This booklet on enhancing diversity in agricultural education consists of six papers. In section 1, the paper, "Embedded Biases in Agricultural Education" (Linda Whent), identifies unconscious biases of agricultural teacher educators toward students of diverse populations, actions that reduce minority student participation in agricultural…

Integrating the current "state of the art" in content area reading with some new ideas, this book presents preservice and inservice teachers with theory and related teaching strategies to aid students in reading and learning from their textbooks. The book provides teachers with a comprehensive examination of content area reading to make…

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the nature and causes of school discipline problems and school violence including an increase in the number of racial, cultural, and class hostility incidents; and (2) to offer remedies which might help alleviate disruptions to the learning process. Eight middle schools with a total of 3,212…

Chinese-American girls perform as well as Chinese-American boys at higher levels of mathematics. Caucasian-American girls perform significantly less well than Caucasian-American boys. This study, designed to examine factors involved in this differential, contrasts 25 first generation Chinese-American mother-father pairs and 27 Caucasian-American…

The efficacy of use of the Raven Progressive Matrices Test (RPM) in the selection of gifted children from traditionally underrepresented groups was investigated in a large-scale study with a diverse population. A total of 16,985 subjects were given the Raven Progressive Matrices Test. These included 22.7 percent Latinos, 37 percent Whites, 14…

This paper reviews participation patterns of migrants, refugees, and permanent residents with language backgrounds other than English (LBOTE), at Australian universities in general, and the University of Melbourne in particular. It critically examines the effectiveness of current measures designed to improve the opportunities and university…

This study explored the extent of measurable differences in performance on Piagetian tasks among six year olds who are exposed to one or two languages. Subjects (N=120) were divided into four groups: (1) native English-speaking Anglo-Americans who live in the United States; (2) native Japanese-speaking Japanese who live in Japan; (3) native…

Changes in the face of school-age America have profound implications for educational policy. As of 1990, 1 of 6 children lived in poverty, and a growing number were from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. In addition, more than one in six of the nation's third graders changed schools frequently. This mobility is just one aspect of changing…

This report provides research-based answers to questions facing families of young, gifted children. Questions include: (1) "what does "giftedness" mean in a very young child?"; (2) "how does one know whether a child is gifted?"; (3) "should my young child be tested?"; (4) "how do adults promote the development of gifted children?"; (5) "does a…

This paper examines discourse among fifth-grade students in a science classroom. The authors assess students' participation in small-group activities by focusing on their roles during conversation. The issue of gender equity is raised as an important question to be addressed by teachers, students and researchers in the context of science…

The effects of two cover letter manipulations and their interactions with demographic variables on response to the initial mailing of a survey were investigated. The two manipulations, type of appeal and type of respondent group identification, were intended to affect respondents' perceptions of their social responsibility and position. In all,…

A study examined the effects of educational interventions of conflict resolution and cooperative learning on adolescent vocational readiness at three inner-city alternative public high schools in New York City. The study used a combination of correlation design and pre-post design. Associations among study variables were explored using pretest…

Societal changes of the past three decades call for a fundamental change in the structure of the educational system and in the culture of schooling. Disadvantaged African Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos, in particular, historically have suffered from the cultural misalignment of home, school, and community. The reform of educational…

Ten tables, four graphs, and summary discussions of salient statistics present pertinent information on dropout and high school graduation rates for Colorado public schools for the 1989-90 school year. Tabulated data, along with illustrative figures, indicate: (1) graduation rates by ethnic/racial group, gender, and size of school district; and…

General issues in the development of programs for language minority children at the preschool level, ages 2-4, are discussed. Focus is on the need to meet their comprehensive needs, and the five following points are made: (1) programs should be designed to serve the child's social/emotional, physical, and cognitive development within the context…