Previous research has demonstrated that attending center care is associated with cognitive benefits for young children. However, little is known about the ideal age for children to enter such care or the "right" amount of time, both weekly and yearly, for children to attend center programs. Using national data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal…

This study examined findings from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families about primary child care arrangements for children under age 13 years while the adults most responsible for them are employed. It compared arrangements made by lower- versus higher-income parents and single- versus two-parent families and examines differences across…

This study was a replication of the method used by R. Bickel and C. Howley (2000), applying the approach to Washington state academic performance of fourth and seventh graders. While Bickel and Howley focused on the 8th grade Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the 11th grade Georgia High School Graduate Test, this study examined performance on the…

As part of the University of California's recent reconsideration of the role of the SAT in admissions, the UC Office of the President published an extensive report, "UC and the SAT" (2001), which examined the value of SAT I Reasoning Test scores, SAT II Subject Test scores, and high school grades in predicting the grade-point averages of…

This report provides a Latino-focused assessment of the changing demographic and economic landscape of the Midwest between 1980 and 1990. Over 56 percent of the region's population increase was accounted for by Latinos, of which persons of Mexican origin were the largest proportion. The White population decreased by over 300,000 persons, with the…

Sociological theory and method have been used to develop a theory of complex instruction (CI). CI enables teachers to teach at a high intellectual level while reaching a wide range of students. Teachers work to create equal-status interaction within small groups as students use each other as resources to complete challenging group tasks. The…

In 1987 a project was undertaken to assess the status of African Americans in the United States in the topical areas to be addressed by the National Research Council's (NRC) Study Committee on the Status of Black Americans: education, employment, income and occupations, political participation and the administration of justice, social and cultural…

In some Western countries, it has been found that studying in schools of high-average ability has negative effects on one's self concept due to social comparisons with high-ability classmates. This has been metaphorically described as the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE). To explore this phenomenon, the perceived school status as a measure of…

This study examined teacher selection practices of principals at five effective elementary schools, assessing whether or not differences existed in selection qualities, procedures, and problems relating to schools' socioeconomic status (SES), and community type. After identifying effective schools, the study conducted teacher and principal…

A study was conducted to determine women's realization toward the quality of life, identifying their status aspirations. The study's primary purpose was to achieve a better understanding of how undergraduate women of Guam and Japan would aspire to their academic and social goals and how they would become aware of their gender equality. The…

This brief outlines findings from the National Survey of America's Families, a survey of 44,461 households, on 7 indicators of well-being by race and ethnicity: poverty, family structure, child support, food hardship, housing hardship, health status, and health insurance coverage. For the purpose of this brief, all persons of Hispanic origin were…

This paper uses data from the October Current Population Surveys, which involved 167,400 youth age 14-24 years who were subject to the risk of high school dropout, to examine the effects of race, ethnicity, and social background on high school students' dropout rates. Research indicates that between 1972 and 1998, the dropout rate was least among…

This study analyzed the association between resilience and violence as rated by teachers and parents of exceptional students (N=613) from large urban, public schools in Ohio. Multiple types of exceptionalities were represented and a high proportion of the diversity came from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Resilience predictor variables were…

This paper reviews the policy context of school retention and shows that age-grade retardation has been common and growing in American schools from the 1970s-90s. The paper focuses on the period from 1972-98 and on grade retardation at ages 6, 9, 12, 15, and 17 years. By age 9 years, the odds of grade-retardation among African American and…

A model of family influence that reverses the traditional roles of parents and children is presented to explain the results of a school intervention that narrowed political communication and knowledge gaps between parents of high and low socioeconomic status (SES). Students' exposure to a civics curriculum stimulated adolescent news media use at…