This article examines the language and cognitive skills of bidialectal and bilingual children, focusing on African American English bidialectal speakers and Spanish-English bilingual speakers. It contributes to the discussion by considering two themes in the extant literature: (1) linguistic and cognitive strengths can be found in speaking two…

Examines television's role in the social development of Black children, including television's use, socialization content, potential antisocial and prosocial effects, and television as an educator. concludes that television is a significant player in the socialization (cognitive and social learning) of Black children with positive and negative…

Summarizes and evaluates the deficit, difference, and bicultural theories used to interpret the linguistic characteristics of Black and low socioeconomic status children. Also discusses research that has applied these theories and the implications of this research for educational reform. (AOS)

Investigates the effects of a role-taking, action-learning program on the cognitive and ego development of African American rural high school students. Main effects were assessed in two related domains: concrete to abstract thinking, and self-concept development. Results indicate significant gains in both abstract thinking and ego stage. (RJM)

Analyzes data from 285 African American social workers and administrators to demonstrate effect of perceptions of agency cultural sophistication on reports of psychological and work-related stress. Discusses usefulness of cultural sophistication as an explanatory variable in understanding staff perceptions of occupational and psychological stress…

Young children's knowledge of race and ethnicity is conveyed in their own terms, and how this knowledge affects their social relationships and ideas about procreation is explored. Participant observation, informal conversations, and collecting children's artwork were used to build a picture of race through the eyes of the kindergarten child.…

Designed to observe changes in biracial student behavior brought about by Project BACSTOP (a series of structured experiences in a variety of wilderness settings meant to bring students of different races together in stressful adventure activities geared to promote interaction, communication, and cooperation), this evaluation studied five…

After two years of operation, Project BACSTOP (Better Acquisition of Cognitive Skills through Outdoor Programming, a series of structured experiences in wilderness settings meant to bring seventh and eighth grade students of different races together in challenging adventure activities intended to promote interaction, communication, and…

The Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery (CSAB), a school-readiness test, is administered to all public school students at the beginning of Grade 1 in South Carolina. This test is designed to measure a student's readiness to begin the formal school curriculum. The number of beginning first graders tested in 1992 (54,357) represented a decrease from…

This essay reports the results of a preliminary evaluation of the effects of Matthew Lipman's Philosophy for Children program on fifth and sixth graders in the first year of the program's use in two settings. The program, which involves the use of a novel about children to promote discussion, attempts to engage elementary students in philosophical…