Epistemological beliefs, or beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing, are currently a target of increased research interest. The present study examined two research questions: (1) how do epistemological beliefs change over time? and (2) what role do gender, ethnicity, SES, and achievement play in their development? The study was…

The education of Latino students in the United States has been characterized by a misunderstanding of the role of language and culture in their learning. The author describes some strategies that principals can use to create conditions for their success, including in-depth knowledge of Latino students and their families, dual language programs,…

It is widely accepted that high quality child care enhances children's cognitive and social development, but some question whether what constitutes quality care depends on the child's ethnic and cultural background. To address this question, secondary analysis of data from the two largest studies of child care experiences in the United States,…

Two studies investigated whether children's television programs that were produced to decrease racial prejudice had the intended positive effect on young children. Study 1 measured 60 White 5- and 6-year-old children's attitudes toward Asian, Black, and White stimuli prior to, and immediately following, a brief, one-time anti-prejudice television…

Purpose: The goal of this study was to evaluate the practice-oriented model of service use (Yeatts, Crow, & Folts, 1992) relative to the more widely used behavioral model (Andersen, 1968) in its ability to explain the use of respite services by caregivers of Alzheimer's patients. Unlike the behavioral model, which focuses primarily on…

Over the years, Ms. Lane's third grade mathematics classroom had become increasingly diverse. Challenged by the growing population of English Language Learners (ELL) and her need to change her teaching practice to meet their needs, Ms. Lane selected to study how best to teach one of her greatest challenges, Ana, a Latino ELL who also had a…

This study was designed to examine the epistemological beliefs about the nature of knowledge, views of intelligence and motivational perceptions. Two samples were drawn from two large urban high schools in the Southwest portion of the United States with large Hispanic/Latino student populations while a third was drawn from a majority Anglo student…

In early May 2002, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released a study of U.S. history achievement among fourth, eight, and twelfth graders, finding that nearly 60 percent of high school senior test-takers failed to demonstrate basic knowledge of U.S. history. Although the hand-wringing has begun about what "must be done" to…

This study was designed to examine the vocational interests among members of the same racial/ethnic group who differ in age, educational level, and professional attainment. Student samples of African Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and American Indians (n=3,637) completing the Strong Interest Inventory (L. W.…

This article presents data obtained from a survey of high school students in Brownsville, Texas. Almost half of the students reported having seen other students carry knives at school, roughly 1 in 10 reported having seen other students carry guns at school, and more than 1 in 5 reported being fearful of weapon-associated victimization at school.…

An important predictor of whether students remain in school or withdraw is their ability to identify with academics. Consistent with Ogbu's (1992) cultural inversion and Steele's (1992) stereotype threat hypotheses, research has shown that Black and Hispanic students tend to demonstrate higher levels of academic disidentification relative to Asian…

A model intervention for academic persistence and motivation of African American and Latino high school students is provided in this article. The authors provide a theoretical and practical description of The Educational Navigation Skills Seminar (TENSS) as a demonstration of an educational persistence intervention. By reviewing the higher…

Sociocultural considerations play an important role in any teaching episode in our increasingly diverse society. This analysis focuses on a male European American preservice teacher, who is practicing teaching at a school with 3% African-American, 3% Asian, 91% European American, 1% Hispanic American, and 3% multiracial students. Examination of…

The authors investigated the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on reading achievement for urban middle school students. The authors initially developed a research-based theoretical model representing interrelationships among students' ethnicity, gender, grade level, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and reading achievement.…

In light of the continuing debate surrounding bilingual education, there has been a renewed interest to examine the perceptions and views on the subject from various constituents. The purpose of this study was to examine the group who is the target of and most affected by this controversy--English language learners. The study surveyed 280 Latino…