The growing number of immigrant students in the United States continues to affect school programs. First, the author describes the issues that challenge immigrant students, including varying levels of language and academic performance, funding and school resources, and flexibility and accountability. Then, the author discuss what school leaders…

Recent incidents of school violence have brought bullying to the nation's attention in a dramatic way. Research shows that approximately 30% of teens in the United States either bully, are targets of bullying, or both (National Youth, n.d.). Bullying causes adverse physical, psychological, and social effects. It erodes feelings of self-worth and…

New Jersey children are in some important ways better off than five years ago. More 3- and 4-year-olds are enrolled in high-quality, publicly funded preschool, for example. On some other measures, children are worse off. The proportion with no health insurance has risen, despite increased enrollment in government-subsidized insurance programs. But…

This issue of "Learning Times" discusses closing the achievement gap for low-income kids. Too many low-income children in Minnesota lag behind grade level in reading and math. LDA's (Learning Disabilities Association's) Learning Connections program serves these students who have fallen behind, but who do not receive special education…

With a national high school graduation rate, hovering around 70 percent, far too many of the nation's students are falling through the cracks of the education system and leaving high school without the skills necessary for success in college, work, and life. By preventing students from falling through the cracks and ensuring that they receive the…

This 2-page resource describes the benefits of afterschool programs for children, youth, and families, including evidence of improved school attendance and engagement learning, improved test scores and grades, and students at greatest risk showing the greatest gains. Additional benefits of afterschool programs include keeping kids safe, healthy,…

In their work with adolescent students, school counselors often are faced with the ethical dilemma of whether to break confidentiality to report risk-taking and potentially dangerous behaviors to parents. This study reports the results of a national survey asking school counselors to rate the importance of multiple factors that influence their…

The article presents a model of an effectively implemented visual phonics intervention program for kindergarten children at high risk for reading failure in a general education classroom. There is a growing body of professional literature documenting the effectiveness of visual phonics for children who are hard-of-hearing or deaf. There is little…

A major challenge to the efficacy of student team learning projects occurs when some members of a group are unable to contribute effectively to the collaborative endeavour due to their academic deficits. A graded benchmark for the requisite academic maturity is the setting of admission requirements. Various research studies have shown a positive…

High rates of aggressive-disruptive behavior exhibited by children during their initial years of elementary school increase their risk for significant behavioral adjustment problems with teachers and peers. The purpose of the present study was to examine the unique and combined contributions of child vulnerabilities and school context to the…

This case study documents how a group of 14 academically at risk Primary 5 students (11 year olds) were engaged in academic related tasks in an after school program mediated by a "3-D Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE)." Although there was no significant difference in the students' academic performance, they were found to be more engaged in the…

This article examines the case of Laura, a 9-year-old Mexican immigrant who officially "failed to learn English" in an American school. It may be more accurate to say that schooling failed Laura, and in ways that went beyond language learning. This diagnosis of failure is criticized, along with the individualistic and essentialist assumptions…

This article presents a case study of a kindergarten girl from a Bangladeshi immigrant family who demonstrates her multiliteracies as she negotiates the multiple demands of the mandated literacy curriculum. The case is drawn from a year-long ethnographic inquiry of the literacy practices and cultural models in a balanced literacy curriculum where…

Loneliness is a phenomenon that has been recorded in literature throughout the ages. It is now being recognized as problem not only in adults but in children and adolescents as well. Loneliness is an emotional state that can be a barrier to a student's social development and affect their physical and mental health. Various contributing factors and…

Children first exposed to English as a second language when they start school are at risk for poor academic outcome. They perform less well than their monolingual peers, matched for socio-economic background, at the end of primary school on measures of language and literacy, despite immersion in English at school. Previous research suggests,…