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The superior control of cognitive processing demonstrated by children in the early stages of additive bilingualism may enhance symbolic reasoning abilities. The developmental interdependence of LI and L2 may allow additive‐bilingual children to maintain normal native‐language development. This study examined the development of a Grade 2 additive‐bilingual (Spanish‐immersion) program class as compared to a monolingual classroom on measures of nonverbal problem‐solving and native‐language development. Theprogramwas the independent variable in two comparisons. In the first comparison, nonverbal problem‐solving was the dependent variable, as measured by Raven's (1977) Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM). As hypoth‐esized, a repeated measures ANCOVA of the results of fall and spring administrations of the CPM indicated significant differences in favor of the Spanish‐immersion group, F(1, 35)=5.85, p=.O2. In the second comparison, native‐language development was the dependent variable as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test‐R (PPVT‐R). A parametric independent

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Causal attribution research has not systematically varied the levels or units analyzed. Therefore, generalizations are difficult to apply to diverse educational conditions and to members of an aggregated group like the Asian Americans. The present study varied level of analysis by contrasting the causal attributions between two outcomes (success and failure) and between two academic content areas (language arts/social studies and mathematics/science). Unit of analysis varied according to the Asian ethnicity of American students in six distinct groups: Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and other Southeast Asians. Subjects were 2,511 Asian Americans in grades 4 through 11 who took the Survey of Achievement Responsibility, an attribution scale. A 2 (Success or Failure Outcome) x 2 (Language Arts/Social Studies or Math/Science Content Area) x 6 (Ethnic Group) x 2 (Lunch Subsidy or No Subsidy) analysis of variance with repeated measures revealed that effort more than ability was the attributional choice in explaining academic performance. Content area induced varying attributions, such as the fact that language arts/social studies more than math/science engendered effortful work. The six Asian American groups had distinctive attributional profiles. Complex data patterns demonstrate the need for less generalized motivational descriptions of "Asian Americans" in the aggregate and more specific attention to the unique patterns of each ethnic group.

The self-concept of Japanese-American and White American fourth- through sixth-grade children was measured using a modification of the Piers-Harris Children's Self Concept Scale. This study centered upon comparisons between the two ethnic groups, with special interest in the physical self-concept. Nine items dealing with the physical self-concept that were thought to be especially sensitive to Japanese-American populations were used with the original Piers-Harris Children's Self Concept Scale. Significant results between the two groups were found only on the three physical self-concept scores. The Japanese-American children scored significantly lower than the White American children on all three physical scores. No significant differences were demonstrated on any of the other subscales or the composite score.

Although special education classifications have been frequently divided into "subjective" and "objective" categories of disability, the dominant paradigm sees the two types of classifications as occupying opposite ends of a continuum that ranges from mild learning impairment to severe physical and mental disability. The appropriateness of the objective disability paradigm for mild learning problems was tested by correlating the prevalence of subjective and objective disability with 13 social demographic variables using the 50 states and Washington, DC as cases. Multiple regression analyses using aggregates of social variables as predictors were conducted for classifications that were significantly related to social variables. None of the objective classifications could be related to social structure, but two subjective classifications, educable mental retardation and learning disabilities, were strongly and inversely associated with socioeconomic indicators. These classifications appear to be qualitatively distinct from objective disability classifications. Policy should be changed to direct attention away from presumed deficits of individuals and toward identification and treatment of the full range of factors that may cause mild learning problems.A shift is taking place in the way special education is viewed. Previously, the development of educational programs for the handicapped was viewed This study was based on a thesis written by the first author, under the supervision of the second author, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Education at the University of Washington.

Abstract.A study was conducted to explore the developmental differences in utilizing a superordinate context during learning and at retention at two grade levels. Ss were 98 students from third and fifth grade classes divided approximately evenly by sex. A 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design was used: factor 1 was superordinate vs coordinate topic sentence at learning; factor 2 was presence or absence of a superordinate retrieval cue; factor 3 was grade level. Ss were tested on both recognition and recall. Contrary to previous findings, results showed that the condition most conducive to learning was superordinate sentence present at learning, absent at recall. Reasons for the disparity in findings with previous research are discussed. Ausubel (1963) has theorized that meaningful verbal learning will occur only when the ideas to be learned can be related to existing cognitive structure. One of Ausubel's recommendations for structuring learning materials is to follow a strategy of "progressive differentiation"; that is, to first present general, more abstract information and then to elaborate that information with more concrete, specific information. The notion is that the specific concrete material can be more meaningfully learned since it can be related to the more abstract material already learned.Such a principle makes the prediction that meaningful verbal instruction will be most efficient when it proceeds from the general to the specific, from the superordinate to the subordinate. Within the area of learning by reading, this would imply that paragraphs should be constructed by stating the superordinate ideas in the first sentence (the "topic" sentence) followed by the specific subordinate ideas. Just this hypothesis' has been tested by Gagne (1969) and Gagne and Weigand (1970) in two interesting experiments.