The National Environmental Education and Training Foundation commissioned a survey on environmental attitudes and behaviors of disadvantaged youth in America to identify the critical gaps in environmental education so that resources can be targeted more effectively. Phase 1 consisted of qualitative research among disadvantaged students through…

This book examines the thesis that teacher burnout and student dropout stem from the same source, a process of alienation causing students and teachers to "give up on school." The first chapter outlines the size of the problem and some of the specific conditions that contribute to it. The second chapter examines the context of cultural…

This paper analyzes the results of three studies about teacher causal explanation of failure in the Brazilian public elementary schools. Confronted with very high incidence of school dropout and retention, the investigators asked public school teachers to choose the main determinants of dropout and failure in their schools. Two studies were…

This paper contains ethnographic participant-observation field notes taken on a one-night visit to a "shooting gallery" in East Harlem (New York City) along with background information and commentary. East Harlem, also referred to as "El Barrio" or Spanish Harlem, is a 200-square block neighborhood on the upper East Side of…

Community psychology has not dealt directly with the economic forces that foster maladjustment. Instead, it has focused on changing the individual and limited segments of the population. Society supports economic structures and values that hinder community psychology programs. Individual empowerment has only limited scope because it does not deal…

The purpose of this research project was to determine if, like books, the content of children's magazines changes to reflect current societal trends. The study used the method of content analysis and was limited to one children's magazine, "Children's Digest." Certain trends in children's literature were identified through the literature…

The Kids Count project is an effort to track the status of children in the United States on a state-by-state basis. The benchmark figures presented give policymakers a clearer picture of the educational, social, economic, and physical well-being of children. High rates of child poverty and births to single teens continue in the United States, and…

The origins and history of the skinhead movement in the United States are traced, beginning with their links with skinheads in England and focusing on racist skinheads rather than the less-well-known nonracist skinheads. How skinheads have developed within the larger youth group scenes, their ideas and activities, the role of music in their…

Gadsden Independent School District (GISD) in rural New Mexico sought alternative funding sources to meet student needs in the areas of early childhood education, special education, at-risk programs, and partnership programs with communities and local colleges. Although this school district has been granted funds for many of its projects,…

The processes by which mentors might improve the self-esteem of economically vulnerable African American male youth are explored, drawing on previous research. The combination of biological, behavioral, and societal factors faced by young black males is complex, and has implications for identity processes. The initial longitudinal study of urban…

Developed by a Canadian volunteer organization, this textbook for high school and adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and literacy students explores current international events and social issues using both personal and global perspectives. It includes personal stories of people's lives, discussions of social and political issues in a wider…

The University of North Carolina's Electrical Engineering Department developed and delivered a course for undergraduate engineering students. The course integrated technical, social, and ethical perspectives on problems and issues faced in the world of practicing engineers. It achieved this integration by making use of professors in engineering,…

The following topics and objectives are presented as essential for teachers, principals, and supervisors to study in working towards a modern elementary social studies curriculum: (1) objectives in the social studies; (2) trends in the social studies; (3) scope and sequence; (4) materials used in teaching; (5) readiness in learning; (6) number of…

This book provides descriptive reports about people living in poverty in New York City (New York) in the period from 1964 to 1979 as a beginning to solving the problems of persistent poverty. Analyses of the problems of poverty have rarely been undertaken from the point of view of the poor themselves. It is argued that society will never be able…

The term "underclass" is often used to describe concentrations of inner-city Blacks in urban neighborhoods where social problems are common, mostly in large metropolitan areas. The most widely used empirical measurements of underclass are the spatial concentrations of poverty and social problems. Characterizing the underclass as almost entirely a…