In this study we investigate the contribution of achievement in team sports to adolescent girls' self-esteem development. Adolescent girls (N = 247) from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds were surveyed as part of a larger study investigating the development of poor urban youth. Participants responded to items tapping global self-esteem,…

The extent to which colleges and universities provide opportunities for students from the most economically disadvantaged families is an important indicator of the potential for U.S. higher education to promote intergenerational mobility. Yet the measurement of "opportunity" for low-income students at the level of individual colleges and…

The historical black universities (HBUs) in South Africa were established by the apartheid government to serve black students banned from attending segregated white-only universities. These universities were poorly funded compared to the white-only universities. The poor funding affected their output (research and postgraduates) adversely. With…

Critics of "No Child Left Behind" judge that it oversimplifies the influence of social context and the place of socially ascribed traits, such as social class, race, and gender, in determining achievement. We hold that this is especially likely to be true with regard to gender-related group effects and gender-implicated interaction…

With increasing national and international support for the development of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) curricula in American medical schools, it is essential to measure what learners know and believe about CAM in order to assess outcomes of new teaching efforts. This paper describes the development and initial results of a survey…

Deep in a heavily Latino section of urban East Los Angeles, at the intersection of Knights Lane and Kings Row, approximately 2,300 high school students go about the business of school with a sense of purpose and resolve. The majesty of the San Gabriel Mountains can be seen to the north of this vast 40-acre campus, the stark poverty of a housing…

Three types of privatisation are identified--involving demand-side financing, reforms to the educational supply-side and "de facto" privatisation, where responsibilities are transferred to the private sector, through the rapid growth of private schools, rather than through reform or legislation. Although "de facto"…

In this study, kindergarten children's scores on nine cognitive tasks were evaluated as potential predictors of poor achievement in first grade. A set of five tasks successfully identified 83% of children who were poor readers in first grade, while just three tasks identified 72% of children who were poor achievers in math in first grade. There…

This study was conducted over ten weeks with fifty three 5 to 6 year-old kindergarteners from economically disadvantaged homes learning French as a second language. The read-aloud strategy consisted of two teachers reading storybooks to children and explaining unfamiliar words. The teachers engaged children in meaningful discussions about the…

On April 24, 2008, President George W. Bush convened an array of education and community stakeholders in Washington, D.C. to address the quickening disappearance of faith-based schools in America's cities. The disappearance of these schools, which have played a fundamental role in the American story of religious freedom and tolerance, community…

Bullying can create a climate of fear and discomfort in schools and communities. This study examined the longitudinal associations between children's bullying, special education placements in elementary school, and serious delinquent behavior during secondary school. Using data from the youngest sample of the Pittsburgh Youth Study, the authors…

This study examined correlates of early adolescent alcohol and drug use in a community sample of 217 eighth-grade adolescents with behavior problems and from Hispanic/Latino immigrant families. Structural equation modeling was used to examine relationships of multiple contexts (e.g., family, school, and peers) to alcohol and drug use. Results…

Older cities in the United States have long been trying to "bring back" the middle class in order to increase tax base. The poor quality of schools and the presence of public housing often were cited as deterrents for attracting higher income families. When the 2000 Census data revealed improvements in many cities, some elected officials…

Students of color are consistently underrepresented in honors and gifted programs nationwide, and even high-achieving students share many of the risk factors with their low-achieving peers. The study presented in this paper employed mixed methods to investigate the relationship between the design of a rigorous college preparatory program, the…

Using a resilience framework, the authors examined the protective effects of parental support, self-disclosure to parents, parent-initiated monitoring of adolescent behavior, and relationships with school personnel on three critical problems of adolescents: substance use, gang involvement, and perceived threats to safety at school. The sample…