Findings from the Beginning School Study, conducted in Baltimore (Maryland) are used to show how differences in family circumstances translate into beliefs and activities that help or hinder children's development. The Beginning School Study started in 1982 and has followed 790 randomly selected Baltimore students from first-grade in 1982 through…

Two studies examined the relationship between preschool and elementary school children's ability to delay gratification and their school behaviors, after controlling for differences in socioeconomic status (SES). Children's gratification control was measured through an age-appropriate dilemma that forced each child to exhibit gratification control…

Several studies raise serious doubts about whether economic development should be a goal for rural education and whether a causal relationship exists between education level and income. This study sought to determine the nature of the relationship between level of schooling and income level. Census data from 1940 to the present for 13 rural states…

A project explored female poverty in Saskatchewan, Canada, and its implications within the framework of Health Canada's Population Health Promotion Model. Data were collected through consultations with 59 women who had experienced poverty, interviews with administrators of agencies and projects that serve poor women, and a literature review.…

In 1988, a California study by Friedkin and Necochea confirmed an interaction between size and socioeconomic status such that large schools benefited affluent students, whereas small schools benefited impoverished students. This report describes a replication applying the model to West Virginia schools and school districts. In order to control for…

For much of its history, America has been waging war against many of its poor people. Chapters 1 through 4 of this book discuss the labeling of the poor as morally inferior, which has increased in the last 15 years, blames them falsely for the ills of the American society and economy, reinforces their mistreatment, increases their misery, and…

A study compared the attitudes of minority and nonminority Texas high school agriscience students toward agriculture. A cluster sample of 1,399 agriscience students in Texas high school courses called "Introduction to World Agricultural Science and Technology" and "Applied Agricultural Science and Technology" participated in the ex post facto…

Representing part of the first phase of a 5-year ethnographic research project, this report explores connections between school achievement and Irish ethnicity. Part 1 of the report reviews Irish history from 400 B.C. through the Irish famines of the mid-1800s, highlighting England's cultural and economic suppression of Ireland. Part 2 describes…

A study investigated whether the writing outcomes of first-grade pupils participating in the Writing-to-Read (WTR) program differed significantly from the writing outcomes of pupils in a traditional language arts curriculum (No-WTR). The study also investigated whether differences were attributable to gender, race, socioeconomic status, individual…

This study provides comprehensive data profiling the chief executive officers of higher education institutions in the United States who were in office in either 1986 or 1990 and is based on a survey administered by the American Council on Education in those years. The 1990 profile of presidents, which is the focus of this report, incorporates the…

The Focus Study, conducted by the National Council of La Raza's Poverty Project, used structured discussions by focus groups to examine Mexican American women's opinions, needs, and attitudes as they relate to the implementation of the 1988 Family Support Act (FSA). FSA's primary objective is to move people off welfare through education, training,…

This report presents a statistical portrait of the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of blacks in the United States. The portrait is based on data from the March Supplement to the 1990 and 1989 Current Population Surveys (CPS) with additional data from the October 1988 Supplement to the CPS. The data are estimates based on sample…

Reviews of research, studies of early readers, and investigations of emergent literacy uniformly conclude that parents' beliefs, aspirations, and actions affect their children's growth into and embracing of literacy. However, conflicting results call into question the utility of simply correlating race or various socioeconomic factors, such as…

The project described in this article examined the connection between students' overall development level as measured by the Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI), and their participation in either part-time, on-campus employment or volunteer membership in the Stamp Union Program Council. A group of 141 students (from a total…

This book provides a portrait of city life as observed by the author in an urban area encompassing two communities--one black, low income, and very poor (with an extremely high infant mortality rate) and the other racially mixed but becoming increasingly middle-to-upper income and white. It explores the dilemma of both Blacks and Whites, the…