A multivariate model, refined by factor analysis, was formulated to investigate the degree of community and life satisfaction among a multistage cluster sample of 249 rural residents in 3 racially-mixed, low-income rural North Carolina counties. The sample was almost equally divided between black (49.8%) and white (50.2%) respondents. Analysis of…

This paper presents research-based viewpoints on black students' self-esteem and how it relates to achievement. Both historical events and research findings support the argument that blacks' self-esteem and achievement levels have been systematically kept at a lower level than whites'. Arguments for both segregation and insulation are considered…

The agreement between the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the Golden Rule Insurance Company of Illinois is interpreted as setting the general principles on which items must be selected to be included in a licensure test. These principles put a limit to the difficulty level of any item, and they also limit the size of the difference in…

Analysis of information gained from the March 1986 Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the Bureau of the Census shows the following results for the year 1985: (1) median family money income continued to move ahead of inflation; (2) the median earnings of men showed no statistically significant change from 1984, but the earnings of women…

The California Critical Thinking Skills Test--College Level (CCTST) was examined in terms of the possible impact on critical thinking (CT) skill performance of: (1) student gender; (2) ethnicity; (3) academic major; and (4) CT self-esteem. The CCTST was administered to 1,196 students at California State University (Fullerton) in the 1989-90 school…

The Task Force on Literature of the San Francisco State University Commission on Human Relations conducted a literature search on human relations and discrimination issues on United States college campuses. Sources included the ERIC database, DATATIMES, "Chronicle of Higher Education," local newspapers, Knight-Ridder wire service…

This report provides statistical data on the educational status of Hispanic Americans. Summaries are provided of educational status, attainment, and literacy at various points in the educational pipeline. Information about elementary and secondary school teachers is also included. Statistical data were drawn primarily from recent reports of the…

The report focuses on students (a Representative Group and a Black Group) who persisted at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) to graduation and discusses some of the factors traditionally associated with persistence to graduation. The report showed that significant numbers of students who have departed the university did so while in…

This report presents detailed tabulations of statistical data on school enrollment of the civilian noninstitutional population in October 1987 and 1988. The following enrollments are reported: (1) nursery school; (2) kindergarten; (3) elementary school; (4) high school; and (5) college and professional school. The following personal…

This report is based on evidence that despite the negative outcomes so often associated with early childbearing, not all teenage parents experience difficult lives. Given the heterogeneity of outcomes among teenage parents and their children, the issue addressed in the research is to identify the factors that explain variations in academic…

Research on assessing the cultural fairness of individual test items is reviewed, with emphasis on Birnbaum's three-parameter logistic model. As defined in this review, differential item characteristics are exhibited when examinees from one group have a lower probability of answering correctly than do examinees of equal ability from another group.…

This study identifies factors associated with black undergraduate students who graduated and those who withdrew from Clemson University (South Carolina), a predominantly white, rural university. The sample consisted of all (838) black undergraduates who had graduated or withdrawn from Clemson after 1979. The study examined student history data…

Data on Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores by race are analyzed in order to explain observed differences in scores among racial and ethnic segments of college-bound test takers. A social psychological correlate that mediates between environmental factors and SAT performance is emphasized. Consideration is given to the finding that blacks at the…

In a study of the relationship between speed of information processing and general intelligence, vocational college students (50 black males and 56 white males) took eight different reaction time tests measuring the speed with which individuals perform various elementary cognitive processes, and a group test of scholastic aptitude (the Armed…

Differences in the incidence and duration of unemployment among Hispanic men and between Hispanics and Anglos were analyzed statistically. The investigation found that Hispanics were far more likely to be unemployed one or more times in 1975 than were Anglos. Differential treatment played a significant role in the higher unemployment of Hispanics,…