This issue of WIN (Welfare Information Network) Issue Notes focuses on the tendency of children from low-income families to drop out of high school, become teen parents, become involved in drug-related activities, and become involved in other activities that place them at high risk of long-term welfare dependency. Section 1 offers the background.…

In this book, developmental, educational, cognitive, and professional psychologists explore early identification of giftedness, what happens when child prodigies grow up, and environmental characteristics that are needed for talent to develop into genius. The nature of creativity and domain-specific expertise is examined, along with how psychology…

Patterns of history and culture help define the path one finds acceptable and follows. In Tremont, Maine, out-migration coupled with the influx of summer visitors has helped create a culture that undercuts students' appreciation of their own abilities and diminishes their aspirations to postsecondary education. Maine students in the "high…

This report highlights findings from the 1998 Minnesota Student Survey, administered to 3,791 voluntary participants, comparing students in alternative school settings with those in public schools. Alternative schools and area learning centers are high school diploma granting programs designed for students who are behind in their work, have…

This paper presents research on the influence of divorce on the classroom behavior of school-aged children. It attempts to uncover some contributing factors that may play a role in how a child deals with divorce. It explores the role of the teacher and school in the intervention and discusses what teachers have observed in working with children of…

Discusses contextual factors (geography, community idiosyncrasies, personal relationships, formal resource scarcity, community resource accessibility, external force influence, visibility, "Jack-of-All-Trades") affecting practices of rural child welfare workers. Points out similarities/differences in child welfare work in urban and rural…

Variables of sex, ethnicity, social class, and race continue to be confounded in social science research on Mexican American families. Analysis of the stereotypic images of Chicanas (as submissive maternal figures) generates policy recommendations to bicultural research institutions for vigorous affirmative action programs to recruit and promote…

Marva Collins' teaching style includes positive reinforcement, high teacher expectation, high motivation, and love. Cultural congruence, or the relationship between curriculum and the pupil's cultural experiences outside the school, is also a significant factor. Although she uses a traditional curriculum, Ms. Collins' success lies in the…

Examines different ways the experience of fostering can affect the biological children of foster families. Emphasizes the importance of considering the needs of the whole family when making placements, of addressing the needs of those children at an early stage, and of making sure the children are listened to and always have access to support. (AA)

Reviews teaching for and about democracy in Australia, and identifies key concepts embedded in the notion of democracy (representation, leadership, decision making, public criticism). Draws on ethnographic data from settled and remote Aboriginal Australia to explore whether understandings and practices associated with these concepts are shared by…

An intervention targets cultural and eco-developmental risk factors that predispose Hispanic adolescents to substance abuse. Parent participatory-learning groups foster family cohesiveness and communication, facilitate parent-school connections, and create supervisory networks among peers' parents. The multidimensional focus, parent empowerment,…

Tested links between early adolescent older sibling (OS) and younger sibling (YS) competence in rural African American families. Found that OS competence was stable across time and related to improvements in mothers' psychological functioning from Wave 1 to Wave 2. Mothers' Wave-2 psychological functioning related to Wave-3 involved-supportive…

American Indian educators, social workers, and university advisors at five Montana colleges developed the Family Education Model to replicate within the college culture the extended family structure often found on reservations. This enhances Native students' sense of belonging and leads to higher retention rates. Family support is given to any…

An elementary special education teacher describes her research on program decision making for students with learning disabilities. The research highlights the need to consider all factors that may impact decisions and identifies three characteristics of decisions that, when present, contribute to teachers' confidence that the decision made is…

Using a survey design, 150 parents of Hispanic, African American, and European American descent participated. A history of childhood abuse was predictive of the use of both physical and verbal punishment by mothers but not for fathers. Cultural factors/beliefs were predictive of fathers' parenting behaviors, but not mothers. (Contains references.)…