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In this article, issues pertaining to racial-ethnic differences in intelligence are addressed with regard to groupdiscrepancy misconceptions, profiles of abilities, historical context, factors associated with racial-ethnic differences, educational implications, and alternative methods of assessment. It appears that although numerous studies have been conducted to address this area, the focus on group differences has provided inconclusive data given that within-group differences exceed between-group differences. Variables associated with intelligence include measures of genetic influences, socioeconomic status, home intellectual climate, and educational attainment. Educational implications of racial-ethnic differences are noted, including concerns regarding cultural bias and percentages of minority group members in specialservices categories. The development of new alternative methods of assessment and theory-driven measures is supported.~ttu e subject of racial-ethnic differences in intellecal performance as measured by standardized inlligence tests has been fraught with debate from the seminal years of intelligence testing during the 1920s up to the present. In this article, we examine some of the issues that are germane to an understanding of racialethnic differences. Our primary focus is on implications for educational theory and practice in the United States, and we present brief discussions of (a) misconceptions about racial-ethnic group differences in intelligence, (b) racial-ethnic profiles of abilities, (c) the historical context of racial-ethnic differences in intelligence, (d) factors associated with racial-ethnic differences, (e) educational implications of racial-ethnic differences, and (f) alternative methods of intelligence assessment. In this article, intelligence is operationally defined by scores on individually administered standardized intelligence tests. Although recognizing the limitations of this definition, our discussion focuses primarily on the testing literature.gratuitous assumption that all human populations are essentially identical or equal in whatever trait or ability the

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This article is an introduction to the special issue of the Hispanic Journal of the Behavioral Sciences on Latino demographic trends and educational concerns. It provides a broad overview of Latino population trends in light of 1990 Census and other recent data. One focus in this article will be on the phenomenal increase of Latinos. Population countsfrom the 1990 Census indicate that the Latino population grew many times faster in the 1980s than did the total population. An analysis of socioeconomic characteristics such as educational attainment, income, and language status with respect to educational trends is also presented here. The high rate of immigration in the 1980s has resulted in a rapid increase in the non-English language background (NELB) and limited-English proficient (LEP) populations. We discuss three issues that have marked impacts on Latino access to college: school segregation, growth of youth population, and low socioeconomic status. A major conclusion is that Latino education will continue to stagnate inface of the dramatic growth of the Latino population, if the status quo goes unchallenged.