Project Accelerated Curriculum Classes Emphasizing Learning (ACCEL) was implemented by the Newark School District (New Jersey) in the 1989-90 school year in response to the ineffective practice of retaining underachieving students. The innovative approach of accelerated learning was made available to retained sixth and seventh grade students.…

The purpose of this study was to provide teachers, supervisors, and school administrators with a valid scale for measuring teacher attitudes toward low achievers in mathematics: the Teacher Attitudes Toward Low Achievement in Mathematics Scale (TALAM). The development of the instrument was carried out in three phases. Phase 1 consisted of…

The paper summarizes a National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report, "Reading, Science and Mathematic Trends: A Closer Look," in which achievement trends are compared in several subjects for 4th, 8th, and 11th grade black students, white students, low achievers, and high achievers. Findings indicate that while overall…

The central theme of this paper is that multimethod, multitrait research is essential to uncover learning beliefs and learning structures. The year-long social-ecological study clearly illustrated the efficacy of such a research process. This was a study of the elements of a kindergarten classroom environment and the beliefs that parents,…

Focusing on school failure among lower-class and minority children, the paper reexamines the relationship between "cognitive style" and school performance, and questions whether lower-class school failure really concerns cognitive performance at all. "Cognitive style" is defined as information processing habits which represent the learners'…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 22 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: relationships between decoding skills and reading comprehension in college students, speed of retrieval of verbal information and patterns of oral reading errors,…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 24 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: the relationship between home environment and reading achievement in Puerto Rican pupils; the relationship between magical thinking and reading skills in…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 14 titles deal with the following topics: the cognitive and perceptual components of children's reading success; the relationship between learning style preference and reading utilization; oral reading strategies used by younger…

The English curriculum comprising the document was written specifically for students deficient in composition by a team of English teachers from a Minnesota high school, in response to the expressed needs of their colleagues in the Robbinsdale area. The content is fitted into a career-related schema, ungraded and experience-based. For example, in…

The relationship between attribution processes and academic self-concept is studied among students from four ethnic groups in inner-city high schools, and an explanation as to why low achieving minority students do not report low academic self-concepts is sought in this paper. Questionnaires eliciting self-conceptions and responses to hypothetical…

In a letter dated June 1, 2006, Utah informed the U.S. Department of Education (ED) of its intention to carefully and thoughtfully revise its Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) plan with the aim of achieving the goal set in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of having all teachers meet highly qualified (HQ) requirements by the end of the 2006-2007…

Special education in Baltimore City--the educational program for students with certain mental, emotional, or physical disabilities--has been a nagging, intractable, and very public problem for at least 25 years. Community leaders have been mindful of the inequities that undermine the education of students with disabilities and continue to address…

Americans rely on public schools to educate and prepare almost 50 million students to become productive members of society. Yet many public schools, particularly those in large cities, face significant challenges: over-crowded classrooms, shortages of highly-qualified teachers, low student achievement, achievement gaps, access to preschool, and…

This report is the nation's sixth look at how its major city school systems are performing on the state assessments devised to boost standards, measure progress, provide opportunity, and ensure accountability for results. Data are presented on 66 city school systems from 38 states and the District of Columbia. The statistics are presented…

This study compared the perceptions of teachers and their students about the frequency with which the teachers used motivational strategies that supported mastery goals with both high- and low-performing students. A sample of 47 middle school teachers and their students (314 high-performing and 243 low-performing) completed teacher and student…