Race and other forms of difference are socially constructed concepts, continually reproduced and redefined in interaction. It is important to focus on how race and class are constructed by future teachers, because the ways in which they perceive their students may affect their interactions in the classroom, including having lower expectations for…

An exploratory analysis of the meanings families attach to schooling, this article is based upon interviews conducted with three white, middle-class families--one from rural West Virginia, another from a small West Virginia city, and a third from rural Pennsylvania. I hoped that this preliminary effort would help me think about how families view…

The education and economic status of Blacks and Hispanics is the foremost crisis facing the United States today. The viability of this nation as a participant in the global economy is directly related to its solution. Supporting these statements is a demographic analysis of the current economic and education situation. The following related topics…

Communicative competence is defined as "...the ability to use appropriate speech for the circumstances, and when deviating from what is normal to convey what is intended." A study was undertaken to show that children's sociolinguistic communicative competencies and incompetencies can be identified and described in components of the "Ways of…

The development of social cognitions about classroom life and their potential influence on children's classroom behavior were studied. Each of 360 first and fifth grade children from schools in middle class and working class neighborhoods were interviewed using booklets illustrating classroom behavior. The results indicated that children do…

The first grade study suggested that books that interest inner city children interest suburban children. (JH)

This document provides a comparative study of life styles and social attitudes of middle income status whites and blacks in Northwestern Detroit, Michigan. One hour personal interviews were conducted with 213 white and 18l black families to gather information on areas such as leisure patterns and values, family life patterns, neighborhoods,…

The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate the metalinguistic knowledge children have acquired from their environment before formal instruction, and (2) to examine the relationship between evolving writing and reading behavior. Twenty middle-class children ranging in age from 4.1 years to 5.11 years were selected. The Goodman and Cox…

In a university with a large black middle class population, a study using 35 undergraduate students was carried out to ascertain the validity of personality assessment--specifically the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the California Psychological Inventory (CPI)--for black populations. The impetus for this study was the…

MORE THAN IN ALMOST ANY OTHER PROFESSIONAL GROUP, THE ATTITUDES OF SCHOOL PERSONNEL ARE INFLUENCED BY COMMUNITY FACTORS. GENERAL ATTITUDES OF WHITE PUBLICS WILL CERTAINLY BY SIGNIFICANT FOR SPECIFIC ATTITUDES OF SCHOOL PERSONNEL TOWARD INTEGRATION. MOST SCHOOL PERSONNEL ARE MEMBERS OF THE MIDDLE CLASS. THEIR CLASS VALUES AND STATUS CONCERNS ENTER…

SINCE THE HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT IS IDENTIFIABLE IN THE PRIMARY GRADES, IT IS NECESSARY TO LAY THE GROUNDWORK FOR VOCATIONAL TRAINING MUCH EARLIER THAN HIGH SCHOOL. THIS IS THE RATIONALE FOR THE FIVE-YEAR PRESCHOOL LANGUAGE PROJECT FUNDED UNDER THE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION ACT. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO PREPARE A SET OF LANGUAGE INSTRUCTIONAL…

This report offers the results of an effort to trace a value profile of school superintendents, who are distinguished both by a high level of professional education and by a need to relate effectively with those who have a lower level of education. The intent was to examine the growing polarity between a highly educated liberal…

IT HAS BEEN HYPOTHESIZED THAT THE ADOPTION OF THE LINGUISTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF A SUBCULTURE OTHER THAN A CHILD'S OWN IS A VALID INDICATION OF THE DEGREE TO WHICH THE CHILD HAS BECOME SOCIALIZED INTO THAT SUBCULTURE. TO EXAMINE THIS HYPOTHESIS, RESEARCH WAS CONDUCTED (1) TO EXPLORE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LINGUISTIC HABITS AND ATTITUDE…

The Preschool Academic Skills Test was developed from an analysis of first-grade reading and mathematics materials to identify those behaviors that were assumed to be in students' repertoires prior to first grade. The 105 items are grouped in 10 subtests: Vocabulary, Color Naming, Classification, Functional Relationships, Visual Matching, Auditory…