The three sociological studies included in this report provide a description and analysis of family and kinship, and neighborhood and community variables that affect lower class children's readiness and competence to enter into formal education. Study topics are: (1) Kinship and Socioeconomic Status, which examines home to school transition and…

Intellective measures such as aptitude test scores and previous school grades have long been used to predict a student's future academic potential. The information is relatively easy to obtain and has shown high correlations with college grades. Among minority students, however, there is evidence that they often defy what one would predict on the…

The Michigan Department of Education's 1971-72 Title III evaluation reports on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), Title I, Open Concept School program for Indian Education in the Sault Sainte Marie Area Public Schools. Of the 185 students in the school, 100 were of American Indian origin; approximately 1/2 were economically and…

The Laboratory was established as a public nonprofit organization in 1966 under a Joint Powers Agreement. The Laboratory has five major development divisions, each of which is responsible for different areas of educational research and development. Division IV identifies and investigates problems relating to home-school linkage. This position…

This 4-year followup study of graduates of the Jackson County Adult Evening School Completion Program is the fourth 4-year study to be completed. The study attempted to measure the benefits received by the 1970 graduates in the educational, social, and financial areas. General information was obtained from a questionnaire that required information…

The present study involved the evaluation of the effectiveness of four types of preschool programs on the educational development of lower and middle class children. Middle class children were exposed to "unit" and "cognitive" based preschool programs; lower class children were exposed to "day care" and Montessori…

The literature is reviewed that addresses the association between background factors and educational outcomes. After completing the review, Westat, Inc. issued this report which synthesizes the literature into correlates of academic performance and outcomes other than academic achievement. The former considers such background variables as…

The Spontaneous Numerical Correspondence Test is an adaptation of a Piagetian procedure. Here the tester sets out an array of blue ceramic tiles and, providing the child with his/her own box of 15 blue and 15 red tiles, asks the S to take out the same number. The task is repeated four times: twice with 7 tiles, once with 8, and once with 10. In…

This survey paper attempts to demonstrate that there is a functional interaction between race and the city. Given the basic features of slums, squatter colonies, rapid immigration, patchy industrialization and chronic unemployment, together with political instability (induced both internally and externally), the author attempts to show that race…

This review of the literature should prove helpful to school administrators in their efforts to stay abreast of judicial limitations on their decisionmaking authority. The author cites literature that examines court decisions affecting student rights in general and publications discussing some of the court decisions that pertain to only one or two…

An attempt to develop a predictive model of teacher militancy using the Automatic Interaction Detection technique is described. By employing teacher background characteristics and attitudes toward teaching, the resulting model explains a significant amount of the variation in the degree of teacher militancy in a medium size, midwestern city with…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative importance of school socioeconomic and racial-ethnic context for Mexican American student achievement and dropout behavior. Data reported in this paper were obtained from the first part of a larger 3-year panel study evaluating the effects of court-ordered busing on majority and minority…

Variables expected to be associated with academic achievement were examined in a sample (generally exceeding 2500) from eight secondary schools in Baymon Norte, Puerto Rico. Concern was whether variables associated with academic achievement differed by sex or by socioeconomic status (SES). Multivariate analyses of variance with three factors of…

The present research was conducted to determine the relative importance of a variety of background variables and school effects on curriculum assignment in public high schools. The emphasis was on the sociological processes of selection and differentiation within schools, and the role of education in facilitating or blocking social mobility. A…

Aspirations and life-orientations of the youngest generation (born 1941-65) living in the Polish Peoples Republic were analyzed in terms of observable evolution within this generation and identifiable characteristics of change. Data were derived from diaries collected in 1966 and a 1971 survey titled, "Young People: Self-Assessment and Life…