This paper describes Scratch, a visual, block-based programming language designed to facilitate media manipulation for novice programmers. We report on the Scratch programming experiences of urban youth ages 8-18 at a Computer Clubhouse--an after school center--over an 18-month period. Our analyses of 536 Scratch projects collected during this…

Administered the TEMAS (Tell Me a Story) test to 73 public school and 210 clinical Puerto Rican children. Story content was scored for nine personality functions and descriptive indexes. Results indicated internal consistency and interrater reliability. TEMAS indexes significantly discriminated between school and clinical samples. (BH)

This report illustrates how official poverty rates vary by age, race and Hispanic origin, nativity, family composition, work experience, and geography. The official poverty rate rose from 11.7 to 12.1 percent between 2001-2002. In 2002, people below the official poverty thresholds numbered 34.6 million, 1.7 million higher than in 2001. At 16.7…

The selected annotated bibliography was prepared to demonstrate the range of published materials available to students, teachers, and community practitioners. Topics were selected that are central to the concerns of those who have an interest in child welfare issues associated with the Latino and Chicano communities. By the year 2000, the Latino…

This study is the first effort to produce a systematic description and analysis of the experience and performance of immigrant children and youths in the U.S. educational system. Data from the High School and Beyond (HSB) study initiated in 1980 were complemented by 1970, 1980, and 1990 U.S. Census figures to compare the performance of immigrant…

The seven short stories in this collection portray the lives of Puerto Rican children and adolescents in the South Bronx (New York City). The hopelessness of many Puerto Rican and Black youth is vividly depicted in stories dealing with drug use, discrimination, unwanted and early pregnancy, and a host of other urban social ills. Titles of the…

This report describes after-school programs available in the Houston (Texas) Independent School District (HISD). Fifty-nine sites offer either after-school child care or instruction to elementary school students in the HISD. Magnet's Extended Instructional Day program is the largest and the Houston Committee for Private Sector Initiatives'…

"Discovering Successful Pathways in Children's Development" provides a new perspective on the study of childhood and family life. Successful development is enhanced when communities provide meaningful life pathways that children can seek out and engage. Successful pathways include both a culturally valued direction for development and competence…

The experiences of the first middle school to pilot the ideas and concepts of the Accelerated Schools Project are described. The school is an inner-city public school with a population of at-risk students presently scoring below district and state achievement averages. The 689 students are 53 percent Hispanic, 23 percent Portuguese, 17 percent…