A chronicle of controversies over testing (heredity-environment, experimenter bias, social class bias, tests as sorters for schools and society) and the difficulties that ensue when the scholar enters the arena of public policy. The thesis is offered that the hearing given to social evidence and issues depends on the times and the audience, with…

This report presents the results of a 1986-87 survey of frequencies and percentages of drug use among sixth and ninth graders in the Springfield (Massachusetts) Public Schools. Among the findings elicited through a student questionnaire were the following: (1) The users of drug and alcohol were more frequently male than female. (2) There did not…

This is the first in a series of annual reports presenting information on the number of students who dropout of Nevada high schools. The report, covering the 1988-89 school year, is based on a count of dropouts, made each school year by the Nevada State Department of Education. Changes made in the student accounting regulations in January 1988…

Examination of dropout trends in New York City for 1987-88 reveals the following: (1) the annual dropout rate was 7.5 percent for the high schools, and 8.4 percent system-wide; (2) the estimated 4-year dropout rate was 26.8 percent for the high schools, and 29.7 percent system-wide; (3) the 1987-88 4-year high school dropout rate was 5.7…

To improve preparation of school administrators, attention must be given the issues of race, ethnicity, gender, and social class. Two studies are presented. One, entitled "Preparation of Educational Administrators for the 21st Century: Graduate Student Voices on Issues of Diversity" (Joan Poliner Shapiro, Laurence Parker) captures the perspectives…

This summative evaluation of two educational television programs, "The Edge" and "The Fortesque File," was based on a sample of "white" and "colored" classified respondents in the Greater Cape Town (South Africa) area. The two samples, which were divided into small panel groups of six to eight respondents…

The African American woman has commanded widespread public attention, but popular misconceptions of her socioeconomic role and status differ sharply from her actual situation. The following basic characteristics of the contemporary African American woman, drawn from census figures, are outlined: (1) demographically, females comprise a majority of…

This report compares income trends among Hispanic Americans and non-Hispanic Americans over the 1980s and assesses the effect on Hispanics of recent tax proposals that would primarily benefit wealthy Americans. Since the early 1970s, the income gaps between rich and poor families, and between rich and middle-income families, have widened…

This literature review of nine books and journal articles from 1971-1981, proposes strategies for better understanding the self-disclosure of black college students in the counseling process. The paper presents the functions of self-disclosure which may influence a person's perception of the appropriateness of the self-disclosure, including: (1)…

This manual summarizes technical information regarding the 1982 Stanford Achievement Test, Seventh Edition when administered to hearing-impaired students. In Section 1, the procedures used to select the norming sample (7,557 hearing-impaired students) are described, and the demographic characteristics of the resulting sample are compared to those…

America's most widely used college admission examinations systematically underpredict the abilities of high school girls, who make up over 52% of the test-takers. Each year more than three million students who plan to attend college take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying…

This paper examines the effects of labor supply reduction on published measures of the average annual earnings of black men since 1964. Time series data show that black men, who traditionally earn much less than whites, realized major gains in relative earnings between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s, but since the mid-1970s their position relative to…

The purpose of the present study was to reexamine the screening process being used to select students for gifted and talented programs in the Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland, and to determine whether problems in screening have been overcome. Specifically, the study was designed to: (1) determine whether the revised screening procedures…

Students of ninth-grade age in Austin, Texas, were studied to discover how desegregation affected dropout rates for Blacks, Hispanics, and Anglo/Others. Examination of the gross dropout percentages over the first 15 months suggests that impacted-only (nonreassigned, but in impacted schools) minority students were twice as likely to drop out as…

The Ball Aptitude Battery (BAB) is a multiple ability test battery of specific work skills for use in career counseling. This study reports on ability changes by gender, race, and socioeconomic status in a BAB retest of 112 young adults four years after their initial testing. The sample consisted of 68 females and 44 males; 15 Blacks, 21…