A survey of 1,085 seventh and eleventh graders assessed the impact of parents, peers, siblings, advertising, and sponsorship as role models influencing attitudes toward smoking and smoking behavior. Results suggest that intervention programs need to address nicotine addiction and be in place before grade seven. (JOW)

A year-long qualitative study examined seven formerly-addicted alcoholic youth committed to recovery to determine how addicted youth become and remain sober. Bending to social stress, including racism and ethnic prejudice, three participants relapsed. However, personal commitment augmented by familial, community, spiritual, and educational support…

Analyses of local labor market data and national longitudinal survey data on adolescents suggest strong effects of low-wage service-sector concentration and unemployment on the likelihood of both fighting and drug use among adolescents. Mediating processes included the patterning of family income, family intactness, and adolescent attachment to…

Reexamines the origins of America's community colleges to include the leadership contributions of local residents, members of civic associations, and elected school trustees. These new histories will emphasize the influence of broad national forces such as industrialization and egalitarianism in stimulating student demand and public support for…

The purpose of this paper is to examine how mathematically talented children in a disadvantaged rural community experience mathematics, both as a discipline and as a school subject. The aim is to find answers to questions such as: "What do these children think mathematics is?" "What value do they attach to the study of…

To examine how neighborhood characteristics influence academic achievement, data were drawn from a community survey of low-income neighborhoods and linked with data on performance on standardized testing for third-grade students attending elementary schools in those communities. Results of multilevel logistic regressions indicated that probability…

This digest examines the pressures that have led to school consolidation, what consolidation has achieved, the role of community in education, and the ways that school consolidation undermines that role. Belief in the principle of economies of scale and the pursuit of national educational goals related to economic competitiveness have led school…

This report responds to questions posed by school and community leaders throughout the United States about public school districts that have made competence in the arts, as well as literacy, one of the fundamental goals of education for students. Ninety-one school districts are featured in this report, but hundreds more were identified by state…

A discussion of regional community development through self-help programs in rural developing areas presents the need for a diversified system of institutions to ensure a developmental process based on qualitative rather than quantitative criteria. Available from: Editorial and Business Offices, Piazza Cavalieri di Malta, 2, 00153 Rome, Italy. (EA)

A secondary analysis of data collected by Thomas Patterson during the 1976 presidential campaign was made to test three hypotheses: (1) respondents in a media-rich environment will show higher levels of political information holding than respondents in a media-poor environment, (2) differences in information holding levels between a media-rich…

A content analysis was conducted of 203 editorials from the "Daily Oklahoman" from the first six months of the 1980 presidential campaign. The analysis was based on two assumptions: (1) the tone of the 1980 presidential campaign essentially was set after only six months of official campaigning, and (2) the "Daily Oklahoman"…

A more realistic understanding of reading problems might result from study of how disadvantaged people cope with problems presented by literate activity. (JH)

Presented in this paper is a framework to examine environmental influences on learning. The framework identifies factors from several environments--the home, the community, and the larger sociocultural context--and links them with school policy and operations. Methodological considerations important to further investigation of these environmental…

This report presents data concerned with: (1) the feasibility of a home-based instructional program for disadvantaged 4 and 5 year old children in Israel, administered by non-professional aides, and (2) the effectiveness of such a program as reflected in (a) the academic and intellectual gains of children involved, and (b) the spill-over effects…

A comparative study of two types of media, a newspaper and a museum, reveals substantive differences in the ways each of these communications organizations alters the information which it presents to the public. Interviews conducted with spokespeople from the Washington Post and the Smithsonian Institution focused on three major theories of…