Purpose: The goal of this study was to evaluate the practice-oriented model of service use (Yeatts, Crow, & Folts, 1992) relative to the more widely used behavioral model (Andersen, 1968) in its ability to explain the use of respite services by caregivers of Alzheimer's patients. Unlike the behavioral model, which focuses primarily on…

This statistically representative survey of 1,203 likely Virginia voters illustrates public opinion on a wide range of K-12 education issues. The underlying purpose of the Friedman Foundation's state surveys is to measure voter knowledge and attitudes toward public institutions and policies, innovative ideas, and the state's K-12 education system.…

Nearly one-quarter of students in community colleges leave school during the first year of enrollment for reasons other than transfer or credential completion. Generally, nontraditional community college students drop out within their first year at higher rates than do traditional students. Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community College Count, this issue of Data Notes compares students in the 2002 Achieving the Dream cohort in terms of achievement and persistence over three academic years based on Pell Grant receipt. The results reveal a complicated relationship between Pell Grant receipt and measures of student success.…

Research on retention of students of color suggests possible areas of intervention to improve academic success.

Purpose: To determine (1) the prevalence of use, (2) risk and protective factors for use of inhalants in Florida youth. Methods: The Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey 2004 is a comprehensive assessment of youth substance abuse attitudes and practices obtained by sampling youth from sixty-five counties. Results: The sample consisted of 60,345…

This study utilizes observation, survey and interview methodologies to investigate the impact of student race on participation in discussion in introductory sociology courses at a large Midwestern US university with a minority enrollment of approximately 15 percent. While results are mixed there is some evidence that white students participated at…

The achievement gap, traditionally measured by test scores, also can be documented by dropout behavior. Examining dropout behavior among Black, White, and Hispanic students, with a particular focus on gaps within groups and not just between Whites and minorities, shows a clearer picture of the achievement gap. The results of our study show…

This collection of statistics provides information on dropout rates in Arizona public schools. A dropout was defined as a student who was enrolled at the end of the 1991-92 school year or at any time during the 1992-93 school year, who was not enrolled at the end of the school year and whose absence could not be explained by transfer, graduation,…

This book is about the growing need for a more inclusive curriculum and university. The debate about multicultural education is moved from an ideological debate to the realm of the practical in these selections. The first part of the book outlines the demographic and historic realities that make multiculturalism imperative. The second part gives…

This collection sheds light on current research on teacher thinking in cultural contexts and identifies promising practices in teacher education that take the most salient contextual variables into account. Teacher cognition as influenced by race, ethnicity, and culture is explored in: (1) "Teacher Thinking in Urban Schools: The Need for a…

This report contains results of one of the largest research studies of its type ever conducted. For the study, 1,802 students at 11 high schools and several continuation schools of the Los Angeles (California) Unified School District were surveyed on a range of issues related to their experience with violence, their own and their friends'…

This study analyzes NELS:88 data from a dropout sample of students who were enrolled in the eighth grade in 1988 but who were not enrolled in school in 1990. The data for this analysis were collected in Spring 1990 to examine reasons for dropping out and plans for dropouts to resume their education. In both areas, differences were found on…

The study examined whether a relationship exists between cultural background (Caucasian, Hispanic, or Black) and families' attitudes toward educational programming for a family member with severe disabilities. Useable surveys were returned by 91 respondents out of the 103 of 337 families (31%) to whom surveys had been distributed. The 40-item…

Whether specification of focal group membership based on ethnicity as well as educational opportunity affects differential item functioning (DIF) of test items was studied. Subjects were 4,342 freshmen admitted to a large midwestern university who completed the 40-item Advanced Mathematics Placement Examination in the spring of 1991. There were…