Success and failure were experimentally induced by means of a puzzle task, and subjects were then required to perform two dependent tasks from which outerdirectedness was inferred. Results supported the hypothesis that children shift from an outerdirected to an interdirected problem-solving style as age increases. (Author)

Grade retention is ineffective. It is often imposed for nonacademic reasons, fails to improve academic achievement, and exacerbates the dropout problem. Social promotion is equally ineffective at providing appropriate instruction for low-performing students. Feasible alternatives include group problem solving, personalized instruction, and…

This article describes the two basic versions of the responsiveness-to-intervention (RTI) approach for identifying learning disabilities, the problem solving model and the standard-protocol approach. It reviews evidence on effectiveness and feasibility and concludes that more needs to be understood before RTI may be viewed as a valid…

Argues that talk is a critical variable in work with struggling readers, contributing to their problem solving and engagement in reading tasks. Speculates about factors that contribute to children's failure: child and family factors, constraints within which teachers and schools operate, and the adversarial nature of the discourse surrounding…

A teacher describes the frustrations of an intelligent, learning-disabled fourth-grader who cannot pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System despite standard academic accommodations. The teacher advocates development of alternative or "nonstandard" accommodations and tests that assess students' spatial, problem-solving, and…

This article describes the problem-solving model (PSM) used in the Minneapolis Public Schools to guide decisions regarding intervention in general education, special education referral, and evaluation for special education eligibility for high-incidence disabilities. Program evaluation indicates students received special education services earlier…

The ability of 378 elementary school students (aged 9-12 years) in Israel to extract "lawfulnesses" (invariants) from experience and to react to error by reexamining the problem and finding the error was studied on a self-paced inference task. Results are discussed in terms of postfailure reflectivity and postfailure impulsivity. (SLD)

Elementary teachers' responses to vignettes depicting twelve types of student problem behavior (instructional concerns: failure syndrome, perfectionist, underachiever, and low achiever; aggression problems: hostile aggressive, passive aggressive, and defiant; activity issues: short attention span, hyperactive, and immature; and peer relation…

Effects of mothers' need for approval on children's expectancies for success and persistence during failure were studied for 90 fifth graders attempting to solve 4 puzzles, 3 of which were unsolvable. Parental and situational variables affect children's achievement cognitions and behavior. Implications for parental socialization of achievement are…