Three issues are addressed in this research review. First, do gifted and average children differ in their self-concepts? Second, what, if any, are the effects on self-concept of labeling a child as gifted or exceptional? Third, does placing the child in a separate enriched or accelerated classroom have any impact on self-concept? The paper begins…

This paper explores the detrimental effects that assumptions and labels have caused people with mental retardation and examines the concept of changing societal attitudes. The paper points out that: mental retardation has often been regarded not simply as one aspect of a person's life, but as engulfing the person's whole life and becoming that…

This report examines current assessment and eligibility practices relating to special education programs, and proposes changes to current policy and practice that will encourage and support a process that emphasizes determining student need, designing effective interventions, and evaluating outcomes. The paper views the emphasis in federal and…

Using information collected in a survey of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the study analyzed state definitions of the "behavior disordered/emotionally disturbed" (BD/ED) category of handicapped children, program entrance and exit criteria, and procedures for referral, evaluation, and program placement. A general lack of…

The article describes a 5-day winter camping expedition experienced conjointly by two groups: one a blend of able-bodied and physically disabled adults, and the second consisting of sexually exploited adolescents who were placed in a group home setting. The first group were members of Wilderness Inquiry II, a community based adventure program that…

This paper presents the results of a study to investigate the effects of including an assessment of adaptive behavior, the Adaptive Behavior Inventory for Children (ABIC), in classifying students. Children in this study were either referred for or currently receiving special education services in a tri-ethnic district of 40,000 students. Three…

Disproportionately large numbers of Mexican American children are labeled as mentally retarded by the public schools and placed in special education classes. Two explanatory hypotheses are discriminatory referral procedures and discriminatory clinical procedures. Findings from research conducted between 1963 and 1969 concerning these processes and…

Studies have indicated that mature women maintain a permanent role identity along two dimensions, i.e., traditional women or nontraditional women. However, the lifeset of many mature adult women may be on the continuum between these two positions, i.e., in the position of "deferred achiever." The personality variables and sex-role orientations of…

Placement in a non-college curriculum track may cause losses in self-esteem and increased delinquency. A nationally representative, longitudinal sample of over 1600 high school boys was examined by means of a status attainment perspective to conceptualize tracking influences on delinquency, and by path models to explore assumptions about the…

This collection of materials is designed to assist elementary school teachers in understanding and exploring the experiential world of the elementary school student by describing what students are like and examining their perceptions of settings, events, and other school members. The following concepts are addressed: (1) cognitive abilities of…

Guided by findings from various studies, the general thesis of this study was that identity polarization tends to be a reflections of meaningful structural divisions within the Mexican American population. This study considered such social status attributes which seemingly serve as discrete indicators of group heterogeneity as sex, socioeconomic…

The purpose of this study is to test the culture of poverty explanation of the work behavior of the "hard core unemployed" against situational explanations by examining the reactions of trainees to two naturally occurring structural changes in a minority employment program. Firstly, program structure improvements over a five-year period were found…

Written in response to questions from Head Start personnel, the manual contains information on how to provide encouragement and support to parents of handicapped children. Divided into sections with general background information and information pertaining to special problems, the 21 chapters cover the following topics (authors are in…

Presented are reprints of 37 articles on mainstreaming handicapped children (published between 1968 and 1974 in "Exceptional Children"). The collected articles are arranged within four broad categories: the general rationale for mainstreaming, other philosophical considerations, types of mainstreaming models, and teacher training and…

This paper reviews previous research into ability grouping and describes a study of the relationship of heterogeneous and homogeneous grouping plans on children's concepts of their interpersonal relationships with other students and their academic success. Most studies on the emotional impact of ability grouping indicated that being placed in the…