The Saginaw Prekindergarten Program is designed to provide 4-year-olds with an environment that will enable them to develop skills needed for future success in school, and to prepare inner city children for entry into kindergarten. The objectives of the program include specific achievements in 16 cognitive skills, psychomotor skills, and parental…

Many dangers and challenges face inner-city minority children during their after-school hours. Youth development programs provide an alternative to spending this time unsupervised. We examined the relationship between children's experiences in selected urban Boys and Girls Clubs and child functioning. Because the sample (N = 296) consisted of…

Interactive media have come of age. The range of interactive entertainment products, intended to be used by children in and out of school settings is growing: CD-ROMs, computers, the Internet, video games (for a variety of handheld and console platforms), interactive toys (including educational talking books), and a variety of wireless software…

Describes the Reggio Emilia (Italy) model for preschool education. Addresses the perceived difficulties of transferring the program to U.S. schools, focusing on differences in patterns of thinking, educational attitudes, and cultural conventions between the two cultures. Provides perspectives for change and adaptation. (SD)

Criticizes the growing practice of using children's art in the service of political causes. Discusses a recent exhibit that included Iraqi children's art in support of the Intifada and in condemnation of Israel. Questions the ethics of this for art educators and its effectiveness as political persuasion. (MJP)

Explores the classroom curriculum and instructional strategies of a white, second career teacher who created a culturally relevant teaching practice. Longitudinal data chronicled the development of her beliefs, values, and dispositions for meeting diverse student needs. Important themes were acquiring cultural sensitivity, reshaping the classroom…

Discusses problems related to urban education and suggests ways that classrooms may be restructured. Concludes that educators must draw on both environmental factors such as the home and the classroom social group, and academic and organizational alliances in order to effect meaningful change in urban schools. (MW)

Examines the effects of economic stress on children and their families through changes in family relationships and economic adaptations. Uses data from two longitudinal studies of child development begun during the Great Depression. Discusses findings in relation to an interactional model of the process by which families adapt to stressful times.…

Analyzes responses of a group of 42 unemployed Black and Hispanic mothers of children attending an inner-city Head Start Center to standardized measures of locus of control, childrearing attitudes and practices, and parent participation. (FMW)

Incentive structures were observed in mainstream classes enrolling students labeled as low achieving, average achieving, and learning disabled (LD). Incentive structures were labeled academic engagement and behavioral management. Students with LD engaged in intermediate amounts of content-related process relative to other students. Teachers used…

Describes the centrality of culturally relevant pedagogy to academic success for minority students who are poorly served in public schools, discussing linkages between school and culture, examining the theoretical grounding of culturally relevant teaching in the context of a study of successful teachers of black students. Provides examples of…

Examines techniques made possible through computer technology that researchers are using to increase understanding of musical response. Describes the Continuous Response Digital Interface (CRDI), created at Florida State University's Center for Music Research, that stores responses during music presentation. Outlines several applications of CRDI…

Studies racial and ethnic differences in mathematics achievement for elementary school students in a large suburban school system in the Washington (DC) metropolitan area. Results with more than 5,000 students show minority students performing at a lower level than majority students. Issues of teacher attitudes, teaching methods, and the role of…

Investigated book-reading habits of families and teachers to hearing impaired and normal hearing kindergarten children. Found that while there was no significant difference in the book-reading habits of the two groups to their children, hearing-impaired children's families are more careful in book choosing and reading to their children. (Author/SD)

Explores developmental patterns in children from kindergarten through grade six. Highlights physical development, including height, activity level, motor skills, and health; mental development, including abstract thought, academic focus, learning difficulties, subject preferences, and creativity; psychosocial development, including interpersonal…