This paper tells a story of Israeli male high schoolers who spend their adolescent years preparing for service in elite military units in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). They dream of serving in special units and begin training at 15 or 16 years old. After years of taxing preparations, at the age of 17 they arrive at the grueling military exams.…

In this article, we interrogate the concept of methodological 'failures' as they arise during fieldwork, in the process of collecting empirical data. We highlight how the techniques of validity horizon matrices and power analysis can be used as methodological tools to illustrate moments in the fieldwork process where these 'failures' occur and to…

This study was designed to elicit comprehensive information about drop-out youth's schooling experiences in a successful alternative school. We combined a triangular measurement design from the perspectives of the students, their parents, their teachers, and the researchers. The study is based on 82 semi-structured interviews with students (n =…

This chapter examines differential circumstances whereby aging individuals construct their selves as a narrative or, alternatively, seem to prefer other routes to manifest their identity. The preliminary exploration of questions about the characteristics of those aged who prefer to tell and those who do not, as well as the salutary role of…

Research has found students' epistemic beliefs to predict their achievement goal orientations. Much of this research emerged from the dimensional approach of epistemic beliefs, which hypothesized a relationship between particular independent dimensions of epistemic beliefs with different achievement goals. Research in this approach has primarily…

Presents a conceptual framework of second-chance systems analyzable in terms of several basic parameters (targeted population, declared goals, processes, options for students, evaluation criteria, and implications for the regular system). Uses this framework to analyze an Israeli external high school, the subject of a large-scale study. Includes 3…

This study examines the way in which the position of blacks in the American system of caste or racial stratification contributes to their lower school performance. It explores the myths and stereotypes that support the caste system and shows how they are translated into practices by school personnel. It probes into the responses of the minority…

Various approaches and perceptions concerning the progress of disadvantaged students in Israel are presented. Activities aimed at rehabilitation and achievements are discussed. (Author)

Whether there is consistency in pupils' attributions regarding their achievement outcome in two consecutive tests in (a) the same subject and (b) different subjects was explored. Results showed consistency in individuals' attributional patterns. However, consistency scores ensuing from the same achievement outcomes were greater than those from…

Using an open-ended questionnaire, 236 fifth- and sixth-grade pupils attributed their success or failure on a test given in their classroom to eight different causes. Results indicated that the pupils tended to attribute success mainly to external causes and failure mainly to internal causes. (JMB)

Following a mathematics test, 134 sixth-graders from different social class/national origin groups, were asked to attribute causality for their success or failure. All groups tended to attribute success more to internal than external causes and more to stable than unstable causes. Attributions of failure varied between the groups. (Author/SJL)

Uses a Hebrew version of the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) to assess the attributional style among 120 Israeli undergraduate students. Students were asked whether their performance of a cognitive task was a result of personal or situational factors. Findings suggest that attributional style and situational cues contribute to the quality…

This paper offers an assessment of the efforts to de-Arabize the Bedouin Arab youth of the Negev. We show that despite the extensive efforts to achieve this goal, they have become pronouncedly alienated from the State of Israel, and are increasingly perceiving themselves as an integral part of Israel's Palestinian Arab national minority. The…

Male and female subjects from low and middle-upper socioeconomic groups were asked to explain their academic success or failure. Few sex or social class differences were found, with most subjects attributing success to internal, medium stable, and controllable causes. (GC)

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)