When students earn good grades and high praise without having to make much effort, they may not learn the values and skills needed in order to be productive, caring citizens who contribute positively to the world. Some of the most important concepts for a successful life may not be taught to gifted children early in life because they are not…

Fear of failure starts early in life, and is common among high achievers. From their earliest years, many gifted children are successful in almost everything they try because they are under challenged, and paradoxically, become failure-avoidant. When parents always encourage their children to get the highest grade or to be "the best,"…

"Helping Foster Children in School" explores the challenges that foster children face in schools and offers positive and practical guidance tailored to help the parents, teachers and social workers supporting them. Children in care often perform poorly at school both in terms of their behavior and their academic performance, with many…

As teachers and parents, our job is to teach students to tackle challenges rather than avoid them. Award-winning teacher and best-selling author Debbie Silver addresses the relationship between student motivation and risking failure, calling failure a temporary "glitch" that provides valuable learning opportunities. She explains motivational…

In spite of soaring tuition costs, more and more students go to college every year. A bachelor's degree is now required for entry into a growing number of professions. And some parents begin planning for the expense of sending their kids to college when they're born. Almost everyone strives to go, but almost no one asks the fundamental question…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "Nation's Report Card": Reading Scores Flat for Fourth Graders; Eighth Graders Improve by One Point; (2)…

A strong relationship between perfectionism and underachievement has been shown in the literature. Five characteristics of perfectionist students and teachers contribute to underachievement: procrastination, fear of failure, the all-or-nothing mindset, paralyzed perfectionism, and workaholism. (JDD)

A theory is presented explaining some gifted students' tendency to underachieve after showing promise in younger years. It is argued that reductions from originally high levels of empowerment and support from parents may cause reduced academic effort and performance. Guidelines for avoiding this pitfall while empowering children are offered. (PB)

To help reverse the underachievement pattern in gifted students, educators should seek out less-evident indicators of strengths and abilities, incorporate those abilities into the classroom curriculum, recognize evidence of a sustained will to learn, and be realistic and optimistic about signs of improvement. (PB)

This bilingual (English and Spanish) brochure explains why retention is common among migrant students and what parents can do to help their children succeed in school. By second grade, nearly 50 percent of migrant students in the nation are older than their classmates and only about 50 percent of migrant students graduate from high school.…

This discussion suggests ways to (1) improve parents' communication with their children; (2) provide students with the keys to freedom through self-discipline; (3) increase parents' involvement in their children's learning in the areas of reading, mathematics, science, social studies, creative arts, and health and physical education; (4) recognize…

In order to identify factors which indicate a student would benefit educationally from retention, and to provide information and recommendations to educators, parents, and others involved in the decision to retain a child, this paper addresses the issue of retention in four major areas: the historical basis of retention, negative and positive…

This book is designed to assist parents with a child who has a learning problem in school. It provides the questions a parent needs to ask himself or herself, the child, and the child's teachers about learning, and it suggests specific strategies that a parent can use to improve the child's learning. Research indicates that the interventions…

Noting that the interpersonal dynamics between parents who are high achieving and children who are not achieving up to their potential can be the cause of the disparity, this book explores how children become underachievers and how parents can improve their expectations and the emotional climate to allow their child to feel happy and successful.…

Many teens experience a time when keeping up with school work is difficult. Some adolescents are able to get through this time with minimal assistance from their parents or teachers. However, when the difficulties last longer than a single grading period or are linked to a long-term pattern of poor school performance, parents and teachers may need…