When disadvantaged students attend neighborhood schools, they are handicapped by low expectations and teachers so overworked meeting other student needs that they have little time to teach. Mixing lower- and middle-class students through busing gives the disadvantaged new role models and aspirations and allows teachers to function more…

Stressing to remedial educators the danger of complacency once a learner has acquired the basic skills of reading and numeracy, the authors advocate cooperation and coordination between secondary remedial education and adult literacy programs and call for a real commitment by teachers toward fostering basic skills in the disadvantaged. (SJL)

This annotated bibliography with an introductory essay lists 328 items in five categories: (1) concepts, policies, and general studies, including general, basic, lifelong and adult, home, family and community, preschool, rural, and teacher education; (2) organization and management; (3) educational facilities; (4) assessment and evaluation; and…

Emphasizes the effects of poverty, lack of education, and scarce medical resources (all prevalent in rural areas) which contribute to poor health conditions and practices for rural children. Available from: U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Rm. 456 GHI Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20250. (JD)

Participation in supplemental tutoring led to a significant improvement in classroom behavior although significant changes in achievement and self-concept were not found. Volunteers acted as role models and helped children with personal and social guidance for coping with the educational system. (JAC)

Describes workshop programs at the University of Arizona to broaden educational and vocational perspectives of disadvantaged/minority youth. Workshops included orientation to the university activity areas and services, field trip experiences to expose participants to broader career opportunities, and an overview of college options. (MF)

An attempt was made to determine if a socioeconomic bias in placement existed. No statistically significant differences that would indicate an SES bias were found. Other factors may contribute to special education placement. Significant agreement was found between school psychologists and teacher consultants with respect to placement decisions.…

Competency-based materials can help in mainstreaming disadvantaged students, who especially need encouragement and motivation. The author gives illustrations of several different ways of using such materials with disadvantaged students in distributive education. (MF)

A Survey of Reading Attitudes was administered to 431 intermediate-grade students, providing measures for eight different dimensions of reading attitude. Significant patterns of change were shown for the following dimensions: Expressed Reading Difficulty, Reading as Direct Reinforcement, Silent v Oral Reading, and Comics. (Author/GDC)

Six highly gifted and creative students, ages 12-17, from lower socioeconomic homes responded to an open-ended questionnaire about teacher behaviors and qualities they liked and disliked. Students liked teachers who were positive, creative, respectful, sincere, knowledgeable, flexible, stable, and warm, and disliked teachers who had opposite…

Special centers established to improve the performance of disadvantaged students in reading and mathematics, emphasizing individual attention and close relation between student and teacher, and setting achievable goals, are proving effective. (JD)

This study assessed effects of response climate by examining effects of an additional testing experience on the conservation of number performance of 4- and 5-year-old lower socioeconomic status children (N=98). Results indicated significantly higher conservation of number performance scores for both males and females. (Author)

"Ebonics II" is the position that there is no significant gap between black and standard English but that teaching standard English as a foreign language would alleviate the stigma attached to black English. Acknowledging black English and promoting Afrocentric curricula while teaching standard English would overcome the resistance many children…

Reports on an investigation of the out-of-school literacy practices of two African American urban high school students. Conclusions are drawn about the complex and productive ways these youths use literacy practices in their social environments. Implications are made for instruction using youth culture as a bridge to writing development. (SLD)

The main strength of this book is that it is grounded in an array of research on school reform efforts that it combines with practical suggestions about what works and what does not. It constitutes a useful addition to the educational literature on school reform efforts; unfortunately, it lacks adequate discussions of the complex causes of…