This article is a study of conflicting voices inside an alternative high school in Arizona. Voices of alternative schools are, quite often, not included in the discourse of curriculum reform even though the number of alternative schools is growing every year. Bakhtinian novelness of polyphony, chronotope, and carnival are incorporated into an…

Concerns about noncompletion and the quality of the 1st-year student experience have been linked to recent changes in higher education such as modularisation, increased class sizes, greater diversity in the student intake and reduced resources. Improving formative assessment and feedback processes is seen as one way of addressing academic failure,…

Noting that only some of the approaches to helping low achievers learn more successfully have been systematically studied to determine their effectiveness, this paper summarizes what research indicates will help low achievers improve performance, and provides a resource list of books and reports with more details on the topic. Following a brief…

This paper examines the phenomenon of underachievement of students. Underachievement is characterized by a significant discrepancy between the student's performance and potential. After considering some of the common causes for underachievement and the typical problems of underachievers, the rest of the paper discusses six methods of intervention…

This study analyzed college students' use of motivational strategies in academic contexts. Participants included 11 male and 26 female undergraduate students enrolled in psychology courses at an urban university, who completed the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Analysis focused primarily on responses to the following sample…

To examine the proposition that students who do not remain active participants in class or school may be at risk for school failure, regardless of status characteristics such as ethnicity or family income, two studies of engagement and achievement were conducted. The studies used a nationwide sample of eighth-grade students from the U.S.…

This study examined the effectiveness of Project Spectrum, an intervention program for at-risk students and an approach to assessment and curriculum development that identifies a child's area of strength and constructs the education and learning experiences around the child's competencies. A total of 119 students in 6 first grade classrooms…

This report describes procedures to develop and implement a program to reduce ninth grade failure rates at a high school of 1,200 students in the center of a western city of 100,000. It is noted that grading data collected at the middle school and the high school levels have indicated that the number of failing grades increased substantially as…

A fresh look should be taken at the traditional distinction between adults with reading disabilities and those with little or no literacy skills. Although the distinction may still be valuable for theoretical purposes, it may not be as useful as it once was for practical situations. Many adults seeking literacy instruction today have limited…

The Ashland City School District (Ohio) conducted a study to identify possible reasons for the academic failure of 10th graders. Forty-eight high risk students who had failed to pass one or more subtests of the Ohio Proficiency Test were compared with 48 students who had passed all subtests in eighth grade and were considered low risk…

A remediation approach developed by the Vilonia public schools (Arkansas) to remediate content/skill deficiencies in middle level students resulted from three conditions: state laws and regulations regarding minimum competency testing; more awareness of problems with at-risk students; and recognition of the need to reach students academically…

A study investigated the possible reasons for low achievement gains in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses among Thai university students in their second year of EAP instruction. Second-year EAP midterm and final examination grades were compared by path analysis with a variety of student variables (sex, English language background, age,…

Fear of controversy, cultural taboos, and fear of homosexuality have prevented many educators from dealing effectively with gay and lesbian young people. The climate in most schools is such that gay teens rarely are willing to expose themselves to the ridicule, harassment, and abuse that comes when they openly acknowledge their sexual orientation.…

Noting that students' failure to master the basic skills by third grade places them at high academic and social risk, this report provides a synthesis of the findings from a meeting that drew 30 of the nation's leading experts on early childhood education and school reform to discuss the plight of primary education. The meeting was designed to…

A sample of dropouts is surveyed to determine their reasons for dropping out of school and to assess the factors currently used by the Dade County (Florida) school system to identify at-risk students. Data from telephone surveys of a randomly-selected sample of 2,779 persons who dropped out of grades 7 through 12 during 1986-87, 1987-88, and…