The Achieving the Dream (ATD) initiative works with more than 100 community colleges across the United States with the specific goal of increasing student success. Together, Achieving the Dream colleges graduate or transfer close to 250,000 students a year. With just a 5 percent increase in graduation rates, individuals can positively impact the…

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)

While children approach performance situations with different combinations of motives, parenting and teaching practices can influence the development of each child's achievement behavior. Because achievement motivation is learned, and its development begins early in life with a critical stage during early childhood, it is necessary that pertinent…

Parents of gifted preschoolers are advised of research on their role in stimulating cognitive development, achievement motivation, affective development, and social development. Suggestions are also offered regarding interactions with extended family members, school personnel, friends, and strangers. (CL)

Discusses five myths associated with parents' giving praise or positive feedback to their children. Myths are children thrive on praise; praise increases a child's self-confidence; lavish praise is not addictive; praise motivates children; and parents should practice withholding praise to toughen up children. (BB)

Describes nine basic steps school leaders can follow to develop high-performance schools. (PKP)

Suggests steps that parents (in particular), teachers, and other adults can take to help relieve children's stress and to help children cope with stress at home and in school. (BB)

Proposes five rules to help job interviewers elicit data useful in predicting job performance. Rules include: developing critical job requirements; indirect exploration of job requirements; collecting data revealing motivated work behavior (such as candidate's self-reported enjoyable achievement experiences); and summing up data. (RC)

Perfectionism is a compulsion that creates stress and suffering in children. Parents are given tips on how to help children deal with mistakes, develop judgment skills, and accept themselves. (IAH)

This user's guide provides materials on the Career Motivation and Achievement Planning (C-MAP) Inventory for use with ninth and twelfth grade students. Chapter 1 discusses the purpose and uses of this assessment of long-range career commitment, short-range motivation to achieve on a particular task, and level of education and career aspiration.…

Recommendations are offered for enhancing the achievement motivation of elementary students with mild disabilities. Recommendations address five areas: learner control, rewards, student interest, classroom structure, and self-efficacy and attributions. A process for implementing these recommendations in the classroom is also provided. (JDD)

The guide presents techniques for counseling gifted and talented students. A section on counseling for career problems addresses: (1) multipotentiality as a possible problem in making career decisions; (2) poor career choices; and (3) inadequate course preparation. The Guidance Laboratory approach to counseling for prevention of career-related…

This handbook serves a four-fold purpose: (1) it functions as a reference guide for counselors using the Otis Spunkmeyer Student Motivational Program (SMP); (2) individuals in other corporations who are interested in sponsoring their own Student Motivational Program (SMP) may use it to train counselors; (3) it serves as a program overview for…

This guide for college students discusses the psychological adjustments of late adolescence and skills and techniques for coping and developing interpersonal skills. The book is comprised of the following topics: caring relationships, sex ("Let's Talk about Sex" by Jacqueline Kansky), listening, self-awareness, self-esteem, criticism, confidence,…

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.…