Effects of adult mediation and literacy-enriched play settings in Head Start classrooms on environmental and functional print tasks were studied for 177 minority preschoolers in poverty. Results indicate that the active engagement of adult mediators in literacy-enriched office play settings influenced children's ability to read environmental…

Reviews the history of La Cabana kindergarten, which provides preschool education and meals for 100 children and sewing classes for mothers in a working class neighborhood in Bogota, Colombia. Describes the implementation of a new curriculum which develops child creativity through free choice of activities around a common project. (AC)

Explores the view of motherhood and the concept of mother love as a killer in Toni Morrison's novels "Sula" (1973) and "Beloved" (1987). The triple nature of mother love as destructive materially, emotionally, and literally is examined in the context of African-American women's struggles. (SLD)

The at-risk concept has become a deficit notion. Policymakers neglect those for whom at-risk programs are intended, ignoring accounts of institutional injustice previously accompanying the term. At-risk has become an administrative agenda that identifies failure before it occurs. Effective reform efforts require parents, teachers, and students who…

An evaluation of efforts by the Carter and Reagan Administrations to reduce fraud, error, and mismanagement in social programs is provided, examining the food stamp program as an example. Data available do not make it possible to say whether these administrative and political efforts actually decreased fraud and error. (SLD)

Economic justice means taking the personhood of poor people into account; respecting their needs, personal ambitions, rights, and dignity; and affording equal opportunity and equal access to education, health care, housing, and jobs. Examples of injustice to minority groups are provided, citing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (SLD)

Explores social acceptance of inequality in U.S. education. Views the legitimation of inequality primarily as a product of early stratification in education, such as tracking, and cumulative reinforcement in a cultural context of contests as equality of opportunity. Early levels of schooling are organized as a series of contests. (SLD)

This study investigated differences between coping behavior of 25 developmentally disabled and 25 nondisabled children (age 4-34 months) from lower- and middle-income family backgrounds. Assessment of three adaptive-coping behaviors (sensorimotor organization, reactive behavior, and self-initiated behavior) indicated that nondisabled children…

Researchers used the 1981-84 Pennsylvania Educational Quality Assessment Program to study student socioeconomic status (SES), race, and gender as related to mathematics achievement in fifth, eighth, and eleventh graders. At all three levels, Whites scored higher than Blacks, and achievement varied directly with SES levels. There were no replicable…

Discusses the importance of school-community relationships and the role of schools and education professors in working to better society and end racism, sexism, and poverty. The article stresses the need to change the practice of ignoring social problems by searching for a language of compassion and communication. (SM)

Basic Skills Assessment Program reading scores for all South Carolina students in grades 1-3 and 6 were analyzed. Failure to meet state standards was higher among younger, male, Black, and lunch-subsidized students. Risk of failure was still higher for younger students after controls for race, gender and lunch-payment status. (Author/PB)

Describes the history and current status of the Head Start Program, which provides early basic education augmented with health check-ups and a daily hot meal. Suggests that the program should be expanded to serve all who are eligible for it, provide more full-day services, and assist children younger than age five. (MAB)

School-based mutual support groups (MSGs) are proposed to enhance school involvement of parents from lower socioeconomic and ethnic minority backgrounds. A school-based MSG format is presented with results of a survey of interests from 62 parents (36 respondents and 26 nonrespondents) and a discussion of a pilot demonstration in 3 urban elementary…

Discusses the characteristics, origins, and evolution of Latin American "popular education," a nonformal approach that incorporates consciousness raising and activist organization in the education of economically and politically subjugated adults. Describes community participatory-investigation activities as the typical first step beyond…

Provides an economic analysis of the status of African-American males, arguing that the precarious economic position of African-American males is the leading cause of single female-headed households in African-American communities. Marginalization processes based on low employment have pushed African-American males away from marriage. (SLD)