Analyzes factors influencing mathematics attitudes among 543 south Texas Mexican-American university students, tested for factors connoting fear and enjoyment. Survey results show ability, quality of preparation, college credits, and perceived importance of mathematics to be major determinants of math attitudes. No evidence linking ethnic or…

Compared generic tobacco use among Hispanic, White, Black, and Asian youths (N=4,980) in grades 4, 7, 10, and 12. Found prevalence of regular use was highest among Whites, followed by Hispanics, Blacks, and Asians. Marijuana, alcohol, and other drug use explained approximately 40 percent of variance in tobacco use in each ethnic group. Other…

No studies have tested persistence models on Hispanic community college students in which financial aid have been included. This study tested a structural equation model of retention for a Hispanic student population (N=170) to determine the direct, indirect, and total effects of campus-based resources on minority retention rates. (Author/MLW)

Summarizes information on the numbers of foreign-born children in the United States in 1980 and data on immigrant children 1980-85. Examines census data on the language characteristics, educational attainment, and economic status of recent immigrants from Mexico and 11 other countries. Contains 8 data tables. (Auth/SV)

Investigated the antecedents of individual-level ethnic identity among 67 part-Japanese American students in Hawaii and 104 part-Hispanic students in New Mexico. Seventy-three percent of the part-Japanese students and 44 percent of the part-Hispanic students listed multiple identity on at least one measure of ethnic identity, suggesting that…

Focuses on variations in perceptions and conceptions of machismo within Mexican and Latino culture. Studies how Latino fathers living in United States perceive machismo, utilizing data from in-depth interviews. Identifies two models of masculinity, one as compensation for powerlessness, the other grounded in ethics, honor, and courage. (TES)

Confirmatory factor analysis techniques assessed several structural models that have been reported regarding the construct validity of the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. Responses of 885 Black, White, and Hispanic students in grades three-six suggest that the scale's construct validity is a function of content and manner of phrasing.…

Describes the curriculum reorganization and staff training involved in the desegregation of the Holyoke (Massachusetts) public schools. Suggests strategies for successful integration of a multicultural curriculum. (FMW)

Demographic and socioeconomic status of Hispanic Americans, and particularly of the elderly, are discussed. The leadership roles and legacy of older persons in the extended multi-generational Hispanic American family are examined, and a case study is presented. Programatic efforts are needed to support close family ties and intergenerational…

Suggestions for increasing the involvement of Hispanic parents in their children's education are offered, including 10 specific reading and writing activities identified by Hispanic parents as easy to implement. These include visiting the library, providing reading materials, listening to the child read, displaying the child's writing, reading and…

Critical and progressive educational theorists hold that educational reform cannot succeed without addressing the widespread institutionalized inequities such as classism, racism, and sexism embedded in the schooling process. This article describes a Southern California teacher's use of critical pedagogy to enhance Latino students' learning and…

One-year intervention was designed to improve minority students' awareness of and preparation for math and science careers. Focused on increasing students' career knowledge, self-esteem, math and science achievement, high school choice, and course selection in math and science. Results indicated success in career knowledge and high school choice.…

Interviews with 536 families (White, Hispanic, and American Indian) of infants and toddlers with developmental problems indicated parental needs for more and better information and indicated the importance of medical doctors as a source of information, individualizing information for different ethnic groups, and identifying unique strategies to…

The cognitive and metacognitive knowledge of a proficient bilingual sixth-grade reader who was Latina was studied by comparing her reading processes with those of a marginally proficient bilingual reader and a proficient monolingual reader. Four key dimensions are identified that distinguish the proficient bilingual reader's performance. (SLD)

Eighty gifted and 80 nongifted African American, Latino, Filipino, and white elementary school students were evaluated through information processing tasks. There were large differences on all four tasks, two depending on speed of processing and two not dependent on speed, as a function of grade and gifted program membership. (SLD)