This set of materials consists of three research reports concerning cultural and linguistic acculturation of minority children, and information about Acculturation Quick Screen, a technique, which includes computer software, for measuring students' relative level of acculturation to the public school environment in the United States. The research…

The report describes an ethnographic study of a New York City (New York) middle school that focused on the school as a setting for cultural interchange. The relatively small school has an ethnically and culturally diverse student body that strives to build a strong feeling of community. The study looked at ways in which the school attends to…

The presence of increasing numbers of students from the People's Republic of China in American graduate and professional schools provides the opportunity for a natural experiment testing one broadly-accepted explanation of gender differences in American context. A study was conducted to examine whether these students, arriving from an educational…

An orientation course at an Ohio college was designed to help college freshmen adjust to the values of a new living/learning community, using personal journal writing to develop the students' coping skills. Life issues considered essential in adult development theory--identity, intimacy, autonomy, and competency--serve as a background for the…

School refusal, as differentiated from both school phobia and truancy, is a term used to denote emotionally-based avoidance of school. To identify factors associated with school refusal, 41 junior high and high school students (including special education school refusers, special education non-refusers, and a comparison group from a regular…

The project described in this paper focuses on researching approaches to ease the student's transition from elementary to middle school. The method presented equips teachers with an eight-step strategy for helping students think through everyday decisions and stressful situations. The materials target situations that children face while…

Briefly considering the literature, this paper reviews research in the area of temperament and points out the implications of findings for school psychologists. Following a brief discussion of several definitions of temperament, two issues given the most consideration in the theoretical literature are outlined: the genetic origins of temperament…

Entrance into college is considered a stressful experience, with many students experiencing depression and maladjustment. A longitudinal study was conducted to investigate three major models of depression among college students, i.e., the life events model, the cognitive-attributional model, and the social support model. Subjects were 134 freshmen…

The Madison (Minneapolis, MN) school program provides intensive instructional and treatment services to students 12 to 16 years old with serious emotional and behavioral problems. The primary goal of the program is to aid individual students to develop sufficient coping skills and self based behavioral controls so they can successfully return to…

The responses of African American college students to the campus environment at a large Texas university were studied through interviews that focused on student adjustment to the college environment and the university's response to students of color. Many studies have documented that black students are affected by the perception of discrimination…

The National Transition Demonstration Study was conducted to provide information about the implementation and impact of a federally funded program to enhance early public school transition of former Head Start children and their families by extending Head Start-like supports through the first 4 years of elementary school. The study design involved…

The Faculty Mentoring Program (FMP) at California State University, Dominguez Hills, provides faculty mentors to students defined as "at-risk." FMP aims to encourage faculty-student interaction through a mentoring relationship that will lead to improved student achievement, retention, and graduation and to better faculty understanding of…

A sense of school belonging has been theorized to be crucial to a childs positive school adjustment and may contribute to their future mental health. The present study investigated the relationship between sources of social support as measured by Harters Social Support Scale for Children and Goodenows Psychological Sense of School Membership. The…

Noting the importance of young children's school readiness, the Danish Ministry of Education initiated transition activities to help preschoolers make a successful transition to kindergarten. This study examined Danish teachers' understanding of and attitudes toward transition activities. The study's questionnaire listed 32 typical transition…

During 1998 and 1999, the Starting School Project at the University of Western Sydney-Macarthur conducted a survey across New South Wales (Australia) of parent and teacher opinions about children's successful transition to school. Survey responses were received from 240 teachers and 243 parents of young children. Respondents were grouped according…