A family literacy project serving Mexican immigrants taught parents how to encourage literacy development of their children aged three through five and fostered parents' critical literacy by first meeting their needs for functional literacy. Parent participants increased the time spent reading to their children, provided more reading materials at…

Inquired 69 students' beliefs about registering for high school chemistry. The information was used to develop a questionnaire and persuasive messages. Among 598 target students, chemistry enrollment was higher than expected for those receiving in-class student-only materials and lower than expected for those receiving student/parent take-home…

In this interview, a female Hispanic principal discusses the challenges, resources, and support involved in implementing a two-way bilingual immersion model in a Hispanic community in Albuquerque (New Mexico). Program success resulted primarily from supportive parents, faculty, and superintendent and the principal's leadership style, which is…

Achievement for Latinos through Academic Success is a unique Chicano dropout prevention program in a large Los Angeles junior high school. Program features include: (1) focus on the school's highest-risk students; (2) construction of a comprehensive cluster of research-based interventions addressing four different spheres of influence on school…

This paper examines conditions influencing achievement in and attitudes toward mathematics among middle-school Latino students. Observations were carried out in a rural California middle school that served a largely Mexican American student population and that was in the process of implementing a new thematic mathematics curriculum in…

As NAFTA opens the border between the United States and Mexico, the need for binational cooperation in education becomes ever more imperative. This chapter provides a rationale for binational education--the benefits of binational education both for language-minority students and for the majority culture--and describes a variety of cooperative…

This paper examines the effectiveness of social services provided to Mexican immigrants in rural California. In addition, the paper offers recommendations for service delivery models and for rethinking the objectives of immigrant social policy. At the most basic level, current social program planning and associated analyses of policy options fail…

This monograph describes implications for public schools of rapidly growing populations of Mexican-Americans and other language minorities and recommends ways to eliminate institutional barriers to equity and excellence in education. It presents current information about such issues as dropout rates, reading levels, and participation in advanced…

This report is the fifth year and last evaluation of the Title VII Bilingual Computer Literacy Project for San Elizario Independent School District, Texas. Several points in the fourth year evaluation focused on the need for the computer assisted instruction (CAI) project to obtain and maintain community and parent involvement and to secure and…

Acculturation and biculturalism of four populations (first-, second-, and third-generation Mexican American school children, and a comparison group of Anglo American children) were measured by teacher ratings of classroom behavior, using the Bicultural Identity/Respect for Cultural Differences Scale, developed expressly for use in…

A communication skills program, initiated in the Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, in 1974, as part of the Experimental Schools Program, was conducted as part of a locally designed and implemented effort to improve the academic achievement of its largely Mexican American student body. Coinciding with the initiation of the…

AN EXPERIMENTAL CLASS IN BICULTURAL AND BILINGUAL EDUCATION WAS CONDUCTED FOR THE CHILDREN OF MEXICAN DESCENT IN MARYSVILLE, CALIFORNIA. THE CLASS, PLANNED ON AN UNGRADED BASIS, INCLUDED 8 BOYS AND 11 GIRLS WHOSE AGES RANGED FROM 6 TO 10 YEARS AND WHOSE GRADE PLACEMENTS ORDINARILY WOULD HAVE BEEN FROM KINDERGARTEN TO GRADE 4. TWELVE OF THE 19…

The Mexican-American Affairs Unit of the U.S. Office of Education was established to plan, develop, and coordinate improved educational opportunities for Mexican-American children and adults. Staff members of the Unit conducted a field survey in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas to discuss current programs and future needs.…

Males belonging to 4 low income ethnic groups contrasted with males of a middle income ethnic group were evaluated on problem-solving behaviors via Twenty Questions. Age was found to influence level of performance. The higher socioeconomic status (SES) males performed at a significantly greater level than the lower SES males. No differences among…

An interdisciplinary research study is suggested following a review of the more significant studies that have been attempted to explain the degree of educational retardation of the Mexican American as related to such factors as life stresses (e.g., economic deprivation) and learning styles. This study would be a combination of survey research…