Responds to commentaries (PS522392 and PS522391) on the Scarborough and Dobrich review on the efficacy of reading to preschool children in this issue (PS522390). Provides additional details regarding the computation of average effects and the comparison of effect sizes, and offers additional comments about the contribution of home literacy…

A national survey of elementary and middle school principals examined how parents can help children succeed academically. Principals recommended that parent behavior support children's self-esteem. The same scale is reprinted for parents to complete and compare their responses with those of the principals. (SM)

Today's children manifest more serious behavior problems than those of the midseventies, resulting from changes in the economy, the racial and ethnic landscape, government policy, and the family. Immense structural changes are necessary in education, health care, government, and political leadership if families and children of the underclass are…

Analysis of data from a Canadian national study shows that Indians' lower educational success and attainment are related to family income and socioeconomic status, parent educational attainment, use of Indian language in the home, and geographic location. Reservation students have greater success in tribally controlled schools. (SV)

Analyzes change in the occupational aspirations of young people in the United States between the late 1960s and 1970s. Reveals that the most significant change occurred among women. Argues that this was primarily a manifestation of cultural change resulting from the resurgence of the women's movement. (MJP)

Ethnographic data from a black middle-class Chicago neighborhood indicate that dense social networks fostered by residential stability facilitate informal supervision of neighborhood youth and enhance formal crime-prevention activities. Nevertheless, inclusion of gang members and drug dealers in networks of law-abiding kin and neighbors thwarts…

Studied whether co-parenting and family-group process influence early social competence. Found indirect pathways linking low levels of support and mutuality in the co-parenting relationship to problematic peer relationships, and direct pathways linking the family's affective climate to positive peer behavior. Discovered that effects were strongest…

Analysis of household survey data in Kenya revealed that children's enrollment in school was affected by parents' expectations for future financial help from children and (for girls) by parents' perceptions of labor market discrimination against women, but not by patriarchal norms or child labor. The results challenge traditional explanations of…

Traces the author's own literacy development to her girlhood in a village in rural Jamaica. Looks at storytelling, singing, and rhymes in the rhythm of the village; reading from the Bible and stories told at home; rhythms of song and language in church; and the rhythm of poems and stories in school. Looks at implications for literacy instruction.…

Examined how family and parenting variables influenced late adolescents' educational expectations. Surveys of parents and students when students were high school seniors and two years beyond high school indicated that socioeconomic status most strongly related to educational expectations. Adolescents' perceptions of parents' personal involvement…

Studied the social networks and daily activities of children and adolescents living or working on the streets of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Found that youngsters who lived at home and worked on the street appeared to be experiencing orderly development despite their impoverished circumstances. Youngsters who lived on the streets, however, showed…

Uses multi-site case studies to examine how preschool programs and community sites acknowledge, adapt, and match the cultural preferences and/or expectations of participating children and families. Discussion includes themes related to belonging and membership in the peer culture, the underlying philosophy supporting diversity in the classroom…

The first purpose of this article is to present research on specific child (e.g., temperament), family (e.g., family adversity), and transactional characteristics that have been documented to contribute to the manifestation of externalizing disorders in children. The second purpose is to present screening and intervention strategies school…

Authenticity as a biracial individual means presenting oneself as a whole individual of multiple racial origins. This author recounts his experiences of being biracial. Looking white, he has experienced both discrimination and preference from both class and racial memberships or lack of it. (EMK)

Looked beyond socioeconomic indicators to seek underlying influences on rural high school seniors' dropout/completion decisions. Data came from school records and student surveys. Students were grouped by gender, and variables of Everett's (1996) model were analyzed. The predictor model for males had a 88.89 percent correct classification rate.…