drawing on J. Epstein's theory of overlapping spheres of influence (1991, 1995), this study explores the effects of teacher, family, and church support on the school-related attitudes, behaviors, and academic achievement of African American, urban adolescents. To achieve this objective, 826 students in an urban school district in the southeastern…

This paper considers whether ethnicity is a social construction that is constantly being recreated in a nexus of shifting social relations rather than a set of perceptions and behaviors that remain constant and stem from a youth's membership in an ethnic group. Student responses about ethnicity from a larger study of student role and engagement in…

In Talent Development Middle Schools, students needing extra help in mathematics participate in the Computer- and Team-Assisted Mathematics Acceleration (CATAMA) course. CATAMA is an innovative combination of computer-assisted instruction and structured cooperative learning that students receive in addition to their regular math course for about…

A total of 948 minority children of 2-5 years of age from inner-city areas of Newark, New Jersey participated in a study that aimed to identify gifted preschool children. The study was designed to develop and validate a screening instrument and establish an enrichment program that would nurture the unique abilities of the gifted children. The…

This paper evaluates a program for educators, youth workers, and parents in four Atlanta (Georgia) Public Schools designed to teach African American children the positive aspects of their cultural heritage and to increase their self-esteem and desire to learn. Although the Self-Esteem Through Culture Leads to Academic Excellence (SETCLAE) program…

The urban high school dropout phenomenon may result from the inability of at-risk students to integrate competing social identities, or "selves." Using Erik Erikson's theory of adolescent personality development as a framework, this study analyzes information gathered from interviews with 73 New York City high school students by peer…

Mexican and American children in grades 1 through 3 in urban schools were administered the McDaniel-Piers Young Children's Self Concept Scale to compare their self concept scores. Comparisons were made within three socioeconomic levels by grade level and sex for each item on the scale. In comparing the results, four generalizations were inferred:…

Using data from a cross-sectional sample of 4,376 South Carolina high school seniors in 1969 to determine the differences in the perception of conditions relating to teacher choice among white and black females and males, the study explored the relative perceived importance of the following items in choosing a career: the chance to make a lot of…

The stated purposes of this paper are to: (1) consider selected causal explanations of the problem of low educational attainment among low income non-white populations in a highly complex industrialized society; (2) examine alternative strategies of intervention; and, (3) construct a model as a tool for continued analysis of the problem. It is…

"Vocational Education in Texas High Schools: An Ethnic Comparison", was initiated in March 1973 and continued through the summer of 1974 when all project reports were completed; this is a summary and conclusion of the entire study. Among the major goals were to: document and describe the experiences and aspirations of a large sample of…

In March 1975, the American Public Welfare Association's Youth-Community Coordination Project (Y-CCP) began to develop a coordinated youth services system in Tacoma/Pierce County (and four other sites around the country), funded by National Discretionary LEAA funds from the National Instute for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The…

This manual is designed for high school teachers and students who plan to participate in intergenerational community service programs. Intergenerational community service is a powerful teaching tool that introduces problem solving and active learning while enhancing self-esteem. Four case studies describe what schools in Pennsylvania are doing to…

Questionnaire responses of 918 midwestern 8th, 10th, and 12th graders reveal that rural adolescents, especially males, were more likely to experience conflict between career aspirations and future residential preferences than their urban peers. Additionally, rural 10th graders expressing conflicting aspirations were more likely to have lower…