This study of the Polish-American community in the Greater Boston area has a threefold purpose: (1) it attempts to provide a socio-historical outline of the group's structural position and cultural characteristics; (2) it analyzes the influence of selected factors such as generational positioning, educational status, and place of residence on…

TO EXAMINE THE CONSEQUENCES OF SCHOOL RACIAL ISOLATION, THIS PAPER REVIEWS THE FINDINGS OF TWO RECENT FEDERAL SURVEYS OF PUBLIC SCHOOL SEGREGATION, "RACIAL ISOLATION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS" AND "EQUALITY OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY," AS WELL AS DATA FROM SEVERAL OTHER STUDIES. THE MATERIAL IS PRESENTED UNDER THE RUBRICS OF (1)…

THE FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS, PEER RELATIONS, PERSONAL VALUES, AND ATTITUDES WHICH DISTINGUISH BETTER FROM POORER READERS, AND TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS RELATED TO IMPROVEMENT OR DECLINE IN READING ABILITY BETWEEN THIRD AND SIXTH GRADE TESTING POINTS, WERE INVESTIGATED. INTERVIEWS WERE CONDUCTED WITH 705 6TH, 8TH, 10TH AND 12TH GRADE STUDENTS WHO WERE…

The role of the principal during the past two decades can be addressed by looking at the major developments of the era as they influenced the evolution of the principal's role. Fundamental changes in school structure were popularized during the expansionist period of the late 1950s and 1960s. Principals had to be agents of change. Then, a note of…

This study investigates the impact of cooperative learning and the impact of opportunity to interact with classmates on achievement and cross-handicap relationships. Results indicate that positive goal interdependence with collaborative-skills and academic group contingencies promoted positive relationships with nonhandicapped classmates, frequent…

This book examines teachers' lounges as sites for the development of communal knowledge. It highlights data from surveys of teachers regarding their interactions in 26 elementary and secondary teachers' lounges in Israeli schools. The book regards teachers in lounges as learners, whether they are involved in formal professional development…

Social scientists' assertions in 1954, that desegregation would improve minority student performance by freeing minority children from "pariah" status, and the hypothesis that interracial classroom contact would result in improved minority student achievement, are both unsupported by research. Effective school desegregation programs must…

Consideration of 150 personal, social, and educational factors in relation to sports participation of Scottish adolescents suggested a number of paths leading to school sports involvement but emphasized particularly the important reciprocal influence of teachers' and pupils' expectations and perceptions. (Author/CM)

This study examined why Australian high school students decided to continue or discontinue their schooling, using a comprehensive theoretical model to examine the issue. Three surveys of 817 tenth-grade students over a 13-month period indicated that the theoretical model adequately and appropriately explained and predicted students' persistence…

A comparison was made of ability and achievement test results and school grades for 323 pairs of Swedish male and female twins and 740 controls in relation to social background. An interaction effect of sex and social background was found for verbal ability and mathematics test results. (SLD)

Examines community forces underlying the educational problems of African Americans and other voluntary and involuntary minorities. Community forces differentiate minority groups facing similar barriers in society and in schools. Options created by community forces allow choices of action that result in individual differences in schooling outcome.…

This article describes a pilot program, initiated in 1999 by Smoky Hill High School in Colorado, to help gifted students overcome barriers to their success. The program addresses issues in all components or subsystems of a person's life: emotional/psychological, mental/intellectual, physical, spiritual, social, and family. Tips for parents are…

Two hundred-fifty African American college students from two predominantly White institutions (PWIs) and two historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were administered the Non-Cognitive Questionnaire-Revised (NCQ-R) and the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI) to determine which psychosocial indices best predicted…

With diminishing returns to the peer group, it is optimal social policy to mix children in schools. We consider what happens when, contrary to the outcome being determined by a social planner, schools and children are free to seek each other out: with some caveats, this leads to perfect segregation by child quality. It is shown that this is the…

Boys' underachievement has to some extent been attributed to the feminisation of the teaching profession. The authors understand the concept of feminisation to mean in the first instance an increase in the number of women teachers in primary schools as a proportion of the total work force. The evidence the authors have for this pragmatic…