This article discusses the increasing population of children from diverse backgrounds and suggests commonsense methods for team development of cultural competence for the provision of appropriate early intervention services to linguistically and culturally diverse families. Recommendations for using interpreters and developing models for family…

Identifies a barrier hindering the learning and interaction of East Asian students studying in Australia, identified during teacher research: the fear of intimidation, embarrassment, or "loss of face." Addresses methods and issues involved in overcoming this barrier. (EV)

Teachers who instruct English learners must be skilled at lowering four significant barriers to meaningful instruction: cognitive load; culture load; language load; and learning load. This paper describes the four loads, provides classroom examples, shares teachers strategies that lighten the load, and discusses the role of creative, passionate…

Study seeks to identify trajectories of grade changes in a sample of adolescents following their entrance into junior high and to examine differences in these trajectories by gender and ethnicity. Three patterns were observed: "sliders," (characteristic of Anglos), "steadies," (characteristic of Blacks), and "rebounders," (characteristic of…

Examines the plight of urban students within general and special education programs, discussing traditional identification, assessment, and intervention issues that consistently magnify their plight and suggesting ways to ameliorate these problems. Describes the role of general and special educators in helping urban students succeed. (Contains…

Investigates the cultural context and the silent language of health care delivery from the perspective of foreign-born, Vietnamese immigrants. Suggests that business communication instructors need to incorporate cultural health beliefs, time orientation, and the expected role of family members in the practice of health care as they prepare…

Failure to recognize the uniqueness of specific Asian American ethnic groups may lead to ineffective counseling. Investigates similarities and differences between college students (N=570) from four Asian American ethnic groups on their adherence to six value dimensions identified in previous research. Findings confirm the need to understand…

Focuses on how Yemeni American high school girls employ religious, Arabic, and secular texts as means for negotiating home and school worlds. Explores the hidden texts in their high school, and the texts of weddings and parties, of Arabic school, and of "muhathara" (lecture). Finds these girls' identities shifted to reflect their textual…

Investigated African American students' perceptions of the fit between their ethnic cultures and their predominantly white college environments. Students provided demographic data, described campus organizations in which they participated, and completed surveys on ideology, centrality, and perceived ethnic fit. Both racial ideology and centrality…

This article discusses multicultural children's literature, the need for teachers to include multicultural children's literature in their teaching, how teachers can encourage pluralism, and evaluating and selecting multicultural literature titles. A selection of 17 multicultural books for use in the classroom is provided. (Contains references.)…

Focuses on transfer of cognitions, motivations, and dispositions related to learning across different cultural-educational contexts, illustrating the discussion with research on learners of Confucian heritage from Singapore and Hong Kong studying in their own countries and in Australia. Discusses implications for educational practice in a…

Describes the continuing development of an authentic assessment work-in-progress, focusing on efforts to develop and implement an assessment process and tool of particular significance to multicultural and multilingual instructional settings. The context is a writing assessment for multicultural and multilingual elementary school students. (SLD)

Summarizes a Federal Ministry of Youth report on the conditions under which children grow up in Germany. Notes manifold problems that children face under today's living conditions. Presents recommendations and suggestions for providing a network of measures, relationships, and institutions to support children's development and education in family,…

Comparative education lacks engagement with central theoretical debates about culture, current in anthropology. Recentered discourse on culture would recognize cultural inquiry's value, particularly for destabilizing taken-for-granted categories and truths. At the same time, comparative education might benefit from deeper critical engagement with…

Investigated ethnic and gender differences in frequency of use and healthfulness of bag lunches at school. Surveys of middle school students and their parents indicated that one-half of students brought bag lunches, with boys doing so more often than girls. There were ethnic differences in the use of seven foods and whether foods were regular or…