Focuses on top-down administered accountability systems designed to drive the system toward higher student achievement. Warns that school-based accountability systems should be used with caution: using individual schools as the primary unit of accountability can create negative incentives for teachers and principals to avoid schools with…

Discusses five strategies teachers can use to help struggling students: teaming, hands-on activities, practical applications, minimal time spans, and enrichment. Suggests creativity and practicality are imperative if teachers wish to help "applied" students grow both academically and personally. (RS)

Introduces notetaking tools used successfully with English-as-a-second-language students and low-achieving high school freshmen. Provides an overview of each tool and explains how students use them to take notes when reading textbooks and articles. Notes these tools and academic habits have helped students succeed in their mainstream academic…

Discusses results of a study and report on the academic achievement of low-socioeconomic students. The study, conducted by Johns Hopkins University researchers Alexander, Entwisle, and Olson, appears in summer 2001 issue of "Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis." The report, "Raising Achievement and Reducing Gaps," by…

Elementary school low-progress readers (n=40) participated in MULTILIT (Make Up Lost Time in Literacy), half in standard literacy instruction and half in Rainbow Reading (read-along tapes involving repeated readings). The already high efficacy of MULTILIT was not enhanced by supplementing it with Rainbow Reading. (SK)

The paper presents the conceptual framework that guided the development of the Lesson Plan Evaluation Rubric (LPER) instrument derived from the Four Stages of Lesson Planning (FSLP) strategy and the empirical results that provide the insight into the elements of lesson planning. Teachers from urban low-performing middle schools in one of the New…

Anderson Elementary, a preK-6 school founded in 1886, was dubbed "In Need of Improvement" in 2002 after failing for three years in a row to make adequate yearly progress required under the No Child Left Behind Act. Anderson Elementary, to raise fallen achievement scores, pressed every school professional into the service of student…

Research in mathematics education offers a considerable body of evidence that both high and low-achievers can benefit from learning mathematics in meaningful contexts. This case study offers an in-depth analysis of the learning process of a low-achieving student in the context of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME). The focus is on the use of…

Low-achieving students in many school districts are retained in a grade in order to allow them to gain the academic or social skills that teachers believe are necessary to succeed academically. This practice is highly controversial, with many researchers claiming that it leads to higher dropout rates although selection issues have complicated…

This study sought to determine the effect of simulation-games environment on students' achievement in attitudes to mathematics in secondary school. Data was collected from a sample of 147 students in senior secondary school in Osun-State, Nigeria. t-test and analysis of variance was used to analyze the data collected for the study. The finding…

This paper looks at access to adult education and vocational education and training (VET) provision in fishing communities in the Western Cape, South Africa. Fishing communities are being disadvantaged due to geographical and socio-political marginalisation, and the predominance of informal sector employment in the context of worldwide marine…

Involving reluctant and low-achieving students with reading is an essential step to increasing students' content area knowledge. One way to increase students' engagement with text is by linking social studies content with foreign films that have English subtitles. Not only can subtitled films help increase students' engaged time with text, but the…

In search for the practical relevance of accountability systems for school improvement, the authors ask whether practitioners traveling between the worlds of system-designated high- and low-performing schools would detect tangible differences in educational quality and organizational effectiveness. In comparing nine exceptionally high and low…

In the last few years, a number of states, education associations, and universities have launched new programs to build up the cadre of school turnaround specialists. These programs are often modeled on the experiences of consultants in the corporate world. This article discusses the advantages of using turnaround specialists and describes the…

This study aims to investigate the differences between high and low academic achieving Hong Kong University students in terms of learning and study strategies. A total of 180 Hong Kong University students participated in the present study by completing a revised Chinese version of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory. Results indicated that…