A sexual assault and dating violence prevention program presented in an urban middle school was evaluated to assess its influence on knowledge and attitudes of an intervention group of 46 and a comparison group of 20 African American 7th graders. Results support the need for early prevention programming among youths in inner city schools. (BF)

Examined self-report cross-sectional and longitudinal data on associations between drug use, suicide ideation, and attempts among seventh-and eighth-grade males. African Americans had highest prevalence of six-month ideation; Haitians had highest attempts. For total sample, tranquilizers had highest odds ratio for ideation. Psychoactive drug use…

A rap contest methodology for smoking prevention was tested with 10-14 year olds in a predominantly minority school district. Contests occurred after initial assemblies where students heard and viewed taped peer antismoking rap messages. Winning students received $25. Pre- and posttesting indicated high preference ratings for the intervention. (SM)

In this seven year longitudinal study predictors of achievement for first graders were measured against actual school achievement of the same students in the seventh and eight grades. Three sets of variables were obtained in the first grade. Achievement history, family environment, and mental health were used as measures. Mental health was…

Uses a panel dataset for schools in large Texas cities to compare student performance gains in Dallas, site of a school-based incentive program, with those in four other cities. Results show positive, relatively large effects for Hispanic and white seventh graders, but not for black students or third graders. (MLH)

This unit is one of a series that presents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. The lessons included in this unit attempt to make slavery comprehensible to students, showing its oppressiveness and yet explaining how white Southern culture rationalized and sustained it. The unit also explains how…

Designed for 7th- and 8th-grade students, the teaching unit demonstrates how blacks lived during and after the Civil War in the first government-provided housing in Freedman's Village. While concerned with local Arlington, Virginia sites and history, the unit provides an illustration of the role of architecture and design on American social…

Intelligence tests are really only systems of classification of individuals with reference to others. Thus with such classification systems it is impossible to interpret a deficiency reflected by test scores in other than a socio-cultural frame of reference. Some 150 Black and White seventh grade children between the ages of 12 and 14 were…

This study is an extension of an on-going longitudinal study, the Girls Engagement With/In Science (GEIS) Project. The GEIS Project was designed to understand how girls who are poor, minority or both, engage in science. The two teachers who form the focus for this study are these girls' 7th and 8th grade teachers. Data for this interpretive…

Designed to observe changes in biracial student behavior brought about by Project BACSTOP (a series of structured experiences in a variety of wilderness settings meant to bring students of different races together in stressful adventure activities geared to promote interaction, communication, and cooperation), this evaluation studied five…

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to determine the norms and rules of behavior in a multi-ethnic seventh-grade classroom in an inner-city school. Data were gathered through classroom observations and interviews with the teacher. The teacher in this class stressed ethnic pride, and because the majority of the students (as well as the…

After two years of operation, Project BACSTOP (Better Acquisition of Cognitive Skills through Outdoor Programming, a series of structured experiences in wilderness settings meant to bring seventh and eighth grade students of different races together in challenging adventure activities intended to promote interaction, communication, and…