Provides general guidelines for enhancing teacher-parent conferences with parents of diverse cultures, particularly conferences to discuss learning or behavior problems. The need for teachers to become aware of personal beliefs, values, and expectations that guide their social interactions and to use culturally sensitive conference strategies are…

Defines and frames work within its social, cultural, and politico-economic context. Recent technological advances and a restructured global economy have underlined imperialism's central role in defining the nature of work relations and reproducing the social division of labor. As labor cheapens, schools divide into productive and distributive…

Increased juvenile violence in schools has led to suggested solutions that are politically expedient but fail to address what makes violence so appealing. Instead of school uniforms, conflict resolution programs, or media rating systems, a grass roots approach of alternative programs, parental involvement, and youth support systems could repair…

Describes a study that investigates the perceived academic self-efficacy of first-generation students at a large Midwest community college. Indicates that first-generation students have lower self-perceptions of their academic ability than students whose parents have some college experience. Contains one data table and 12 references. (JDI)

Used ethnographic methods to examine, over six months, the relationship between gender and open-ended computer software use to compose stories for 36 first graders. Found that females in mixed-gender groups were more likely to have their competence or work laughed at or criticized than when working alone or in all-female groups. Females used…

Examined how child care teachers' socialization practices and child characteristics jointly predicted children's sympathetic-prosocial responding. Found that child characteristics and socialization practices played an important role in children's interpersonal functioning, and the ability of the teacher to interact in a warm, affectionate way was…

Research investigating perceptions of guns, gangs, drugs, and violence in rural schools surveyed 266 principals and counselors in rural elementary, middle, and high schools in northern Missouri. Smaller schools and elementary schools had fewer problems than larger and middle/high schools. Community collaboration is essential to solving…

Peers of a socially rejected seventh-grade girl were rewarded for publicly reporting positive aspects of the girl's behavior. Results indicated that positive peer reports reduced negative social interactions to near zero and increased positive interactions to above 70%. In addition, social acceptance ratings of the girl increased from…

A study of first-year chemistry students (n=962) in one Canadian university investigated factors that may contribute to retention or withdrawal of women in science study. Results show transition patterns into and during the first year of university that suggest that career paths and lifestyles begin to differentiate between genders in ways much…

Maintains that research from developing countries may help in understanding effects of poverty on child development in the United States, citing three cases: (1) the link between anemia and decreased levels of mental and motor development; (2) the positive effects of supplemental nutrition programs on child development; and (3) effects of poor…

Argues that many recent collaborative research projects conducted by classroom teachers and teacher educators have focused too narrowly on educational practice, which is subject to the vagaries of the current political and social climate. Identifies strategies for broader focused research that concentrates on the teacher's life and work. (MDM)

Argues for a reconsideration of how culture affects minority school adjustment and academic performance, suggesting that minorities who recognize cultural differences as barriers are more successful at crossing cultural boundaries. The author demonstrates this point through two case studies, one of a minority group that does not recognize cultural…

This study applied probability models in a four-year case study at a selective liberal arts college. The study found that, while admissions decisions matched institutional goals for student characteristics, discrepancies between acceptance and enrollment decisions frustrated the institution's efforts to achieve diversity and highlighted the…

Examined three peer approval and self-worth relationship orientations among young adolescents. Focused on participants who based their self-worth on peer approval. Found such students were more likely to be distracted from schoolwork, to perceive fluctuations in classmate approval and self-worth, and to report lower levels of classmate approval…

Examined both concurrently and longitudinally the influence of pubertal development, perceptions of pubertal timing, and experience with parents on the development of eating problems in normal adolescent girls. Found that adolescent girls' positive relationships with both parents were related to healthier eating. Results suggest that the…