Asserts that song lyrics illustrate important sociological concepts. Reports on a study using song-lyric packets with 23 students in an introductory college sociological course. Finds that students were very supportive of the strategy and includes an appendix illustrating the approach by presenting one song-lyric packet. (CFR)

Analyzes data from the High School and Beyond study to explore lost talent among late high school and post-high school students. Maintains that lost talent occurs when students who show signs of early talent have educational expectations that fall short of their aspirations; have reduced expectations over time; or are not able to realize their…

Urges educators and citizens to ignore the hype surrounding "The Bell Curve" and to grasp the ethnocentrism (or racism) that underlies eugenicist arguments. Both Carnoy and Ladson-Billings offer hope to those supporting educational equity and the appreciation of diversity. (SLD)

Attempts to identify how perceptions by black men of problem severity may be influenced by social, economic, and familial factors, working from the assumption that problem severity determines when stress becomes distress. Perceptions of 583 black adult fathers show that stress coping is not as problematic as expected. (SLD)

That there is a significant degree of observable average difference in the intelligence quotients of blacks and whites is an established fact. The explanations for this offered by Herrnstein and Murray ("The Bell Curve," 1994) ignore the equally well-established facts of discrimination and disadvantage over centuries. (SLD)

Reports on a study of differences in assumptions about a just world among 140 college students. Finds that nonminority students saw their personal worlds as less random, more just, and more benevolent than they saw the general world. Finds that minority students saw both the personal and the general world as less benevolent and less lucky. (CFR)

To investigate the extent to which street gangs in Los Angeles (California) are comprised of youth or adults, self-report data from 435 gang members are examined. Findings do not generally support the idea of the aging gang member. Gangs consist primarily of adolescents, regardless of racial and socioeconomic differences. (SLD)

The standardization approach to comprehensive differential item functioning is described and contrasted with the log-linear approach to differential distractor functioning and the item-response-theory-based approach to differential alternative functioning. Data from an edition of the Scholastic Aptitude Test illustrate application of the approach…

Investigates the relationship between geographic mobility and earnings of Hispanic-American and white men using the 1980 Public Use Sample from the U.S. Census. Economic returns to migration are negligible for both Hispanic-American men and white men. Among Hispanic Americans, the earnings determination process is roughly similar for movers and…

Learning outcomes of Alberta Native and non-Native adult learners were differentially affected by relative preference for visual versus verbal learning style. Also demonstrated were the importance of individual differences and the complex interaction of learning style preference, instructional materials, learning task, and cultural background.…

Reports on a longitudinal study of nearly 1,000 English words to determine differences in usage in the United States in the 1930s and 1990s related to age, sex, race, education, region, and rurality. The results indicated that males, whites, older speakers, and speakers from rural areas use more older terms, whereas most educated speakers use…

Introduces controversial issue of subgroup norming, in which normative reference data are based on subgroups of population rather than on total group, in employment testing and briefly highlights two articles that address this issue. Controversy over subgroup norming has increased with passage of Civil Rights Act of 1991, which bans any form of…

Using diverse representative sources, child developmental outcomes (e.g., delinquency and achievement) are studied in black, Hispanic, Asian, and white ethnic groups. Covariance matrices computed for these ethnic groups and compared by a LISREL goodness-of-fit test indicate the similarity of developmental processes for different ethnic and racial…

The relationship between a kindergarten screening battery (KSB) and scores on the Stanford Achievement Test was studied as a function of race for 519 white and 183 Native American students in kindergarten through grade 4. Prediction of the child's achievement test scores is more accurate when race is considered. (SLD)

Evaluates the participation of eighth and ninth grade females in an Expanding Your Horizons Conference to address the problem of lack of interest by minority and female students in mathematics, science, and related careers. Evaluation survey responses indicated that 50 percent of the participants thought they would need more courses in mathematics…