This article addresses the problem of inept, ineffective, and mediocre governing boards at America's colleges and universities. It maintains that substandard governance can almost always be traced to one of two culprits, or both: (1) most boards are orchestras of soloists; and (2) many boards tend to either lionize or trivialize the president.…

This research brief summarizes a report by Julian R. Betts, Andrew C. Zau, and Lorien A. Rice, "Determinants of Student Achievement: New Evidence from San Diego" (2003) [ED497299]. Surveys by the Public Policy Institute of California have consistently shown that Californians are concerned about the quality of K-12 public schools and that…

For most students, the intermediate years offer the last opportunity to prevent continued failure in reading and writing. These years are a critical bridge to the middle grades where the tendency is to be less personalized and focused on individual needs. This book provides teachers, administrators, and staff developers with the best…

Several years after the passage of NCLB, there are persistently low-performing schools in every state that face increasingly strong consequences for failing to improve student achievement sufficiently. Schools failing to make AYP for five consecutive years must engage in restructuring to improve student learning. Districts have several options for…

A study examined the effectiveness of specific teaching strategies in the reading curriculum that would help underachieving first-grade students meet reading standards by the end of the school year. Subjects, 6 underachieving students, were given the Basic Phonics Skills Test (BPST), the Results high frequency word list, and the Results reading…

Recognizing that productively engaging low-achieving adolescents in print-rich classrooms is complicated, this book presents 40 articles that focus specifically on teaching struggling readers in middle school and high school classrooms. The articles in the book are drawn primarily from the "Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy." The book is…

This practicum was designed to use directed writing strategies to teach writing skills to middle grades language arts students who frequently failed to make average or above scores in essay writing assignments. The program included three specific strategies. The first strategy was to teach higher-order thinking and metacognitive strategies related…

In "Reclaiming the Game," William Bowen and Sarah Levin disentangle the admissions and academic experiences of recruited athletes, walk-on athletes, and other students. In a field overwhelmed by reliance on anecdotes, the factual findings are striking--and sobering. Anyone seriously concerned about higher education will find it hard to…

A visual arts group of researchers formed in 1999 to study statistical data from the 1997 [National Assessment of Educational Progress] NAEP Arts, responding to an open invitation at the National Art Education conference in Washington, DC to compete for funding under a secondary analysis grant. The Department of Education funded three…

Highlights a National Assessment of Educational Progress study indicating that in the 1970s academic gains in reading by some low achievers was offset by declines in science and math skills of high achievers. Additional results related to reading, science, and mathematics are also highlighted and discussed. (JN)

Reports on a study in which 12 good and 12 poor fourth-grade readers read selections in their original format and with the words in random order; concludes that the results indicate that word identification errors elicited on tests in isolation do not constitute a solid basis for predicting errors in connected text. (ET)

Demonstrates how information in the cumulative school file is a rich resource for understanding the patterns of achievement and underachievement among gifted students. High and moderative achievers and moderate and extreme underachievers (n=153) were compared on information found in the school file. Results show differences between achievers and…

Based on the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) recent report, this article provides the foundation for state accountability systems that focus on improvement. Contains NASBE's proposed Public Policy Position on Low Performing Schools. (Contains 14 references.) (Author/MLF)

The effects of fathers' absence from the home on their children's educational aptitude and achievement were studied for about 9,000 Swedish children from grade 6 to age 21 years, 15 percent of whom lived only with their mothers. Low achievement in the mathematical and technical spheres characterized those with no father in the home. (SLD)

Twelve low-achieving, high-potential junior high students were involved in a pullout program to improve their academic performance. The students were partially successful in applying strategies they learned for analyzing their potential, building self-esteem, managing time, managing stress, goal setting, and developing individual action plans.…