Representing part of the first phase of a 5-year ethnographic research project, this report explores connections between school achievement and Irish ethnicity. Part 1 of the report reviews Irish history from 400 B.C. through the Irish famines of the mid-1800s, highlighting England's cultural and economic suppression of Ireland. Part 2 describes…

A study investigated whether the writing outcomes of first-grade pupils participating in the Writing-to-Read (WTR) program differed significantly from the writing outcomes of pupils in a traditional language arts curriculum (No-WTR). The study also investigated whether differences were attributable to gender, race, socioeconomic status, individual…

This study provides comprehensive data profiling the chief executive officers of higher education institutions in the United States who were in office in either 1986 or 1990 and is based on a survey administered by the American Council on Education in those years. The 1990 profile of presidents, which is the focus of this report, incorporates the…

The Focus Study, conducted by the National Council of La Raza's Poverty Project, used structured discussions by focus groups to examine Mexican American women's opinions, needs, and attitudes as they relate to the implementation of the 1988 Family Support Act (FSA). FSA's primary objective is to move people off welfare through education, training,…

This report presents a statistical portrait of the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of blacks in the United States. The portrait is based on data from the March Supplement to the 1990 and 1989 Current Population Surveys (CPS) with additional data from the October 1988 Supplement to the CPS. The data are estimates based on sample…

Reviews of research, studies of early readers, and investigations of emergent literacy uniformly conclude that parents' beliefs, aspirations, and actions affect their children's growth into and embracing of literacy. However, conflicting results call into question the utility of simply correlating race or various socioeconomic factors, such as…

The project described in this article examined the connection between students' overall development level as measured by the Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI), and their participation in either part-time, on-campus employment or volunteer membership in the Stamp Union Program Council. A group of 141 students (from a total…

This book provides a portrait of city life as observed by the author in an urban area encompassing two communities--one black, low income, and very poor (with an extremely high infant mortality rate) and the other racially mixed but becoming increasingly middle-to-upper income and white. It explores the dilemma of both Blacks and Whites, the…

Data from the Current Population Surveys of October 1984, October 1989, and January 1991 were used to examine the role of computer and mathematical skills in the U.S. labor market from 1984-91. Particular attention was given to their actual and potential effect on the economic status of women. Data confirmed the overall increase in the education…

A survey was conducted of the families and teachers of 1009 students with severe disabilities from five states, to identify factors associated with their integrated educational placement. The questionnaires were designed to measure 19 variables which integration literature suggests are predictive of integrated placement. Logistic regression…

A discussion of oral language testing looks at the role of student attitudes, student and interviewer gender, and interviewer social status in the reliability of student assessments. Three small-scale studies investigating these factors are described. The first two involved only Arab students. In the first, it was found that students (all male)…

This paper examines political maneuvering within academia, the concerns of English as a Second Language (ESL) faculty, and methods that faculty can use to overcome campus politics and address their concerns. ESL faculty are often concerned about: (1) the lack of support from mainstream college faculty; (2) too many part-time positions; (3)…

This paper analyzes the concept of parent involvement in the early childhood literature, and discusses the applicability of this information to the day care context. A review of the literature suggests three main goals of parent involvement programs: (1) parent education; (2) the right of parents to influence programs that affect their children;…

This paper focuses cross-nationally on women's share of higher education relative to that of men. An institutional perspective is developed that leads to three predictions: (1) women's share of higher education will increase worldwide; (2) countries with relatively more women in higher education will also have relatively more women in the labor…

In the context of recent Nova Scottian (Canada) provincial legislation establishing primarily Acadian, French-language public schools in four regions, a survey investigated local Acadians' attitudes about the roles of both French and English in these schools. Survey samples included 330 parents of primary school children and 145 parents of…