Summarizes Children's Defense Fund report: 84 of the 100 poorest counties for children are in the South; 79 of those are rural. Discusses racial differences in child poverty; child hunger; lack of health insurance; harsh state welfare policies; the working poor; lower southern educational levels; estimated costs of child poverty; and needs for…

Examined whether relationships between high school students' educational and career aspirations and their parents' educational levels differed. Students' mathematics achievement, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status were also examined. Interviews indicated that relationships between parental factors and student variables differed by mother…

Argues that it is important for Black students and for all students to understand that Black English is indeed a language with rules, beauty, and power so that they come to respect it, respect its history, and respect their own bilingualism. (SR)

Describes a study in which young, urban African American adolescents with behavior problems participated in weekly group sessions that used rap music to promote the development of appropriate social skills related to morality, identity, judgement, decision making, anger management, impulse control, and crime and punishment. Overall, student…

Reports on a telephone survey that examined the extent of support given to multicultural education (MCE) by whites and blacks. Results from 348 respondents found strong support for the concept of MCE, but issues of implementation were more controversial with interracial differences being generally larger than intraracial differences. A model is…

A study of African American college students compared students' health-related behaviors with their perceptions of corresponding health issues. Students had low smoking rates but higher alcohol consumption. Most students did not practice good nutrition or daily physical activity. Over half managed stress well, and three-quarters were sexually…

Describes how a beginning teacher learned to teach an African American second grader to read. The narrative unfolds through a longitudinal study of the teacher's learning to teach diverse students. The story illustrates important influences upon her learning to teach and resisting norms that excluded attention to children's diverse needs. (SM)

Explored the extent to which 14 junior high school teachers and 60 of their male students perceived differences in the teachers' student-directed behaviors as a function of the students' achievement level and race. Students felt teachers acted negatively toward low achievers and positively toward average achievers and African American students.…

The article presents advice from children's book authors and illustrators about choosing and using multicultural literature, discussing what to look for in multicultural literature and why multiculturalism matters. The article includes lists of multicultural resources for the classroom and of authors who write specifically about their cultures.…

One college teacher's narrative of events and interactions within her classroom, focusing on differing perceptions of racial issues and ethnicity, is used to illustrate the value of narrative as a means of reflecting on teaching practice. It is argued that narrative allows the storyteller to explore self-identity by configuring personal events…

Reports a study that examined the relationship between high school students' smoking under stress, psychological distress, and social support. Survey data indicated that white students were more likely to engage in stress-related smoking than black students, as were adolescents with higher psychological distress and lower social support scores.…

Examines African American youth's encounters with three forms of violence--eyewitnessing, victimization, and participation--to determine its spread in urban schools, the types of violence encountered, the sociodemographic factors associated with the encounter types, and whether there is any overlap among those who witness, are victims of, and…

Examines the combined effects of race and gender on teachers' perceptions of students' social behaviors. Responses from 984 black and white teachers who rated 6- to 11-year-old black and white children suggest teachers' perceptions are predicted by race and gender. Positive perceptions generally aligned themselves according to teachers' race and…

Examines the relationship between school variables such as school experiences, attitudes about school, academic achievement, relevance of the curriculum, and school involvement and the delinquency of black youths, along with the influence of gender and type of school. Findings from 272 adolescents show that school variables were strongly related…

Investigated sociometric status, aggression, and gender differences in African American second-graders' expression of anger, happiness, and sadness during a competitive game. Found that rejected children expressed more facial and verbal anger than average-status children and more nonverbal happiness, but only during turns that were favorable to…