This paper uses data from 4745 first-year accountancy students of a large South African university, for a 7-year period (2011-2017), to understand how certain skills endowments and individual attributes have changed in their contributions to student's performance over time. To do so, the variance associated with an external shock to the learning…

That students' social and economic characteristics shape their cognitive and behavioral outcomes is well established, yet policymakers typically resist accepting that non-school disadvantages necessarily depress outcomes. Rather, they look to better schools and teachers to close achievement gaps, and consistently come up short. This report…

Common Time (CT) was a structured programme designed to enhance the social and academic engagement of a growingly diverse student body on a new campus that draws its population from a low-socioeconomic area. As a voluntary and non-remedial programme, it incorporated a range of formal and informal activities and processes to engage students. CT…

To determine the effectiveness of the Peabody Language Development Kits over an extended period (2.5 years) with educable mentally retarded (EMR) children, daily oral language stimulation lessons using Levels One and Two of the kit were given to 27 classes for the EMR in schools with culturally disadvantaged populations. Results showed the…

Examines critically the viewpoint that the reason why some black students do well in school while other black students do poorly depends on the quality of the student's family life. Considers the major assumptions of this argument, as well as its ideological significance. (Author/RK)

This report is the 2-year followup evaluation of a proposed 4-year grant, studying the effects of a sequential learning program on disadvantaged children. Four- and 5-year-olds (N=86) were matched on several developmental variables, with one group at each age entering the Learning to Learn Program at either the nursery or kindergarten level. The…

Four basic models that are used to account for the discrepancies in educational and intellectual attainment between minority groups and the dominant culture are outlined. These are the Deficit Model, the School-as-Failure Model, the Cultural Difference Model, and the Social Structure Model. Four studies relating to the impact of preschool…