College freshmen of both sexes in the classes of 1976 and 1986 were compared on the basis of individual items (problems) reported on a checklist. Results focus on class and sex differences in personal development, living conditions, social activities, social, personal, and interpersonal relations, home and family, morals, adjustment to college,…

Examined the social composition of an unselected sample of 282 English 8- to 16-year olds involved in intensive training in football, swimming, tennis, and gymnastics. Found that working-class children and those from single-parent families were underrepresented in all sports. Concluded that financial considerations and difficulties in accessing…

In this article, the author compares the ways in which parent-child communication--a major indicator of parental involvement--influences children's educational achievement across 14 countries. Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the author examines the extent to which social class differences in the effect of…

This paper reports a secondary analysis of a direct measure of popular taste and contrasts it with professional evaluations of the same cultural product. The data are 5,644 motion pictures rated over a twenty-two-year period by members of a consumer organization and a group of professional movie reviewers. Ratings ofthe two groups are compared,…

The two studies presented in this report were designed to test the effectiveness of a new diagnostic-based reading intervention for classroom teachers, called the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI). This TRI Tier 2 intervention stressed diagnostic teaching as the key to helping struggling readers make rapid progress in reading in the regular…

The investigators recommended that in view of the similarity in the results across ethnic and SES backgrounds, that the high-frequency words identified in the investigation be among the first words students learn to spell and write. (Authors)

Explored the simultaneous sequential transition patterns of preschoolers' social play within classroom settings. Found that the proportion of social-play states did not vary during play episodes even when accounting for type of activity center, gender, and SES. Found a reciprocal relationship between parallel-aware and other social-play states…

This study described and compared the reading of sixth and eighth grade students both in and out of school using a unique data set collected with the Experience Sampling Method (ESM). On average, students read forty minutes a day out of class and seventeen minutes a day in class indicating that reading is a common leisure practice for…

Interviews were conducted with 35 grass roots activists from middle-sized U.S. cities and small towns to learn about their perspectives and activities. No effort was made to obtain a representative sample of activists. The five main approaches to social change encountered were represented by members of the ideological and political left, by…

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION OF NEGRO AND WHITE WORKERS IN METROPOLITAN AREAS WAS COMPARED BY USING DATA COLLECTED IN THE MARCH 1966 "CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY." POVERTY TRACTS IN THE LARGE METROPOLITAN AREAS WERE IDENTIFIED, AND EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONS LIVING THERE WERE COMPARED WITH THOSE OF CITY DWELLERS OUTSIDE THE POVERTY TRACTS.…

A picture inventory symbolically portraying two alternative value systems in a preschool setting was administered to 172 mothers and 66 female teachers of preschool children. Differences were found between the behavioral expectations of teachers and mothers who were either non-Anglo, working class, or both, but not between teachers and Anglo…

Radio recordings were made of the conversations of 30 girls just under four years of age at school with their teachers and at home with their mothers. Frequency and type of question asked by the children and frequency and type of answer given by the adults were analyzed, revealing home/school and social class differences in all measures. (MP)

Compares the language usage of a working-class couple and a small-town mayor. Uses a Marxian rhetorical perspective to connect language styles and class distinctions. Considers the educational implications of this connection. (RL)

Data on the nature and distribution of school knowledge were gathered in an investigation of curriculum, pedagogy, and pupil evaluation practices in five elementary schools differentiated by social class. The study reveals that, even where there is a fairly "standardized" curriculum, social stratification of knowledge is possible. (Author/MLF)