This volume, the fourth in a series, brings together the conversations of the profession that were explored during the 1993 and 1994 Summer Institute for Teachers of Literature. This anthology of essays considers what "American literature" is and how definitions of this category affect teaching practices. The essays argue for the…

This paper examines racial composition in the Dominican Republic from the pre-Columbian period, conquest, and colonization to the formation of the Dominican nation. Even in the prehistoric era, the culture of the area that was to become the Dominican Republic was diverse, with a variety of dialects among the native peoples. With the arrival of the…

A qualitative study examined the effectiveness of the combination of autobiography, biography, and cross-cultural analyses in the context of preservice teacher education. Subjects were 21 preservice teachers at a rural Midwestern public university in which only 9% of the 11,000 students were from minority backgrounds. Subjects, for a class…

This study examined cultural/ethnic similarities and differences in ways to promote resilience in children identified in the International Resilience Research Project (IRRP), focusing on Sudan, Namibia, and Armenia. Child resilience was assessed through the child's responses to a hypothetical situation in which a child is teased and frightened by…

More than one fourth of all families today are one-parent families, and almost 90 percent of those families are headed by women. This book focuses on assessment and intervention with one-parent families, particularly mother-headed families, based on gender-sensitive principles combined with other family-centered strategies to help accentuate the…

Are African Americans making progress toward their complete incorporation into American society? No simple answers are available to this question. The predicament in which African Americans find themselves is reflected in the debates about progress. Consequently, the meaning of progress is explored in the first chapter, not to arrive at a…

Western and Asian cultures may differentially influence the association between self-esteem and ability among their children. Differences in attributional patterns may contribute to positive self-esteem in European American children that is unrelated to actual performance, and more achievement based self-esteem in Chinese American children. In…

School health education needs to build a broad base of awareness, tolerance, and sensitivity to different expressions of healthy behavior while maintaining scientific accuracy. This can only be accomplished through exposing children to the various types of health knowledge found in different cultures. Health education involves helping students:…

In this journal issue, articles examine various aspects of testing intelligence, creativity, and psychopathology. Featured articles include: (1) "Monglottosis: What's Wrong with the Idea of IQ Meritocracy and Its Racy Cousins?" (Johan W. Oller, Jr.), which shows empirically and theoretically that even nonverbal IQ tests mainly measure powers of…

This set of four lessons, intended for grades 2-5, aims to give U.S. students an opportunity to understand and appreciate ways in which the lives of Korean school children are similar and different from their own. The lessons are: (1)"An Elementary School Day in Korea; (2) "A School Lunch in Korea"; (3) "A Visit to a…

Parental involvement has been promoted by politicians and educators as the cure all for academic ills in the American educational system. Programs have been funded and structured to involve all parents in schools in ways valued by middle class parents to the exclusion of language minority families, their language, and their culture. These middle…

This monograph is the result of a one-year qualitative study conducted by the National Institute for Science Education (NISE) of reform-oriented interventions, structures, and relationships in preservice and inservice education of teachers of science and mathematics. The study investigated 61 initiatives of reform activity involving teachers of…

This paper examines the cultural dimensions of assistive technology (AT) for families of students with disabilities. First, goals and potential outcomes when working with families across cultures are identified, including immediate benefits of AT, change in level of functioning, acceptance in the community, immediate and ongoing access to AT,…

This collection of papers tells the story of how languages other than English have contributed to making New York City a culturally vibrant and linguistically diverse city. Part 1, "Introduction to the Multilingual Apple," features "New York's Multilingualism: World Languages and Their Role in a U.S. City" (Ofelia Garcia). Part…

This collection of papers by leading scholars in immigration studies shows how the children of immigrants in diverse groups are faring and assimilating in the United States. The 10 papers are (1) "Introduction--Ethnogenesis: Coming of Age in Immigrant America" (Ruben G. Rumbaut and Alejandro Portes); (2) "The Demographic Diversity…