Experiences with uncontrollable events may lead to the expectation that future events will elude control, resulting in disruptions in motivation, emotion, and learning. This text explores this phenomenon, termed learned helplessness, tracking it from its discovery to its entrenchment in the psychological canon. The volume summarizes and integrates…

The number of students failing in school has risen drastically in the past few years. Because of this, many educators are revisiting traditional practices and infusing effective tools that can enhance and promote literacy skills for all students. This process requires not only that teachers integrate content, but also that they elucidate the…

Students who were academically dismissed at the end of the spring 1994 semester (at the University of Maryland, College Park) received an invitation to participate in a summer program designed to teach some of the skills necessary for academic success. Fourteen sessions were offered over a four-week period during the first summer school session.…

Two studies addressed the effects of failure in reading test performance. In experiment 1, 36 students in 3 intact reading and study skills courses at an upstate New York community college completed a questionnaire, were administered an "unsolvable" reading test, were either given no feedback or "failure feedback," an…

A study examined the reading problems of adults in Newfoundland (Canada) with low reading ability. It explored the genesis of these problems through a retrospective analysis of their lives as school children; and determined the relationship between literacy development and personal background factors, school factors, physiological factors, and…

This bilingual (English and Spanish) brochure explains why retention is common among migrant students and what parents can do to help their children succeed in school. By second grade, nearly 50 percent of migrant students in the nation are older than their classmates and only about 50 percent of migrant students graduate from high school.…

This paper describes a study designed to identify factors that have inhibited the success of adult training programs. The investigation looked specifically for key factors or incidents that contributed to program failure. The sample included 51 adult training programs scheduled for implementation between 1988 and 1992 in the Great Plains region of…

The extent of grade retention in Massachusetts is assessed in this report, which examines current research on grade retention and suggests alternative practices for dealing with low achieving students. Data were derived from the Chapter 188 Individual School Report for 1987-88, an annual survey of Massachusetts conducted by the Department of…

There is a growing awareness among researchers that the magnitude of cognitive sex differences is affected by a number of subject variables. To examine spatial and verbal cognitive sex differences as a function of personal and family handedness, the 478 offspring who participated in the Minnesota family study and 454 offspring who participated in…

An extension program sponsored by the Venezuelan government attempted to change a rural area's shifting cultivation system into one that produced cash crops. The program's failure was due in part to the lack of understanding on the part of the extension agents regarding the communities' traditional resource use systems. (LH)

This paper reviews recent literature regarding the impact of teacher expectations on student performance. The first section reviews recent literature with respect to teacher expectations in which teacher characteristics were viewed as the dependent variable in the interaction. The focus of the second section is to review recent literature where…

The At-Risk Children and Youth Task Force in North Carolina has spent almost a year grappling with the many and complex problems of at-risk children and youth. Presented are the recommendations of the task force. The recommendations are based on hours of indepth interviews, hours of reading, and time spent listening to parents, educators, and…

Experienced elementary teachers (N=98) described their general strategies for coping with failure syndrome students and told how they would handle incidents depicted in two vignettes portraying failure syndrome problems at school. Compared to their responses concerning some of the other problem student types addressed in the Classroom Strategy…

It is important to know and understand the cultural heritage of Hispanic students if this population is to achieve academic success. Excessive drop out rates coupled with low high school and postsecondary graduations indicate the need for reforming school reading/writing and academic curricula. Also, educators at all levels need to be aware of the…

This study reports the results of a best-evidence synthesis of research on the use of one-to-one tutoring delivered by adults to students in the primary grades who are learning to read. The synthesis includes research on five programs: Reading Recovery, Success for All, Prevention of Learning Disabilities, the Wallach Tutorial Program, and…