Naturalistic observation of the spontaneous role-taking behavior of 16 four-year-old children (8 boys, 8 girls) in a free play situation with a same-sex peer was used to investigate the sex role perceptions and preferences of young children. Videotape recordings of the unelicited male, female, parental, and conjugal role portrayals were examined…

A sample of lower middle class eighth grade Brazilian students were rated by their teachers on eleven aptitude factors. The students were also tested on these factors. Results showed teachers to be fairly accurate in their ratings. (JKS)

Many new loan and scholarship programs are available, most open to middle-income families. State loans and grants are increasingly attractive, aid packages are more likely to include merit scholarships and complex new financing arrangements offered by schools themselves. Families must learn to shop carefully for good, not gimmicky, aid. (MSE)

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' findings are used to support the theory that the interplay between technology, economics, race relations, and power has always guided white treatment of blacks, and that blacks are being forced into ghetto reservations to suffer "conditional genocide" and be exterminated if they cause trouble. (PS)

Discusses the importance of teachers' awareness of students' backgrounds and cultures and cites research conducted in Great Britain by B. Tizard and M. Hughes and in the United States by S. Heath to support this belief. (DF)

Male and female subjects from low and middle-upper socioeconomic groups were asked to explain their academic success or failure. Few sex or social class differences were found, with most subjects attributing success to internal, medium stable, and controllable causes. (GC)

This book addresses the black-white achievement gap from an ethnographic, qualitative perspective. By focusing on middle class black students and documenting their experiences, it demonstrates that the problems black students encounter in school are much more pervasive than the literature and prevailing wisdom suggest and that class-based analyses…

The new call for a universal preschool system is prompting an important policy debate across California. How preschooling is expanded and improved with limited public resources depends on several key issues. The hopeful ideals of "preschool for all"--with children beginning school ready to learn--spark enthusiasm and broaden public will.…

The focus of the current high school reform movement goes beyond qualifying students to enter college. It extends to raising the rigor of coursework so that students are prepared for college-level classes, rather than forced to enter remedial courses. This need is based on extensive study of the gap between college admissions criteria and the more…

A study was designed to identify the potential contributory effects of different social information perspectives on the stability of bully and victim social roles and the interrelationships of three behavioral indices of bully and victim behavior. Students (N=120) from grades 5 and 6 completed behavioral indices of bully and victim behavior.…

The Zambian government, beset by deep and seemingly insoluble problems within the education sector, in 1976 initiated a radical and highly imaginative reform of the entire educational system. By 1978, however, this effort had to all intents and purposes petered out--the reform effort having never moved beyond the drafting board. (Author/BRR)

Policy modifications by postsecondary, business, and banking institutions are suggested to make small loans readily available to adult learners for higher education. The author focuses on middle-income adult students with an interest in career mobility in examining existing student loan programs, deferred tuition plans, and adult repayment rates.…

Presents an observational checklist for determining giftedness, based on ten categories of behavior; suggests a model for identification of dominant cultural and subdominant cultural gifted that emphasizes positive performance criteria. (MKM)

Achievement and locus of control data were gathered the first week of first grade, and seven months later, for middle- and lower-socioeconomic status (SES) children. While middle-SES children experienced greater achievement gains, lower-SES students increased in internal control. Results suggested that internal control contributed to achievement.…

Information collected through firsthand observations, interviews, and questionnaires from such sources as administrators, teachers, students, board members, and other community members is the base of a study of the relationship between school and community in a rural setting. (Author/MLF)