Investigated the causes of school failure from a student perspective through interviews with 40 urban high school students experiencing academic difficulties. Findings magnify issues of power, resistance, and diversity as they are linked to patterns of student achievement urban schools must address before advancing specific restructuring efforts.…

Faced with low literacy levels, four schools in Santa Clara, California, decreed that every entering kindergartner would be a competent reader by the end of second grade. The schools then implemented the 1,000 Days Network--an uninterrupted morning literacy block tailored to children's needs. Preliminary results are encouraging. (MLH)

When Tennessee's Value-Added Assessment System began reporting yearly achievement test gains (instead of raw test scores), the Knox County Schools discovered that location no longer predicted a school's performance. TVAAS shows gains by high, low, and average student achievement groups in five academic subjects. Equal gains across groups equals…

Tells the story of a young black woman's difficulties with the college admissions process and her joy in acceptance to Yale. Chronicles her difficulties in adapting to life at Yale, the second chance given her by a sympathetic dean, and her eventual success. (SLD)

This study compared the syntactic skills of Spanish-speaking children with low and average school achievement from kindergarten to fifth grade using oral narratives that were elicited with book and film retelling tasks. Results indicated that low achieving children exhibited limited use of complex syntax and greater formulation difficulties in…

Presents a case study of two "at-risk" students who started college with seemingly equal academic aptitudes but who achieved very different levels of success by the end of the first year. Questions the reasons for scholastic success or failure and prompts educators to explore the implications for developmental education. (RS)

Responds to a case study in this issue that discussed the differing academic achievement of two at-risk college students. Explores reasons for one student's achievement and the other's failure using a simple but thorough six-part framework outlining the characteristics of successful students. (RS)

Discriminant analysis can be used in the early detection of achievers and nonachievers in a university so as to provide additional attention for these students. Results with 292 Turkish college students support the accuracy of analysis results and the use of the approach for advice and counseling. (SLD)

Studied whether significant differences existed in the work cultures of schools with high student achievement scores and low student achievement scores focusing on six Florida elementary schools. Schools grouped based on student achievement were found to have significantly different work cultures, with more collaborative cultures in higher…

Comparison of students in vocational education programs (n=31) versus postsecondary preparation programs (n=28) in three Australian high schools (all-boys, all-girls, co-ed) showed that low achievers in vocational education had greater increases in self-concept, regardless of school type. Co-ed students had greater increases in total self-concept.…

Relations among social status, current service delivery, and service delivery preferences were examined in 42 students with learning disabilities (LD), 40 low-achieving, and 42 average/high-achieving students in grades 2-4 and 6-7. Most students preferred pullout service to in-class service. Only among LD students were self- and peer-rated social…

The prevalence of learning disabilities (LD) was studied in 233 students (ages 6-16) newly identified with behavioral disorders. Overall, 53.2 percent met at least one LD definition, ranging from 15.9 percent for low achievement to 42.9 percent for regression. Almost one-quarter showed overlapping between low achievement and discrepancy…

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

Examined the responses of low-achieving students to reform-based mathematics instruction. Found that both the organization and task demands of the reform classrooms presented verbal and social challenges to low achievers that need to be addressed if these students are to benefit from reform-based mathematics instruction. (Author)

This study compared the motivational determinants of 258 low and high elementary grade readers in Greece within the framework of planned behavior theory. Low performing readers exhibited significantly lower perceptions of goal importance, intention to achieve, belief strength, outcome evaluation, and normative beliefs. The planned behavior model…