American Indian teenagers and preteens were tutored by 24 home economics student teachers. Compared with a control group of 24, student teachers' attitudes were significantly more positive toward the youths' abilities, appearance, conduct and knowledge after the tutoring program. (SK)

Reviews functions of middle schools and guidelines for evaluating home economics programs from the National Study of School Evaluation. Describes New York and Utah programs that meet the guidelines' recommendations for an integrated approach, avoidance of sex bias, and emphasis on decision making for life, work, and the environment. (SK)

Assistance with career goals and employment and positive role models were outcomes identified in interviews with 10 male home economics educators whose mentors were female. Half believed their mentors' expectations were the same for them as for other proteges. They experienced few problems typical of cross-gender mentoring. (SK)

Responses from 77 of 125 home economics teachers and 105 of 129 agriculture teachers showed students used writing most often for notetaking and copying information, less for analytic or creative thinking. Teachers did not view writing as a whole process and rarely evaluated style and content; there was little use of self-evaluation, peer review,…

Analysis of both cross-sectional and longitudinal data from five studies on the academic achievement and cognitive abilities of the top 10% and the most average 10% of students in grades 1, 5, and 11 found high-ability Asian students outperformed high-ability U.S. students in mathematics but not in reading. (DB)

This literature review found little information on the marital status of parents of gifted children and widespread perceptions that most gifted children live in intact, middle to upper-middle class families. The need for data on possible under-nomination of children of divorce in programs for the gifted and on the validity of current…

Analysis of scholastic test information and scores on the Defining Issues Test (DIT) of moral judgment for 122 eighth graders found a wide variation in DIT scores among high cognitive ability subjects, but no high scores among low ability subjects, suggesting that high cognitive ability is necessary but not sufficient for high moral judgment. (DB)

Interviews with 148 African-American fifth- and sixth-grade students (in either gifted, above average, or average academic programs) found that gifted students, regardless of gender, were most supportive of the U.S. achievement ideology, and average students were least supportive. Discrepancies between beliefs about hard work and success and…

Comparison of field-dependent/independent cognitive style of 150 second and third graders (either selected for gifted services, nominated but not selected, or not nominated) found that a field-independent (analytical) cognitive style enhanced the prospect of being selected for gifted services. (Author/DB)

This interview with Joseph Bates, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University (Pennsylvania), recounts his development as a highly gifted child who entered Johns Hopkins University (Maryland) after the seventh grade. Doctor Bates describes his family background, his reaction to radical acceleration, his attitudes toward heterogeneous…

A meta-analysis of 268 studies suggested a deficit in subjects with mental retardation (compared to controls without mental retardation) across 12 categories of learning tasks, a relative deficit which remained, after training, across 7 categories of strategies. When strategy training was evaluated, the effect size was 0.701, which compares…

Special education teachers (n=158) of students with severe disabilities indicated that they believed that friendships between their students and nondisabled peers are possible and beneficial to both and that such friendships are more likely when students are partially mainstreamed. However, teachers felt that functional skills are better developed…

Two studies evaluated the use of either in vivo training or simulation prior to in vivo, as methods for training 8 students (ages 10-19) with moderate disabilities to cross streets and to use public pay telephones. Results suggested that prior simulation training did not appear to either facilitate or inhibit later in vivo instruction. (DB)

Observers (n=94) of videotapes of a young woman with mental retardation engaging in either an age-appropriate leisure activity or an activity designed for much younger persons found that observers associated age-appropriate activities with higher ratings of estimated IQ and reading level. Findings support the development of age-appropriate and…

This second follow-up study of seven young adults with mental retardation one year after movement from an institution to a community setting found steady gains in social, communication, and community living skills but relatively few gains in motor and personal living skills. These findings contrasted with the sweeping gains in adaptive skills…