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Research has identified mentoring as a critical factor in the entry and survival of women and minorities in the social, natural, and physical sciences where they are underrepresented. Much research and many change-oriented programs in higher education have assumed that the presence of mentors is sufficient to ensure equitable access to scientific careers for women and minorities. Few research studies have explored in depth the processes involved in mentoring relationships for women and men, the effectiveness of these relationships from the perspective of proteges, the relationship of mentoring experiences to career productivity, or the links between one's experience as a protege and later mentoring activities as a senior scholar. This study addresses these issues using questionnaire data gathered from a nationally representative sample (N=400) of female and male scholars in three disciplines--sociology, chemistry and biochemistry, and physics and astronomy. Overall, analyses of the data implies that women and men appear to do equally well in terms of productivity over the career cycle. Although women have slightly less effective relationships with mentors, collaborate with them, and work less with eminent mentors in some disciplines, these factors do not appear to handicap them in long-term productivity. However, several cautions are raised about the findings, which are suggested as issues that require further study. (Contains 37 references and 7 tables of statistical data.) (DB)

Using qualitative methods (longitudinal observations and intensive interviews with teachers), this study examined in elementary classrooms the socialization over time of one race-gender group: white girls. Analysis focused on four domains of classroom social life that contribute to race-gender differentiated socialization: teachers' perceptions about white girls, teachers' behavior toward these children, children's behavior toward their teachers, and children's experience in peer interactions. It was found that, for the most part, white girls' socialization in classrooms encourages them to assume social roles traditionally played by white women rather than to seek alternatives. In conclusion, it is suggested that micro-stratification patterns within classrooms mirror stratification patterns of the larger society. (Author/MP)

Qualitative methods were used to analyze the social environments--or webs of interaction--in reading groups of varying ability levels. Ethnographic observations were conducted for 15 to 30 hours in each of eight first and second grade classrooms with ability-divided reading groups. A code scheme was developed to categorize the quantity and quality of time devoted to each reading-ability group; the discipline patterns in each group; the patterns of praise, criticism, and stated expectations for performance in each group; and personal relationships among children and teachers. The findings supported the notion that children in top reading groups, in comparison to children in lower ranking ones, had more opportunities (1) to learn academic skills, (2) to demonstrate personal competence, (3) to participate in autonomous, self-directed learning, and (4) to develop expectations for future academic success. The findings also suggested that students in top groups enjoyed more trust in their interactions with teachers, engaged in more equal status relationships with teachers, and had more opportunities to form close personal relationships with teachers. Collectively, the results indicate that internal social processes themselves contribute to subsequent differential opportunities for children placed in different ability-graded reading groups. (RL)

Ethnographic observations and teacher interviews were conducted in desegregated first grade classrooms to examine teachers' attitudes toward black female students, black females' orientations toward teachers, and black females' peer expectations. The research indicated that: (1) teachers considered black girls to have average or slightly below average academic skills; (2) in assessing academic work, teachers mentioned social skills more often for black girls than for white girls or boys of either race; (9) teachers encouraged black girls to pursue social contacts rather than to work for high academic achievement; (4) black girls received more teacher feedback for classroom behavior than for academic work; (5) teachers chatted with black girls less often than with other children; (6) black girls were more likely to enforce teachers' rules than white girls or boys of either race: (7) black females were less likely to approach the teacher than white females, but were more likely to do so than black males; (8) black girls had the most extensive peer ties of all students; and (9) black females used physical violence and verbal aggressiveness less frequently than males but more often than white females. It is suggested that black girls' socialization in classrooms is consistent with normative roles for black women in contemporary society. (Author/MJL)

This longitudinal study investigated the frequency and type of cross-sex peer interactions which occurred in six first grade classrooms. The effects of task structures (or patterns of instructional organization), and the impact of the racial composition of the classrooms on the frequency and type of cross-sex interactions were also explored. Ethnographic observations were completed in 30 to 90 minute sessions over a 5 or 6 month period in each classroom. Results revealed the following: (1) a child's gender had a systematic effect on his or her peer relationships, with girls playing supportive roles and having less social power in their interchanges with boys; (2) classroom organizational patterns, while influencing the frequency of cross-sex interactions, had little effect on the quality of these interactions; and (3) majority-black classrooms displayed more egalitarian interchanges between male and female students. In general, these results provide support for the study's hypotheses that within classrooms, cross-sex peer interactions would mirror traditional sex role relationships among males and females, and that female students would have less social power than males in peer interchanges. Implications of the study's results for the design of effective programs to achieve sex and race equality are discussed. (Author/MP)

Students' perceptions of actual and idealized qualities of practicing physicians were studied longitudinally at three points in students' medical education. Questionnaire data were collected to assess stability and change in students' images of qualities of "most" physicians and of "effective" physicians. Male and female students' images of practitioners were also compared. The analysis focused on three successive student cohorts of a small, combined bachelor's degree and medical school program. A response rate ranging from 90 to 98 percent was obtained for the three time periods: at the end of the first 2 years of study, after year 4, and after year 6. The data were assessed using profile analyses. The findings suggest that students' images of qualities of "most" and "effective" physicians are transformed over time. At all time periods, most students see physicians as caring, but this conception declines slightly over time. While students initially see doctors as quite status conscious, at the second data collection this perception of physicians' status consciousness declines, and then increases as students approach graduation. This same pattern is found for another perception: physicians' concern with social issues. However, at all time periods, most students do not see physicians as strongly concerned with social issues. (Author/SW)

Six desegregated first grade classrooms in predominantly white working-class communities near a large Midwestern city were observed in order to explore ways in which black males' school experiences differ from those of other students. Twenty percent of the 139 students in the classrooms were black males. Of the six teachers, all of whom were female, three were white and three were black, with the black teachers in charge of the classes with heavier black enrollment. The observations concentrated on: (1) teacher's perceptions of these students; (2) interactions between teachers and black males; and (3) black males' experiences in peer networks. Major findings include the following: the teachers observations were that the black males had poor academic skills on the whole, were a potential behavior problem, and exhibited estrangement and posed a vague threat. Black male student and teacher interactions were more limited than for other students, black males resisting out of class chats with teachers nearly two to four times as often as other students. Black males were also less attentive to the teachers, which led to teachers' feeling that the students were unready for the work. Black males' peer interactions were, in comparison to other students, more central to their schooling experience. They were more insular; gaining status among peers was more important; and group unity was greater and caused tension with the teachers. (CG)