Interviews with 536 families receiving early intervention services for their young children with disabilities identified significant barriers to service utilization for American Indian families, low-income families without medical assistance, and families with children under 18 months of age. Additional factors influencing the service utilization…

This article argues that the academic tradition of college faculty resembles a religion that, like many others, does not question its faith. The restructuring of many campus institutions is forcing higher education to reexamine how it does business, and like other religions being forced to adapt to change, the academy is resisting. (MSE)

Obstacles to reform at the National Autonomous University of Mexico are examined, including established power relations, bureaucracy, culturally based patterns, and resistance to external influence. The problems are viewed in the context of the university's history through the 20th century. Redefinition of the relationship between the university…

Examines the role of second-language issues as a barrier to adequate science education for underrepresented groups in science and engineering. Also explores how current educational reform initiatives provide an opportunity for widespread change in how English-language learners (ELL) learn science. Examines several model projects that attempt to…

Using Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital, which explains how social class influences transmission of educational inequality, this article questions the extent to which various forms of capital also apply to ethnic minorities. Discusses a study of Dutch, Surinamese, Turkish, and Moroccan students, which found that there was no mediating effect…

This article presents childhood disability prevalence trends and their interaction with economic status. Estimates derived from National Health Interview Survey data (1983-96) indicate a significant increase in childhood disability rates. Analysis indicates a greater risk in single-parent households and a growing relationship between poverty and…

Examined opinions of diverse parents, teachers, and academics regarding Japanese society, its infant/toddler care system, labor force, and family. Found evidence of a difficult transition in the culture of child rearing, including increased caregiver responsibility for child rearing and increased anxiety about parenting among young mothers.…

Addresses issues related to biliteracy development in children. Presents two case studies that highlight how children use the social processes and cultural resources at hand to develop their literate competencies in Spanish and English. Discusses special challenges in relation to the formation of biliteracy in classrooms. (Author)

In this article, we draw from research on cognitive development, sociocultural learning, and organizational development to examine the key factors in teachers' professional learning. Our review of this literature suggests that looking at teachers' prior knowledge, the nature of their interactions, the representations they produce and use, and the…

This article uses ethnographic research to examine how women and men in rural El Salvador used literacy classes to accomplish their own social purposes. Employing a sociocultural, feminist framework, the author argues that men and women valued classes as an opportunity for social interaction. Moreover, the classes were a gendered social space that…

In the current research climate favoring rigorous experimental studies of instructional scripts using randomly chosen treatment and control groups, education and literacy researchers and policy makers will do well to take stock of their current research base and assess critical issues in this new context. This review of research on classroom…

Latinos in the United States have been disproportionately affected by the intersecting epidemics of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. Using a community-based participatory research approach to problem identification, the objective of this study is to explore sociocultural determinants of HIV/AIDS risk and service use among immigrant Latino…

The purpose of the study is to explore the patterns of personal and academic stressors reported by Korean college students. The survey items included types of stress factors in academic and personal stressors and demographic variables (i.e., gender and school year). The participants were asked to provide the academic and personal stressors as the…

The challenges facing America's youth are multifaceted and include violence, drug abuse, gangs, school dropouts, suicide, delinquency, and despair. As President Bush made addressing these issues an agenda item during his second term, putting the youth in national spotlight, it is tempting to develop more programs designed to fix kids by providing…

Little research has investigated sociocultural factors in the development of body dissatisfaction in preadolescent girls. This study examined the combined influence of media and peer factors. The participants were 100 girls aged nine to 12 years. The girls completed questionnaire measures of media exposure (television and magazines), peer…