In 1983, about 2.6 million people 14 years of age and older did hired farmwork. Most of the woekers were White (73%), under 25 years old (50%), and male (78%). Hispanics made up 13% of the work force, and Blacks and other minority groups made up 14%. There were significant regional differences in racial/ethnic composition. Hispanic workers were…

The condition of higher education for Hispanic Americans and Latin Americans is addressed in 12 papers from the 1983 Conference on Latino College Students. Attention is directed to the transition from high school to college, Hispanic student achievement, and economics and stratification. In addition to forewords by Gregory R. Anrig and Arturo…

Begun in 1980 with 358 students, the Yakima (Washington) Public Schools' Basic Education for Limited English Proficient Students (BELEPS) Program served 1,250 grade K-12 students (94% Hispanic) in 1985. Its four programs were based on the degree of the students' English proficiency, and taught (1) reading only in Spanish, (2) reading in Spanish…

Trends in minority representation in health professions and efforts to expand opportunity are discussed, and information on minority medical training programs of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is provided. During the mid-1960s to mid-1970s, public and private sector programs promoted minority recruitment, admissions, and retention policies for…

The performance of Hispanic participants in the Summer Training and Education Program (STEP) was examined in detail because findings about short-term outcomes for the first year of STEP operation were more promising for Hispanics than for members of other ethnic groups. In addition, Hispanic performance was examined because of the relatively poor…

This report presents social and economic characteristics of the population below the poverty level in 1986 based on the March 1987 Current Population Survey. Among the highlights are the following: (1) the number of persons below the poverty level was 32.4 million; (2) the poverty rate was 13.6 percent; (3) Whites represented 69 percent of the…

A group of three conference papers, all addressing the subject of effective programs to decrease the number of school dropouts, is presented in this document. The first paper, "Systemic Approaches to Reducing Dropouts" (Michael Timpane), asserts that dropping out is a symptom of failures in the social, economic, and educational systems.…

Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, developed a course in practical writing skills for bilingual students as a means of reducing the dropout rate among vocational students, the largest group of Hispanic students in the institution. The objective was to provide writing skills through source materials with a…

A three-year longitudinal study of bilingual curriculum content (BCC) was initiated in the 1983-84 school year to assess alternative strategies for teaching curriculum content to Limited English Proficient (LEP) students in Dade County (Florida) Public Schools. The BCC strategy (in which content subjects are taught bilingually) was contrasted with…

In its first year of extension beyond the 3-year funding cycle at Seward Park High School (New York City), Project CABES (Career Advancement through Bilingual Education Skills) provided career advancement skills to 236 low-income, limited-English-speaking Hispanic immigrant students. The program provided a career-oriented curriculum including…

One segment of a three-year study to examine the relationship between first- and second-language acquisition in light of instructional practices is presented. The study's major focus is the development of literacy skills, including school-related language forms as well as reading and writing, and in this segment, the services delivered to language…

Designed for use by vocational counselors with parents of junior high students, this handbook includes activities written in English and Spanish covering parental influence in vocational choices. The first of three sections discusses increasing parental involvement in vocational education. Section II begins with advice for implementation of such a…

America's economic future depends on the ability of educators to improve minority student retention and preparation. Demographic trends indicate that the economy will be dependent on the contributions of minority workers, who will comprise 60 percent of the labor force. Yet, school statistics indicate that 70 percent of Hispanic students and 28…

One of the working papers in the final report of the Arizona Board of Regents' Task Force on Excellence, Efficiency and Competitiveness, this report describes a study evaluating the effort by Arizona's universities to recruit and graduate minority students. Current outcomes and recent trends are noted along with the general strengths and…

This report evaluates Project CABES (Career Advancement through Bilingual Education Skills) during its second year of extension of a federal funding cycle at New York's Seward Park High School. The major goal of Project CABES was to provide career advancement skills to 250 Hispanic 9th- through 12-grade students of limited English proficiency…