Even with current evidence-based preschool programming efforts for children from high-risk backgrounds, many children vary in their skill levels at school entry. The authors examined the influence of using an evidence-based literacy curriculum during a 6-week summer program. The authors documented improvements in children's letter-naming,…

The authors explored stress among 521 teachers in 16 elementary schools. They used hierarchical linear modeling to examine the relation of school and teacher characteristics to reported demands and resources in the classroom. School-level predictor variables included spring vs. fall data collection, Title I status, minority percentage, the…

Intergroup cooperation and competition were compared to determine if they promoted systematic differences in interaction between majority and minority students. Results indicated that the intergroup cooperation condition produced increased numbers of cross-ethnic relationships. (Author/DF)

Challenges the use of ethnicity as a predictor of school-level achievement because of its lack of manipulability, lack of intrinsic association with home processes, and inability to advance the understanding of models of school-level achievement. The use of socioeconomic status as a more robust predictor of school-level achievement is recommended.…

Critiques Klingele and Warrick's (1990) use of stepswise regression to understand the effect of independent variables on measures of student achievement, and challenges the assertion in Penny and Bond's (1991) reply that ethnicity should not be included in models of achievement. (SM)

This study evaluates the effects of school desegregation by court-ordered busing on the subsequent dropout rate of minority and majority students. (MM)

Analysis of data from 332 Arkansas school districts indicates that 4 of the 8 noninstructional variables analyzed had significant relationships to the fourth grade reading scores: percentage of minority students, number of students eligible for free or reduced lunches, percentage of staff holding master's degrees or above, and relative wealth of…

Urban high school minority group students with differential preschool program histories were compared to controls on measures of school achievement, school sentiment, and perceptions of preschool experience. No main long-term effects were revealed, although favorable student evaluations of preschool were observed. (Author/MT)

Chinese students, in this study of fifth-, eighth-, eleventh-graders, were consistently lower in test wiseness than their American counterparts. (MJB)

School transfers were traced through the first five years of elementary school for 767 Baltimore (Maryland) children. Data on transfers, grade level progression, special education placements, achievement, family circumstances, and race indicated that school transfers were frequent, and patterned along racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines.…

Investigated patterns of participation in high school extracurricular activities, using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1998. Students of upper socioeconomic status and higher ability were more likely to participate in extracurricular activities; girls were more likely to participate than boys (except in sports); and…

Using 1988 National Education Longitudinal Study data, researchers examined why Asian American students generally have higher academic achievement than other minorities. Asian Americans were more likely to live in intact homes, spend more time doing homework, and attend more lessons and activities outside of regular school. Asian American parents…

Investigated the impact of efforts to prepare average high school students for college admission, examining ethnic differences in academic retracking. A longitudinal evaluation of a school reform effort at four California high schools indicates that specific efforts to retrack general/vocational students into college-preparatory tracks offer…

The relationship between initial school functioning and subsequent mobility was examined among 2,524 low-income elementary students. Data were collected on academic, behavioral, and school adjustment. The students were then trailed for three years; during this time mobility was observed. Most mobile students had poorer initial school behavior and…

Researchers used data from 8,100 high school students participating in the High School and Beyond Longitudinal Study to test a model of at-risk students' school learning. Results indicated that ability, quality of schooling, student motivation, and enrollment in academic coursework were important predictors of academic achievement. (SM)