From November 1989 to June 1990, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) conducted an individually administered assessment of a representative sampling of some 6,000 adults to determine the literacy skills of the 20,037,087 persons being served by the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) and Employment Service/Unemployment Insurance (ES/UI) programs,…

This document summarizes droputs, transfers, and failures from the class of 1990 in Pennsylvania public schools. The total enrollment for Pennsylvania public schools in 1986-87 was 139,761, in 1987-88 was 133,449, in 1988-89 was 123,717, and in 1989-90 was 115,400. Over 40% of Black and Hispanic students who were in regular ninth-grade classes in…

The relationship of differential item functioning (DIF) to item difficulty on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was examined, based on data from nine recent administrations of the test from June 1986 through December 1987. This pool of information includes item statistics on 765 verbal and 540 mathematical items computed for subgroups of White,…

This hearing examines the mental health needs of America's Black and Hispanic elderly in New York State and, particularly, in the New York City area, and considers solutions for service delivery. Seven expert witnesses testified. Few research studies specifically target aged Blacks and Puerto Ricans; however, many minority elderly share the…

Classroom climate has been found to predict a significant portion of the variance in student achievement, independent of student background and intelligence quotient scores. This study sought to more clearly define classroom climate by determining to what extent climate measures teacher characteristics, student characteristics, and classroom…

Oklahoma is one of three states to offer a free prekindergarten (pre-K) program to all students in participating school districts on a voluntary basis. Fortuitous circumstances in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the state's largest school district, permitted an unusually rigorous evaluation of the pre-K program in Tulsa. Because 4-year-olds beginning pre-K and…

At-risk students are defined as those who are in danger of not graduating from school. These potential dropouts can be characterized by a variety of factors that lead to educational underachievement. In this study, the outcome explored is "outcast," a combination of student behavioral factors that captures student alienation from school…

This study examines the extent to which racial preferences are used in Colorado's 12 public colleges and universities and attempts to determine how the elimination of racial preferences would affect enrollment patterns in these schools. It uses actual admissions data from the State Commission on Higher Education. Detailed analysis shows that all…

This report provides data on racial/ethnic diversity within the Oregon University System (OUS) in regard to student enrollment, graduation, and retention trends. Five-year total (undergraduate and graduate) enrollment trends within the OUS indicate that representation of students of color increased from 11.5 percent of enrollment in fall 1993 to…

Discusses finding of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 with respect to minority students (children of color) in independent nonpublic schools. Helping African-American students feel less like outsiders at majority-white independent schools is discussed, and the role of the teacher is emphasized. (SLD)

Analyzes risk factors for drug use among 6,760 sixth- and seventh-grade Cuban, other Hispanic, African-American, and white non-Hispanic males in Miami (Florida). The cumulative prevalence of risk factors is monotonically related to drug use, but ethnic and racial differences in risk factor profiles suggest cultural differences in predictive value.…

The authors describe various parenting behaviors, such as nurturance, discipline, teaching, and language use, and explain how researchers measure them. They note racial and ethnic variations in several behaviors. Most striking are differences in language use. Black and Hispanic mothers talk less with their young children than do white mothers and…

In this article, I present a framework that can be used in our work with special groups of gifted students--one that recognizes the effects of socioeconomic status (SES), racism, and other limiting factors on educational achievement and provides a blueprint for interventions. This framework stems from Urie Bronfrenbrenner's ecological theory of…

A recent expansion of the San Francisco Bay Area's heavy rail system represents an exogenous change in the accessibility of inner-city minority communities to a concentrated suburban employment center. We evaluate this natural experiment by conducting a two-wave longitudinal survey of firms, with the first wave of interviews conducted immediately…

Rapid tuition increases over the last few decades have made public institutions much less affordable than they once were. This and other policy changes may be affecting college enrollment rates across the country. This article examines how student preparation and college supply interact with the usual factors of tuition, financial aid, and family…