WHO IS PLACED INTO SPECIAL EDUCATION?

We use nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) to identify variables measured in the fall of 1998 (when the sample's students were in kindergarten) that predict special education placement by the spring of 2004 (when those not retained were finishing fifth grade). Placement's strongest kindergarten predictor is a student's own level of academic achievement. Also important is the student's frequency of classroom task engagement.

The role of social and built environments in predicting self-rated stress: A multilevel analysis in Philadelphia.

Most studies of the predictors of stress focus on individual characteristics. Linking multiple contextual data sources to an individual-level health survey, we explore the associations of both built and social environment determinants with self-rated stress. At the individual level few social factors were significant predictors, although neighborhood trust and food insecurity have independent effects on stress.

A Propensity Score Matching Analysis of the Effects of Special Education Services.

We sought to quantify the effectiveness of special education services as naturally delivered in U.S. schools.

Meeting the dietary reference intakes for fiber: sociodemographic characteristics of preschoolers with high fiber intakes.

To better understand the public health impact of the National Academy of Sciences' Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for fiber in preschoolers, I analyzed data from the United States Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intake in Individuals for 5437 preschoolers and examined sociodemographic predictors of meeting the DRIs. Overall, only 12% of the children met the DRIs. Older children (age 4 and 5 years) were less likely than younger children, girls were less likely than boys, and children from medium-income families (those earning 186% to 350% of the poverty guidelines, with poverty set at 100%) were least likely to meet the DRIs.