The widespread American belief that Blacks and females cannot learn mathematics as easily as White males is a self-perpetuating myth. Notable Black mathematicians of the past and present are surveyed. A large pool of Black technical talent is being ignored. (BJV)

Canadian undergraduate students were administered the British general ability test, AH2, along with a multiple-choice vocabulary test and the Standard Progressive Matrices, a nonverbal ability test. Scores were compared with British norms and intercorrelated with those of the other two tests. Correlations with the other ability tests were low.…

Toy playing habits, spatial abilities, and science and mathematics achievement of children aged 3 through 13 appear to be sex typed. Males play with a wider variety of toys, exhibit superior spatial skills, and maintain greater science and mathematics achievement scores than females. (PS)

Criticizes the game-playing of students who participate in Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) preparation courses, are tutored, and take the SAT again and again to render themselves eligible for the college of their choice. Advocates the matching of academically compatible students and colleges without this artificial score boosting. (KS)

Examines the factors which influenced learning of economics content among 511 sixth-grade students. Results showed that the student's general ability level, the emphasis given to social studies in the curriculum, and previous exposure to economics were the most important factors influencing economics learning. (JDH)

Two educators discuss the advantages and disadvantages of no-need scholarships. A national program of scholarships for high school students about to enter college is advocated by one while the other sees the no-need scholarships as weakening the principle that academic achievement should be its own reward. (MLW)

A study of the impact of four variables on graduate social work students' attitudes about thesis requirements revealed that more academically able students and those with a preference for a more cognitive mode of making judgments find more value in theses, but no significant relationships were found with perceived value and tolerance for ambiguity…

Discusses two problems encountered when a class is conducted entirely in the target language and is accompanied by a target language text. These are the students' difficulties in comprehending grammatical rules and teachers' difficulties in teaching grammatical concepts that do not exist in English. Suggests judicious use of English. (SED)

Reports a study in which Swedish high school students' academic interests were related to perceived effort, ability, and perceived vocational job prospects. Notes that academic interests were based on subjects' logical appeal and practical value. Notes that vocational preferences correlated strongly with individual job prospects but weakly with…

Eight commonly used discrepancy formulas were applied to the IQ and achievement scores of a sample of 92 potentially learning disabled children, 7 to 12 years old. The formulas yielded strikingly disparate results in terms of the number of children identified as learning disabled by each. (SW)

A study of the highest- and lowest-socioeconomic status (SES) schools in one area showed that student academic self-concept is positively affected by individual ability and SES, but negatively affected by the school averages on these variables. This suggests that students appraise their own abilities, compare with the surrounding students, and…

This author explores what he calls the mindlessness of ability grouping and explains why it has become a fact of life in most school systems. (Editor)

In this report data from the 1995 Year 9 Cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) is used along with a variety of empirical approaches to assess the benefits of additional years of schooling for various groups of youth conditional upon their estimated propensity to engage in further schooling. Background material is provided…

A mission of public schools is to produce students who are intellectually competent and prepared for postsecondary education and the increasingly competitive workforce. An urgent concern among education takeholders today is the underrepresentation of African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans among high-achieving students. Despite…

This paper investigates computer literacy related cross-cultural factors that predict academic ability among mathematically gifted Olympians in Finland (N=72, 68 males and 4 females) and the United States (N=80, all males). The following research questions were formulated: (1) What is the nature of the connection between computer skills and…