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Purpose: African American students perform disproportionately more poorly on standardized reading assessments than their majority peers. Poor reading performances may be related to test biases inherent in standardized reading instruments. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the appropriateness of the Gray Oral Reading Tests-Third Edition (GORT-3; Wiederholt & Bryant, 1992) for assessing the reading abilities of elementary-grade African American students. Method: Performances...

Social cognitive career theory suggests that males and females may not differ in career decision-making self-efficacy, but this statement requires extension of research to high school samples. The Career Decision-making Self-efficacy Scale–Short Form was administered to white South African high school students in Grades 9 to 11, of whom 368 were boys and 494 girls. No significant sex differences were found, suggesting that career interventions based on social cognitive career theory in high school need not be sex-specific in content.

Summary A review is presented of genetic strategies deployed in a 3‐yr project on drought tolerance in barley. Data were collected on genetic, physiological and agronomic traits in non‐irrigated and irrigated field trials in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. A wide range of barley germplasm (developed from African and European cultivars, adapted landraces and wild barleys) was tested, and positive traits were found in each gene pool. The contrasting environments of the three North African...

The high rate of HIV infection among youth in Africa has prompted both national and international attention. Education and prevention programmes are seen as the primary way of decreasing this rate. This paper reviews 11 published and evaluated school-based HIV/AIDS risk reduction programmes for youth in Africa. Most evaluations were quasi-experimental designs with pre–post test assessments. The programme objectives varied, with some targeting only knowledge, others attitudes, and others...

The magnitude of intestinal parasitic infection in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) /AIDS patients requires careful consideration in the developing world. However, there have been very few studies addressing this issue in Ethiopia. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection in HIV/AIDS patients at Jimma Hospital, Southwest Ethiopia, between January and February 2002. Stool specimens from HIV/AIDS patients and control groups were screened for...

��� This essay uses data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS) to provide information on the science achievement, access (course-taking), and attitudes of young African American women at various points in the science education system. In addition, it uses recent data from the NELS 2000 panel to examine these young women’s entry into science occupations in the early adult years. This essay also examines the extent to which their experiences differ from those of young white...

Few handedness studies have been conducted with African populations. Our preliminary survey of 5136 primary school students from 16 schools in Western Uganda (age range: 4 to 19 years old) found that 4.8% (n = 248) wrote left-handed. Of the 248 left-handed writers, there were more males (57.3%, n = 141) than females (42.7%, n = 105). The average frequency of left-handed writing in males was 5.6%, while the average for females was 4%. Of the 24 primary school teachers we interviewed, half (n...

Chronic prenatal ethanol exposure (CPEE) can injure the developing brain, and may lead to the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Previous studies have demonstrated that CPEE upregulates gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA(A)) receptor expression in the cerebral cortex, and decreases functional synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, in the adult guinea pig. This study tested the hypothesis that CPEE increases GABA(A) receptor expression in the hippocampus of guinea pig offspring that exhibit...

1Independent education consultant and a visiting fellow at The London Institute of Education Email: TomJupp@aol.com English for Life?-Teaching English as a second language in Sub-Saharan Africa with special reference to Uganda G. P. McGregor Fountain Publishers, PO Box 488, Kampala 2002 208 £14.95 (from www.africanbookscollective.com); £4 in Uganda 9970 02 289 X

Until 1994, medical education was not spared from apartheid ideology in South Africa. The past 10 years have seen major changes to medical education that aim to redress past injustices in the quest for equity.

Reforms in education and training are the order of the day in the spirit of maintaining relevance in this changing world. This paper looks at the development of vocational education and training (VET) in Kenya at three levels: the past, the present and the future directions. A brief historical discussion forms a basis for understanding the trends in Kenya's VET. A discussion of the current state of affairs highlights the main issues that are at play in Kenya's VET sector. From the issues...

In order to track changes in the relative abundance of C3 and C4 plants in savanna vegetation, C/N and δ13C values were measured on bulk organic material in an 8840 14C-year record from Lake Tilo, Ethiopia. Between 8840 and 2500 BP, high C/N ratios suggest that input to the lake was predominantly from terrestrial plants. The corresponding δ13C values thus provide a proxy for changes in catchment vegetation that are supported by pollen data. δ13C values in the early Holocene are relatively...

We use micro data to analyse the effect of human capital externality on earnings and private returns to education. The earnings equations are estimated using the OLS method for a sample of full-time workers. The results show that human capital has a positive effect on earnings, indicating that an increase in education benefits all workers. However, men benefit more from women's education than the women do from men's. The effects of human capital externality on private returns to schooling...

Summary Recent global malaria control initiatives highlight the potential role of drug retailers to improve access to early effective malaria treatment. We report on the findings and discuss the implications of an educational programme for rural drug retailers and communities in Kenya between 1998 and 2001 in a study population of 70 000. Impact was evaluated through annual household surveys of over‐the‐counter (OTC) drug use and simulated retail client surveys in an early (1999) and a late...

Research on student responses to Critical Pedagogy frequently highlights their opposition to transformational agendas. This paper focuses on student opposition at a predominantly ‘white’ South African university to materials that represent the apartheid past. Engaging with the imperatives of transformation characterizing post‐apartheid Higher Education in South Africa, and drawing on post‐structuralist identity theory, the paper analyses contradictions in student discourses on the apartheid...

Post traumatic stress disorder is the psychological reaction to various traumas. It is common among children living in war zones or conflict regions. This paper describes a field visit to train mental health professionals in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on how to help traumatised children.