White Pupils Research Articles

Some effects of a special Indian culture oriented program on attitudes of White and Indian elementary school pupils.

Some effects of a special Indian culture oriented program on attitudes of White and Indian elementary school pupils.

Epidemiology of an Outbreak of Head Lice in Georgia

An outbreak of head lice infestation (pediculosis) occurred in elementary school children in Barrow County, Georgia, in January 1974. An investigation was initiated to define the magnitude of the outbreak, determine factors that contribute to transmission, and disseminate information on control. All elementary school children in the county were examined for head lice and answered a questionnaire. Fifty-three (3%) of 1,783 white pupils were infested, but none of the 500 black pupils was infested. Distribution of infestation in the white pupils was influenced by grade, bed-sharing, socioeconomic status, infestation of other family members, crowding in the home, and family size; distribution was not influenced by hair length or the sex of the pupil. Recommendations for control based on the results of the investigation included procedures for identifying and processing cases, distributing free pediculicides, continuing surveillance, educating school personnel and parents on how to control the parasite.

Teaching nuns' perceptions of White and Black Pupils as a function of authoritarianism and other factors

A sample of 283 teching nuns described the White Pupil, the Black Pupil, and the Ideal Pupil on an adjective description form. A Prejudice score was computed by subtracting the Ideal minus Black differences summed across 52 items from the Ideal minus White differences. Analyses based on 269 subjects revealed that neither age nor amount of prior contact with minorities predicted level of prejiduce. However, high and low-F-scale scorers differed significantly on the Prejudice score and on selected pupil perception factors. Implications in regard to training programs on racial attitudes were discussed.

Open School vs. Traditional School: Self-Identification among Native American and White Adolescents

Possession of a negative self-concept is often seen as a factor in the poor academic achievement of Indian youth (for a summary, see U.S. Senate, 1969). Recent evidence suggests that Indians and other non-white youth do not necessarily see themselves as inferior persons in the school setting, however. The National Study of American Indian Education (Fuchs and Havighurst, 1973), for example, reported that a nation-wide sample of Indian youth viewed themselves as fairly competent persons in their own social world and also when compared to non-Indian youth of similar socioeconomic status. Likewise, an increasing number of studies indicate that black pupils may have a level of self-esteem not significantly different from, or even higher than that of white pupils (cf. Rosenberg and Simmons, 1972; Zirkel and Moses, 1971). In spite of their generally positive stance, Fuchs and Havighurst emphasize, however, that the social world in which the Indian youth feels competent is one of Indianness and poverty. Contact with the expectations of teachers and others in an urban-industrial and/or middle-class environment would likely lead to some self-doubt. Nonetheless, they argue that Indian youth do not generally feel depressed, inferior, and powerless. Fuchs and Havighurst, in fact, have taken strong issue with much of the traditional literature on Indian education and self-esteem because the majority of these studies rely upon observations by non-Indians or upon data secured from personality tests which, for a variety of reasons-urban and/or white middle-class bias, non-representative forced choice responses, required level of reading ability and English language skills, and the like-may be inappropriate for measuring Indian perceptions of Indian life (see also Dreyer, 1970a, 1970b; Dreyer and Havighurst, 1970; Havighurst, 1970). Fuchs and Havighurst are especially critical of the influential Bryde (1970) study of Sioux adolescents using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory which appeared to show that Sioux youth suffered from severe personality and emotional problems. The MMPI, they point out, is designed for diagnosing psychotic adults and is difficult for poor readers. Their review of Bryde's data also suggested that a large percentage of the scores were technically invalid (see Dreyer and Havighurst, 1970). It appears, therefore, that a serious reevaluation of the literature concerning the levels of self-esteem which Indian youth as*This study was funded as part of a larger study by the Governor's Planning -Committee on Criminal Administration, Cheyenne, Wyoming (Grant N. 72A-22-189). The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the position, policy or endorsement of the Governor's Planning Committee. The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Rolland Raboin and Betty Wells in gathering of data, and the comments of Norman Denzin, Morris Forslund, James Hood, and Michael Massarotti on an earlier draft of this paper.

Racial Implications for the Design of Instructional Materials

The purpose of the research was to investigate the influence that selected ethnic variables of an information source have on selected black and white pupils of the sixth grade. The research was focused on the auditory and visual channels of the information source (tape-slide presentations) and their effects on the intended audience. Results indicated that black and white voices are accepted by both white and black pupils. However, white pupils rated visuals representing only black people lower than visuals representing only white people.

THE EFFECT OF RACE OF EXAMINER ON THE MENTAL TEST SCORES OF WHITE AND BLACK PUPILS1

An entire elementary school system with 60% white and 40% black pupils was given several abiity tests group‐administered by 12 white and eight black examiners (Es). The tests measured verbal and nonverbal IQ, perceptual‐motor cognitive development, “speed and persistence” under neutral and motivating instructions, listening‐attention, and short‐term rote memory for numbers. With the exception of the “speed and persistence” test, on which white Es yielded significantly and consistently higher mean scores than black Es for both white and black pupils across grades one to six, the results for the various cognitive ability tests showed that the race of the E did not produce large or consistent effects in the testing of white and black pupils.

Effects of a Token Reinforcement System on the Reading Behavior of Black Migrant Primary School Pupils

A review of previous investigations produced the speculation that the variables of token reception and ethnic origin were not mutually exclusive. This study, focusing on a black migrant-family school population, tested the effects of a token reinforcement system on reading behavior. Subjects were seventy black and twenty-four white primary school pupils (token N = 55 and no token N =39). The receipt of tokens was contingent upon a S emitting any response designated by the teacher as reading behavior. When a summer school reading program was augmented by a token reinforcement system positive effects accrued. A token reinforcement system had varying effects on the learnings of black and white primary school pupils. No relationship was established between the number of tokens received per pupil and reading skills gains.

The self-image of black and white pupils in an integrated school.

The self-image of black and white pupils in an integrated school.

Interaction of Level I and Level II abilities with race and socioeconomic status.

Two levels of mental abilities were hypothesized to interact with sooioeconomic status and/or race such that (a) socioeconomic-status differences were greater for Level II than for Level I abilities and (6) the correlation between Levels I and II and the regression of Level I upon Level II were greater in upper- than in lower-socioeconomicstatus populations. These hypotheses were borne out by the present data, consisting of Level I measures (digit-span memory) and Level II measures (Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Tests, verbal and nonverbal) obtained on all white and black pupils in Grades 4-6 in one school district. The largest effects were attributable to differences between the white population and the low-socioeconomic-statusblack group. The present study tests Jensen's Level ILevel II theory of mental abilities in a total school population. The theory has been tested heretofore only with specially selected samples from the population. The theory and related evidence have been presented in detail elsewhere (Jensen, 1968, 1969, pp. 109-117, 1970a, 1970b, 1973, pp. 193-293; Jensen & Rohwer, 1968). Briefly, the theory involves two types of mental abilities, Level I and Level II, and their interaction with population (socioeconomic status and/or race) differences. Level I ability consists of rote learning and primary memory; it is the capacity to register and retrieve information with fidelity and is characterized essentially by a relative lack of transformation, conceptual coding, or other mental manipulation intervening between

Level I and Level II Abilities in Three Ethnic Groups

A large battery of various tests of intelligence, scholastic achievement, and short-term memory was administered to some 2,000 white, Negro and Mexican-American pupils in grades, 4,5, and 6 in a largely agricultural school district in the central valley of California. The three grades were used as separate replications of the study. Factor analysis (i.e., principal components) with oblique rotation yielded three main factors, identified as fluid ( g f) and crystalized ( g c) intelligence (both are aspects of Level II ability in Jensen's theory) and a memory factor (a Level I ability). Mean factor scores for the three ethnic groups differed significantly and showed significant interactions with ethnicity largely in accord with expectations from Jensen's two-level theory of abilities. The white and Negro groups differed markedly in g c and g f but not in memory; the white and Mexican groups differed markedly in g c, and much less in g f and memory. The Negro and Mexican groups differed the most in g f but only slightly in g c. There were also systematic ethnic group differences in the pattern of intercorrelations among factor scores, and in the correlations of the factor scores with an index of socioeconomic status. The results are discussed in relation to Jensen's two-level theory of mental abilities and Cattell's theory of fluid and crystalized intelligence.

Level I and Level II Abilities in Three Ethnic Groups

A large battery of various tests of intelligence, scholastic achievement, and short-term memory was administered to some 2,000 white, Negro and Mexican-American pupils in grades, 4,5, and 6 in a largely agricultural school district in the central valley of California. The three grades were used as separate replications of the study. Factor analysis (i.e., principal components) with oblique rotation yielded three main factors, identified as fluid (gf) and crystalized (gc) intelligence (both are aspects of Level II ability in Jensen's theory) and a memory factor (a Level I ability). Mean factor scores for the three ethnic groups differed significantly and showed significant interactions with ethnicity largely in accord with expectations from Jensen's two-level theory of abilities. The white and Negro groups differed markedly in gc and gf but not in memory; the white and Mexican groups differed markedly in gc, and much less in gf and memory. The Negro and Mexican groups differed the most in gf but only slightly in gc. There were also systematic ethnic group differences in the pattern of intercorrelations among factor scores, and in the correlations of the factor scores with an index of socioeconomic status. The results are discussed in relation to Jensen's two-level theory of mental abilities and Cattell's theory of fluid and crystalized intelligence.

A Follow-up Study of Low Socio-Economic Negro and White Children on Scholastic Achievement

During )the latter part of the 1967-68 school year a study was begun to examine differences in Negro and white kindergarten pupils of the lower socio-economic class. At that time Musgrovel and Musgrove and Lawson2 found no differences between the races in the DRAWA-MAN mental ages, or in the performance on the WPPSI Geometric Design Subtest. A difference was seen in favor of the white child in the achievement on the WPPSI Information subtest. Tulkin and Newbough3 report significant differences in the performance of fifth and sixth grade pupils on the Raven Progressive Matrices of comparable low socio-economic class in favor of the white population. Shuey4 reports a large number of studies from as early as 1913 in which researchers have attempted to control environmental factors in the Negro and white samples. Shuey summarizes

Thirty-Six Teachers: Their Characteristics and Outcomes for Black and White Pupils

Thirty-Six Teachers: Their Characteristics and Outcomes for Black and White Pupils

Thirty-Six Teachers: Their Characteristics and Outcomes for Black and White Pupils

Thirty-Six Teachers: Their Characteristics and Outcomes for Black and White Pupils

SELF-INITIATED VERBAL REINFORCEMENT AND POSITIVE SELF-CONCEPT

FELKER, DONALD W., and THOMAS, SUSAN BAHLKE. Self-initiated Verbal Reinforcement and Positive Self-Concept. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1971, 42, 1285-1287. 4 hypotheses were derived from the proposition that positive selfconcept is due partly to an ability to utilize self-initiated verbal reinforcement. 3 of the 4 hypotheses were supported in a sample of 66 boys and 65 girls, all of whom were white fourth-grade pupils.

The Influence of School Racial Context on Academic Achievement

Examination of effects on academic achievement of racial and SES components of social context. Sample: 900 black and white pupils in 36 inner-city sixth grade classrooms of various racial and SES mixtures. Cross-tabular analysis reveals higher achievement for children of both races in schools over 50 percent white. With individual and peer SES and prior achievement controlled through multiple regression, significant positive relationship is found for blacks between school percent white (current and cumulative) and achievement in Math but not Reading, and for whites between cumulative percent white and achievement in both Reading and Math. For whites, but not for blacks, a significant effect remains when more powerful controls on social class, available for a subsample, are entered into regression equations.

Four Key Issues in the 1969-70 School Integration Crisis

This fall the mass media hailed desegregation achievements in the South as a possible break through and suggested, in one case, that "all but a few pockets of segregation" were being wiped out. But the picture was still confused by con flicting court rulings, ambiguous official state ments, and statistics that conceal more than they reveal. As the BULLETIN went to press, the U.S. Supreme Court was working on three key decisions that would soon be made public. Hopefully, they will clarify such questions as: How much mixing of black and white pupils must a district do to qualify as "desegregated"? Must there be a racial balance in every school in a district? Or can predominantly black schools be permitted in all-black neighborhoods? Is massive "cross-busing" of both black and white pupils required to overcome de facto segregation that results from racial housing patterns? In this article Mr. Cooper offers both analysis and opinion on the current integration crisis. The NASSP does not necessarily share his views and welcomes contrary opinions for publication in later issues of the BULLETIN.

INTERACTION OF RACE AND TEST ON READING PERFORMANCE SCORES

This study examines the relationship between race and performance on two nationally standardized reading tests. The appropriate reading tests of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and Metropolitan Achievement Battery were administered to all fourth and sixth‐grade students in all elementary schools of an urban school district near New York City. Although white pupils earned higher scores than nonwhite pupils on both tests, the Metropolitan produced significantly greater differences between the races than the Iowa, at both grade levels. Factorial analysis of variance confirmed the statistical significance of these differences. Implications of Race X Test (suggesting S.E.S. X Test) interaction effects for program evaluation and instruction are briefly discussed.

Self-esteem and achievement expectations for white and Negro children.

Summary The relationship of self-esteem, achievement expectations, and discrepancies between achievement expectations and actual achievement for Negro and white pupils was investigated. Negro pupils had significantly greater discrepancies between their expectations for achievement and their actual achievement than white pupils. No relationship was found between ethnic background and discrepancies between expectations for achievement and actual achievement as a result of receiving increasing amounts of information concerning actual performance on an achievement task. An interrelationship was found between self-esteem, expectations for achievement and actual achievement discrepancies, and experience with the achievement task.

Some cognitive abilities of Eskimo, White, and Indian-Metis pupils aged 9 to 12 years.

Some cognitive abilities of Eskimo, White, and Indian-Metis pupils aged 9 to 12 years.