Educational statistics and worldwide media have reported a gender gap in academic achievement, with boys falling behind girls with regard to grades, high school graduation, and college enrollment and retention. This mixed methods study involved interviews with educators and the examination of quantitative data to investigate this issue in a school…

Teachers can successfully build the underachiever's self-concept and motivation by following an organized instructional procedure currently in use. (CJH)

This article contains an analysis of a component of a large-scale reform effort in an urban school district that entailed placing high school students identified as underperforming in literacy in separate classes aimed at accelerating their learning. The relationship between students academic performance and social backgrounds, school…

Given that America is still a dangerously racist, classist, and sexist society and that students need opportunities to celebrate their diverse cultural backgrounds, the failure of the nation's schools to educate African-American students must be reexamined. Change strategies include making the curriculum more multicultural and reorienting…

Developed to improve the self-concept and study skills of underachievers, this project brought together 20 ninth graders for 3 periods daily with 1 teacher for English, geography, and supplemental instruction. Results include improved self-confidence, a lower dropout rate, and better grades for 12 students. (MJL)

A guidance instructional program at Mentor High School in Ohio relies greatly on free time as the primary motivator of low achievers. (Author/MLF)

Peak II is a successful school-within-a-school alternative learning experience for underachieving ninth-graders attending Longs Peak Junior High School in Longmont, Colorado. The voluntary program involves team teaching, an academic focus, group and individual counseling, guest speakers, field trips, group social activities, and afterschool…

How can high schools counteract deterrents to achievement that disadvantaged students face? "Project P-BLISS: Problem-Based Learning in the Social Sciences" presents "hidden" disadvantaged gifted students with a curriculum that first captures their interest and challenges them to realize their true potential. (MLH)

Discusses alienation as a cause of underachievement, antisocial behavior, and indifference among gifted adolescents; suggests educational implications on the basis of a theory that distinguishes between crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence. (MCG)

Howard Gardner's research explores why some students achieve (test) well, while others struggle. Gardner's ideal school features master teachers and an assessment specialist to provide regular, updated intelligence evaluations of each student's strengths, weaknesses, and inclinations. Curricula would use fresh approaches borrowed from museums and…

Describes a program focusing on developing positive attitudes, knowledge, and skills among assistant principals working in an El Paso school district. The Ysleta Assistant Principals Leadership Academy has established a strong partnership with higher education, created expanded learning opportunities, provided mentors, and extended administrators'…

Like other parents who phoned her at work, a dedicated associate commissioner of education grew increasingly frustrated with a system that failed to challenge her children. She enrolled them in a private alternative school that stressed community and viewed education as a privilege demanding great student effort. (MLH)