Examined low socioeconomic-status (SES) preschool classrooms for teacher perceptions of children and teacher/child interactions as a function of ethnicity. Hispanic teachers described Hispanic boys as having high levels of difficulty; they engaged in high levels of interaction with them. Perceptions of girls were more positive and less influenced…

This report outlines the Hillsborough County, Florida, Head Start Program's project to field test with young children and their families curricula that were designed to prevent alcohol and other drug problems. A national search conducted by means of computers, individual contacts, and other methods yielded information on 22 substance abuse…

The progress of a novice ethnographic researcher is traced from problems associated with a pilot study through the production of a final draft of her dissertation--an observational case study. Focus is on the data analysis process, the development of conceptual maps leading to an emergent grounded theory, and writing the dissertation. Research…

This practicum report addresses the educational needs of students with the visual disability of ocular or oculocutaneous albinism. Two booklets were developed, published, and distributed--one for regular education teachers of children with albinism and one specifically about the very young child with albinism. The booklets discuss the special…

This practicum was designed to strengthen preschool and elementary school teachers' abilities and commitment to working with parents and including them as active participants in the education of their children. It sought to help teachers identify beliefs about involving parents in the classroom and school, and to develop materials and activities…

An ethnographic investigation was conducted for the purpose of elucidating the impact of cultural contexts on teachers' values and classroom practices. Data were collected in a classroom in a Head Start center located in a small, economically depressed town in rural, central Pennsylvania. The study focused on the head teacher, the assistant…

This symposium report probes the barriers within special education that slow research utilization and examines positive influences on attitudes toward conducting research in practical settings. The first section presents five categories of barriers to technology implementation, outlined by Joel Mittler. Barrier categories include equipment,…

The urban high school dropout phenomenon may result from the inability of at-risk students to integrate competing social identities, or "selves." Using Erik Erikson's theory of adolescent personality development as a framework, this study analyzes information gathered from interviews with 73 New York City high school students by peer…

A teacher at the Von Humboldt Child Parent Center, a unit of the Chicago, Illinois, public schools located in the largely Hispanic Humboldt Park area, implemented a practicum designed to improve disadvantaged Black and Hispanic preschool children's language and auditory skills in a nonbilingual learning environment. To carry out the project, 10…

The principal objective of this part of the multimethod Head Start bilingual/bicultural curriculum evaluation (Juarez and Associates, 1980) was to determine the effectiveness of four early childhood bilingual/bicultural curriculum models developed for Spanish-speaking children. The eight programs assessed had implemented the Alerta, Amanecer,…

The Direct Instructional System for Teaching Arithmetic and Reading (DISTAR) was developed to provide beginning and remedial instruction to disadvantaged children in preschool and the primary grades. The method places heavy emphasis on structure, programmed learning, drill, and repetition. To determine teachers' opinions of the DISTAR reading…

A twenty-four item inventory was constructed and standardized in order to develop an instrument which measures the degree to which a preschool teacher adheres to Piaget's epistemological belief system. Using two criterion groups of teachers and graduate students--one Piagetian and one behaviorist--the inventory exhibited the ability to…

This conference paper maintains that to more effectively motivate disadvantaged students certain basic changes within the school system must be made. Educational intervention should not be limited to preschool education. The use of indigenous nonprofessionals in the schools may benefit the older disadvantaged student by providing him with a role…

This report presents a review of current research on the education of British children under the age of 5 and suggests important questions for future research. The description of current research includes studies concerned with preschools, home environment and parent-child interaction, cognitive skills, severely subnormal children, and evaluation…

This report describes the Cognitively Oriented Curriculum based on Piagetian theory which is used in the Perry Preschool Project. The purpose of this long-term project is to help educationally disadvantaged Negro children develop the concepts and abilities necessary for academic success. The Piagetian theory of cognitive development is discussed…