Background: Empirical studies have revealed a significant, but modest association between maternal depression and insecure mother-child attachment. Across studies, however, a substantial number of mothers with depression are able to provide a sensitive caretaking environment for their children. This paper aimed to explore whether a mother's own…

The following Action Research Project Report is to improve the oral reading fluency of the 4th and 5th grade students with learning disabilities. The targeted population participating in this study consisted of a total of ten participants of which five were 4th grade students and five were 5th grade students located in a middle class community…

English Language Arts class in a predominantly white suburban high school may seem like an unlikely site for transformational pedagogy. Teachers and students speak the same national language and most of the teachers grew up and were educated in working class communities. Despite these roots, it is far too easy for teachers to forget that our…

This article discusses the limited use of education vouchers in an era of unprecedented growth in school choice. It is divided into two parts: first, a description of the policy, political, and legal barriers that may limit the expansion of large-scale voucher programs is presented. Discussion then shifts to the efforts of voucher advocates to…

This article examines an effort to use urban schools to promote the revitalization of a large northeastern city in the United States. In order to attract and retain professional families to a regenerated central city, downtown schools are re-branded and promoted to such families as suitable for their children. The article draws on interviews and…

Social class influences parent involvement in schooling. This book uses the case study method to compare family-school relationships in a working-class elementary school with those in an upper middle-class school, focusing on one first grade class in each school, and within the two schools, on 12 families, over the course of their children's first…

The author examines the popular notion that schools are negatively oriented towards children from the working classes. The results indicate that working-class children receive less than their share of teacher interactions in highly teacher-centered classrooms and more of their share in student-centered classrooms. (DE)

A nationwide poll of 600 working Americans indicated extensive support for increased child care programs and for government policies that support and expand child care for working parents. Responses suggested that (1) the greatest support for increased child care comes from middle-class families and workers; (2) the need for improvements and…

A study investigated the relationship between sex and social class in the spontaneous speech of 16 individuals from Newcastle upon Tyne (England). Specifically, the study examined the frequency of glottalized variants of three voiceless stops, and treated variation by sex as separate from, not a byproduct of, variation by class. Subjects were four…

One of the purposes of this study was to develop a coding scheme based on Wertsch's theoretical extension of Vygotsky's ideas for describing parent-child interaction during exploration. This scheme was then applied to identify the most common patterns of parent and child situation definitions, negotiations of shared definitions, and questions…

A total of 103 preschool children of lower and middle socioeconomic status families were observed in three preschool programs during 15 standardized free play periods for the purpose of investigating preschool children's preferences for different types of traditionally used play materials. The influence of age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES)…

The consumer of educational tests is not being protected and reforms are badly needed. (JH)

This study compared reading readiness profiles of 232 first graders with the reported norms of a decade ago. It is suggested that children are currently entering first grade with greater competencies in understanding language, percieving visual similarities and differences, and comprehending basic number concepts than was the case a decade ago.…

IDENTIFICATION OF SOME OF THE VARIABLES THAT ENCOURAGE OR DISCOURAGE PARTICIPATION IN ADULT EDUCATION AMONG MIDDLE-CLASS AND WORKING-CLASS MEN WAS THE BASIS FOR THIS STUDY. A COMMUNITY SURVEY WAS USED TO LOCATE A SAMPLE OF PARTICIPANTS AND NONPARTICIPANTS, AS WELL AS TO PROVIDE DESCRIPTIVE DATA ABOUT THE RATES OF PARTICIPATION. A MATCHED SAMPLE…

Responses of four revisionist historians and economists to Diane Ravitch's review of their works are presented. Those defending the revisionist viewpoint are: Walter Feinberg, Harvey Kantor, Michael Katz, and Paul Violas. (JD)