To investigate change in the general self concept of ability of educable mentally retarded special class students, four equally spaced interviews were conducted with 51 students (mean age 11.63) over a 2-year period. Pupils answered questions about their academic ability from the General Self-Concept of Ability Scale; scores showed an ascending…

Studies are reviewed showing that the social status of a high school has a small independent effect on the college intentions of its students, over and above the effects of their family status and mental ability. This finding is analyzed with data from the Educational Testing Service's 1955 sample of 35,330 students in 518 American high schools.…

This report, the first in a series of four 1996 releases of students' opinions, represents a continued effort by MetLife to provide insight and understanding to the issues of violence and social tension in American public schools. The survey focuses on the social climate of the nation's public schools from the perspective of public school students…

This guide is designed specifically as a resource for classroom teachers, librarians, or consultants who are concerned with helping children develop an understanding and an ease with people who are different, especially people with disabilities. The book includes materials to be used in sensitivity and awareness discussion sessions based on 12…

In this qualitative study, five female students in the sixth grade were interviewed and surveyed about their views on popularity at their urban middle school in Ohio. The objectives of the study were to investigate whether middle school girls engaged in academic competition, to describe their subjective experiences of popularity in middle school,…

Presents a peer training model illustrating how a campus can involve its students, faculty, and administrators in effective prejudice-reducing strategies. Presents the operational assumptions governing the National Coalition-Building Institute's training programs, the theory and methodology of its prejudice reduction model, and a process for…

A two-year study involving 173 Portuguese fifth-graders found students who were rejected by their peers were more disruptive, aggressive, and had more trouble with teachers. Students who were rated as lower status students (rejected and neglected) achieved poorly in 5th grade and more poorly in 6th grade. (Contains references.) (CR)

A team teaching approach was implemented by a regular and a special educator in a kindergarten class to facilitate social integration of 7 children with hearing losses and their 17 hearing peers. Social integration occurred, with the hearing children developing sign language skills and a positive acceptance of their peers with hearing impairments.…

Depression and maltreatment were analyzed as predictors of childhood adjustment problems, with 68 children (ages 8 through 12) at high risk due to poverty, physical abuse, and neglect. Depression and maltreatment predicted parents' and teachers' ratings of social competence. Depression also predicted parents' ratings of peer rejection, children's…

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there has been a dramatic increase in the number of children being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the last several years. School nursing interventions need to be developed, implemented, and evaluated to address complexities experienced by this population. The…

Forty-one college students with disabilities were surveyed to obtain their perceptions of how other students, faculty, and staff view them and to collect data about the accessibility of the university campus. A majority of the students surveyed believed that others viewed them as capable. Approximately one-fourth felt that others responded to them…

This digest discusses factors associated with the acceptance and rejection of preschool children by their peers and offers a number of strategies that teachers and other adults can use in their attempts to help children achieve social acceptance. Behaviors and characteristics associated with peer rejection include aggression and misinterpretation…

This learning module, one in a series of 127 performance-based teacher education learning packages focusing upon specific professional competencies of vocational teachers, deals with promoting peer acceptance of exceptional students. Addressed in the individual learning experiences are the following topics: promoting peer acceptance (informing,…

The central theme of the booklet is that integration does not just occur naturally as a result of merely placing students of different race or ethnic groups in the same school setting. It occurs by the special efforts of classroom teachers who encourage student friendship formations. The booklet contains a variety of teaching strategies which…

THE USE OF LOW INCOME NONPROFESSIONAL WORKERS IN SOCIAL SERVICES WAS FOUND TO BENEFIT BOTH THE WORKER AND THE SOCIAL WELFARE AGENCY. FIRST, IT INCREASES THE VOCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE SLUM DWELLER AND PROVIDES HIM WITH THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT OF A SATISFYING JOB. SECOND, THE LOW INCOME NONPROFESSIONAL AS A "SOCIAL CLASS MEDIATOR"…