This Kids Count special report examines how children born in each state fared on selected measures of a "right start." This statistical portrait is based on trends in eight indicators of well-being: (1) percent of total births to teens; (2) percent of repeat teen births; (3) percent of total births to unmarried women; (4) percent of…

Stressing that children's development in diverse cultures follows different paths, this book describes children's development in its cultural context. The book illustrates that the everyday work, school, and play activities provided for children vary from one culture to another depending on the social and economic structure of the cultures and…

In rural Swaziland, fathers often migrate for work, leaving wives and children behind. The family is denied the presence of a husband, father, and role model, as well as economic support, which fathers often fail to remit home regularly. A longitudinal study investigated the effects of parent availability and other home characteristics on the…

This paper examines the extent, nature, and implications of spatial variations in skill levels across England. Section 2 sets out reasons why skill levels should be important to localities and their economic potential by outlining their growing importance and the way in which they are connected to economic well-being. Section 3 sets out the extent…

This paper describes the first year of a 3-year project to identify the specific skills of expert special education teachers. The project has three objectives: (1) to develop a knowledge base of identified expert special educators who work with culturally and linguistically diverse students with mild/moderate disabilities; (2) to field-test…

This essay examines the ways in which health, as a discipline, has been influenced by feminist scholarship in the field. It explains that feminist scientists in the field have recognized and sought to address gender bias in traditional approaches to health research, including the androcentric bias in defining priorities for medical research, the…

This digest discusses the contextual factors that affect students' learning of a second language. These individual, social, and societal factors can be considered from the perspective of the language, the learner, and the learning process. These perspectives are discussed as they relate to learning any second language, with a particular focus on…

Some researchers have asserted that the poor outcomes from American Indian schools result from the lack of cultural fit between teachers and students. Data gathered from 258 American Indian faculty at U.S. colleges and tribal departments of education indicate that 65 institutions of higher education produced 1,347 new American Indian teachers…

In the UK, there is a marked gender gap in the educational attainment of boys and girls. At the end of compulsory education, 10 per cent fewer boys achieve 5 or more good GCSEs. This gap is by no means confined to GCSE. It is evident at all Key Stages. Furthermore, some indicators suggest that the gap has widened over time. In this paper, we…

Limited information is available regarding the factors that promote persistence by women in engineering programs. Stated simply, the problem is that the number of women engineers continues to fall short in comparison to the gender ratio of women to men in the population in the U.S. (BEST, 2002) and worldwide (Hersh, 2000). More women engineers are…

This paper presents facts about postsecondary access and success. They include: (1) Ensuring that more students succeed in postsecondary education is vital to the nation's economic health; (2) Too few students from low-income backgrounds and from underrepresented minority groups graduate from high school prepared for college; (3) Enrolling in…

This study examines the relative utility and predictive validity of the SAT I and SAT II for various subgroups in both California and the nation. The effect of eliminating the SAT I on the test impact and on the over- and under-prediction of various gender and racial/ethnic subgroups is examined. Two statistical adjustments and tables are appended.

This study had the purpose of comparing the effects of two approaches in teaching mathematics to secondary special education students. The study attempted to answer the following questions: (1) Were there significant differences between group means of mathematics achievement test scores for students in a diagnostic-prescriptive mathematics program…

Presents an annotated bibliography of 62 British entries on girls and science/mathematics. Arranged alphabetically by author/institution, annotations are detailed to avoid having to locate each reference itself. Topics include, among others, sex differences, sex bias in textbooks, and achievement. (JN)

Since independence in 1947, India's educational goals have included expansion, improved quality, and equal opportunity. The author analyzes India's successes and failures in reaching these goals in the context of its limited economic resources, the traditional educational values of its people, and its traditionally stratified social system. (SJL)