Concept of "special education" focuses on schools' duty to develop programs that include and educate even the most difficult of the disabled. The concept of "school failure" puts the responsibility on the students, excluding them, though they also have a "disability.""Zero reject" concept, which includes all students, is recommended. (PS)

The authors discuss their experiences as developers and implementers of a team-taught class in applied science and technology for low-achieving junior high school students. (CH)

Reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (NDRT) and compares the use and misuse of the test as revealed through published surveys. Finds problems in the use of the NDRT to diagnose the specific reading needs and deficiencies of low-achieving students and to measure individual growth. (CBC)

Provides statistics on school failure and presents methods used to teach language and second language courses in Belgian primary schools. Included are the aims of language courses, the principles of instruction, and descriptions of specific instructional strategies employed. (JDH)

Student opportunity to learn may be the critical variable in explaining student engagement and subsequent achievement. Lower-ability students are systematically discriminated against in quality of instruction and curricular content and in use of learning time. Suggestions regarding teacher preparation to offset these patterns are made. (MT)

The three principal commercially published science projects for less able/motivated students include units on electronics. A simple and inexpensive method of constructing electric circuits is described. Suggestions for making the material in the published units applicable to circuits found in everyday situations are offered. (JN)

The relationship in the Pythagorean Theorem is introduced to low-ability seventh graders using Cuisenaire rods. The sequence of instruction is described. (MNS)

Explores assumptions about student ability that underlie current instructional software design and the possibility that a behaviorist bias influences software design strategies; offers evidence that a behaviorist instructional strategy helps low-ability and hinders high-ability students; presents a contrasting instructional approach; and reviews…

A student team learning technique, used with low achievers in a ninth grade world history class, improved the students' academic achievement, but did not improve their self-concepts. (RM)

The Auditory Cognitive Style Task (ACST) and an IQ measure were administered to 64 good and poor readers in the first and third grades. ACST results indicated that poor readers: (1) committed significantly more errors; (2) had shorter response latencies; and (3) demonstrated inefficient strategies for successful performance. (Author/BS)

The remediation problems of an open city college with many disadvantaged students are revealed. The concept of Integrated Remediation was implemented at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and places the responsibility for remediation within the respective departments of the college. (Editor/LBH)

This report was based on the responses of more than 1,000 school employees to a survey on the physical environment at their schools. Many of the responses revealed some startling building conditions, from students who have to wear coats and gloves in class to rats and mice entering classrooms through windows and cracks in walls. The report…

There is a widespread view in the research and policy communities that the quality of mathematics and science instruction offered to students in the United States is low (Business-Higher Education Forum, 2005; Gonzales et al., 2004; National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, 2000; National Research Council, 2000,…

The use of curriculum based assessment (CBA) to ensure learning disabled and low achieving students adequate educational opportunity remains the focus in this direct and comprehensive third edition. The additions to this edition are in the way of providing detail and explanation in the context of current and emerging issues in educational…

This paper explores what lessons can be learned from the experiences of states that instituted NCLB-like accountability systems prior to 2001 (here called first-generation accountability systems). It looks at the experiences of three smaller states (Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina), four larger ones (California, Florida, New York, Texas), and…