The verdict in the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) case undermined the concept of educational equity by equating it with sameness. Testimony was excluded that revealed bureaucratic processes creating new inequities: overemphasis on test preparation and manipulation of students' grade level designations to artificially improve…

Analysis of the first 10 years of the newsletter, "US ENGLISH Update," reveals that its main focus is restricting the use of Spanish in the United States out of fear for the status of English. This policy objective is rooted in language attitudes based on impressions and hearsay. It blames bilingual education for an unwillingness of…

Reviews criteria used to define Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) in the United States and presents other distinguishing characteristics, such as student's Hispanic origins, geographic distribution, academic offerings, and financing patterns. Present status and educational needs of the growing Hispanic population are examined to discern how…

Examined relationships among collective self-esteem, perceived social support, and cultural congruity among 151 Black and Latino college students enrolled in predominantly White universities. Findings indicate Black and Latino women reported higher levels of cultural congruity than did men; higher public collective self-esteem and higher social…

Interview with president of the University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB), the first Mexican-American woman president of a college or university in the United States. Discusses degree-granting partnership formed between UTB and Texas Southmost College, a community college, and other issues. (NB)

Describes support group whose theoretical conceptualization is based on Yalom's therapeutic factors as they relate to cultural values and academic persistence of Chicanas in higher education. Recommendations that integrate cultural values into group dynamics include establishing trust and credibility by actively participating in Chicano/a…

The SIP (Standards in Practice) instructional improvement program was successfully implemented in three El Paso school districts. Student scores have soared. Teacher development must be ongoing, site-based, and targeted to all students' specific needs. Teachers need strong verbal and math skills, deep content knowledge, and teaching skill. (MLH)

Examined attitudes toward family obligations in American tenth and twelfth graders from Filipino, Chinese, Mexican, Central and South American, and European backgrounds. Found that even within a society emphasizing adolescent autonomy and independence, youths from families with collectivistic traditions retain their parents' familial values and…

This study demonstrates three ways of analyzing qualitative interview data: content, cultural models, and narrative analyses. Interview data from 250 Latino parents of young children with mental retardation illustrates these types of analyses. Suggestions for ways in which early intervention studies could be extended by considering different…

Assimilation does not assure acceptance in the "melting pot" United States. Ethnic self-identity and acceptance of the journey process are the prizes this writer has earned from her journey. She discusses the experience of "passing," and the reasons why some individuals would choose not to. (EMK)

The Minnesota Child Development Inventory-Spanish Version, a parental report assessment, was completed for 1,043 Hispanic migrant worker children (ages 12-71 months). This assessment is widely used for screening and assessment within migrant early intervention programs. Overall, the assessment was a reliable instrument for children in the 24-…

A study of 115 Hispanic and 119 Anglo fifth-grade students and 12 teachers investigated teachers' nomination rates of Hispanic and Anglo students to gifted-and-talented programs. Results indicated that ethnicity was a factor in teachers' nomination rate and that differences in rates were more pronounced between Hispanic and Anglo females.…

Describes a project in the Detroit Public Schools that provided television set-top Internet access devices to Latino families as part of a project to link the school and home in an inquiry-based science curriculum. Discusses early phases of adoption of the Internet and NetTV devices by families. (Author/LRW)

This article presents further analyses of a pilot study that examined the effectiveness of a computerized language screening instrument for 60 multicultural children (ages 7-8). Results suggest that because of its computerization and language learnability features, this innovative instrument may be an effective alternative to current screening…

This study examined patterns of change in beliefs and practices as elementary teachers learned to establish instructional congruence, a process of mediating academic disciplines with linguistic and cultural experiences of diverse student groups. The study focused on six bilingual Hispanic teachers working with fourth-grade, mostly Hispanic…