"Active learning" where students are required to do something in the classroom rather than simply listen to a lecture has been repeatedly shown to be superior to the lecture method in advancing student learning. The use of case studies in the classroom is one of the most successful active learning methods of teaching science, technology,…

This study examines the academic performance of second language (L2) applicants who are admitted to a university on the basis of the number of years completed in English-medium secondary school. Such language-residency requirements are underexamined in the research literature. Results from the first 2 years of a 4-year longitudinal study indicate…

The author investigated age- and gender-related changes in self-evaluative judgments of 87 children followed from preschool through 2nd grade. Focusing on cognitive, physical, and peer competence assessed by the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance (PSPCSA; S. Harter & R. Pike, 1984), the author tested PSPCSA subscale…

Using a mixed-methodology, longitudinal design, individual differences and contextual factors related to differential response to general education instruction were examined. We tested a response-to-instruction model reflecting the first three phases of a model proposed by Fuchs and Fuchs (1998). We classified first- and second-grade children…

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…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Making Schools Safer for LGBT Youth: Despite Signs of Progress, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students Say Harassment Persists (Michael Sadowski);…

While the nation's public systems continue to fall short of delivering equitable educational supports to children and youth, youth workers have spent the last several decades insulating and, in some cases, patching the leaks in the "education pipeline"--a term describing the route students follow from early childhood through…

In 1998, the Mississippi Association for Gifted Children (MAGC) created a task force to study identification practices in Mississippi. MAGC was concerned about minority under representation in gifted programs. The task force worked to answer the question "Is the implementation of the Mississippi referral to placement process equitable?"…

The nation's dropout problem has been making national headlines with more and more frequency and more and more urgency. Although certainly not a new problem, the failure to earn a high school diploma is receiving heightened attention because the causes and effects of dropping out have changed significantly. No longer is a dropout simply a young…

Attrition is a consistent feature of higher education--only about half the students who start college will ever receive a degree. The attrition rates of African-American students is even higher than that of their white counterparts. Attrition in general, and especially that of high risk students, is of great concern to university administrators…

Portions of this paper were presented at a research briefing, sponsored by the Subcommittee on Human Resources of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means. Results are presented from evaluations of several early intervention programs, all of which provided high quality, center-based early childhood education and…

This report summarizes results of AISD's State Compensatory Education programs for at-risk students in 2001-2002.

The aim of the present study was to address how to effectively predict mathematics learning disability (MLD). Specifically, we addressed whether cognitive data obtained during kindergarten can effectively predict which children will have MLD in third grade, whether an abbreviated test battery could be as effective as a standard psychoeducational…

This study examines six teachers' responses inside and outside of their classrooms to increasingly mixed messages about how they should develop the literacy of California's youngest and most at-risk students. While they must develop highly developed knowledge and skills to teach literacy in linguistically diverse classrooms, they must also adhere…

Numbers of At-risk students are rising in the public classrooms of our day. Standardized testing is a reality that is clearly defining the great chasm that stands between the performance of these children and what is expected of their age mates. Public junior and senior high schools face the quandary: How are At-risk students to be aided in their…