The recent high profile of the underachievement debate in the media, through research initiatives, and in resulting remediation programmes within the classroom, has focused almost exclusively upon boys, such that the identity and needs of the underachieving girl have been rendered invisible. Underachievement has become so closely associated with…

Efforts to increase senior secondary retention rates and improve schooling for marginalized students have been influenced by the school effectiveness perspective. This paper outlines several problematic aspects of this perspective and proposes an alternative orientation centred around "care". Drawing on research with students and…

An increasing number of school counselors are European American and female at the same time that African American males have become one of the largest populations at risk for needing services. Studies consistently reveal that African American males encounter formidable challenges in the educational system. Professional school counselors have the…

Minority students made up approximately 25% of the student population at Central High School in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1995. The composition of Central's honors and challenge classes did not reflect this diversity, however, few minority students were taking challenge classes as underclassmen and even fewer were taking AP courses as seniors. In fall…

The first step in an improvement effort involves reflection and goal setting. By focusing inward and identifying needs, a person or a school can make great changes. This article discusses how a writing center can be a locus for change within a school. Most high school writing centers start because a few English teachers share a passion for…

This paper examines a preservice teacher initiative whose overarching goal is to begin to reverse the cycle of educational failure for students labeled "at-risk." Although research in teacher preparation has explored the ways in which preservice teachers learn to teach, few studies have focused on how teaching in an alternative high school…

This paper explores the challenges of partnership through an examination of a high school apprenticeship program in carpentry in Ontario, Canada. Focusing on the relationships between schools, trainers, employers and government, challenges relate to the ability to coordinate the program across institutions, achieve agreement on goals, gain…

This qualitative investigation studies the impact of belonging to a high school Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA or Alliance) on the lives of seven students. Individual and focus group interviews were conducted over a two-year time period. The author used voices of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and straight students to relate the experiences unique to each…

The Hong Kong Classroom Environment Scale (HKCES) is a new instrument designed to assess upper primary and junior secondary school students' perceptions of actual and preferred classroom environment. The development of the scale involved 2 stages of study. In the 1st stage of study, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses clearly identified 4…

Research indicates that peer interaction can have a substantial impact on the lives of adolescents with disabilities. However, social interaction among adolescents with intellectual disabilities and their general education peers typically occurs infrequently in secondary schools. This paper provides a critical analysis of twenty-six empirical…

Background: Teachers play a critical role in promoting interactions between students and engaging them in the learning process. This study builds on a study by Hertz-Lazarowitz and Shachar (1990) who found that during cooperative learning teachers' verbal behaviours were more helpful to and encouraging of their students' efforts while during…

This paper examines the nature of confidence in relation to cognitive abilities, personality traits, and metacognition. Confidence was measured as it was expressed in answers to each test item during the administration of reading and listening sections of the TOEFL® iBT. The confidence scores were correlated with the accuracy scores from the TOEFL…

Schoolwide literacy--the teaching of reading, writing, speaking, and thinking practices in all content areas--is generally considered an effective, even necessary, approach to addressing the learning needs of adolescents. In early college high schools, which blend high school and college for students who are underserved in higher education, the…

In May 2005, the International Technology Education Association (ITEA) was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to develop curricular units for Grades K-12 on Space Exploration. The units focus on aspects of the themes that NASA Engineers and Scientists--as well as future generations of explorers--must consider, such…

Five years after the bipartisan passage of the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001," the U.S. Department of Education remains dedicated to promoting education excellence in every corner of the country. The Department's "Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2007-12" sets high expectations for America's schools and students, and for…