| Gary Gang Huang
NCES
Rural education
FINAL REPORT:
Study 1: Using Child Care Services: Families with Disabled Children in Nonmetropolitan Areas.
Little information is available about how rural families with disabled young children use child care services. This study, drawing data from the 1991 National Household Education Survey, examined the child care arrangement by these families. The total sample, representative to the national population of households with children aged 3 to 5, consists of 7,655 households, including 380 cases with disabled children. Our analysis found: (1) the prevalence of early childhood disabilities is higher among families in nonmetropolitan areas than it is in metro areas; (2) nonmetro families fare less well socioeconomically relative to metro families; (3) rural residence, however, does not directly relate to disadvantage of arranging child care (including center-based care, relative-proved care, nonrelativeprovided care, and parents' own care); (4) holding other factors equal, nonmetro families are more likely to receive nonrelative-provided care; and (5) two strong interaction effects: the effect between the rural locale and poverty limits the use of center-based care and increases parents' own care; whereas the effect between the rural residence and single mother household increases the use of center-based care and reduces parents' own care.
Study 2: Self-Reported Biliteracy and Self-Esteem: A Study of Mexican American 8th Graders.
The concept of proficient bilingualism or biliteracy (proficiency in reading and writing in both Spanish and English) has been used in research on linguistic and academic processes among Mexican American children, but rarely has it been used to examine noncognitive outcomes in this population. Biliteracy - a quality that strengthens cultural identity and facilitates adaptation to the mainstream society - hypothetically contributes to the growth of self-esteem among Mexican Americans. Biliteracy is arguably more relevant to the development of self-concept among Mexican American children than Spanish proficiency or a general notion of bilingualism. Drawing on data from the 1988 National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS 88), this article compares self-deprecation, self-confidence, and fatalistic belief among Mexican American 8th graders who reported themselves as biliterate, English monoliterate, Spanish monoliterate, or oral bilingual. Controlling for the effects of sociodemographic background and school experience, ordinary least-square regression analysis generated supportive results. Mexican American children who identified themselves as biliterate had higher self-confidence than other groups (English or Spanish monoliterates and oral bilinguals). Logistic regression analysis found a strong interaction effect between self-identity and birthplace (United States or foreign) and parents' education. Among students born in the United States, parents' education was negatively related to biliterate identity. In contrast, parents' education was positively associated with biliterate identity among those who were foreign-born.
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