This chapter discusses the theoretical literature on why people choose to respond to a survey and reviews the latest empirical research on how survey administration and the characteristics of a survey affect response rates. (Contains 1 figure.)

As in many parts of the majority world, primary education in rural Bolivia is constrained by a range of factors: poor teaching quality, lack of resources, limited infrastructure, inadequate teaching materials, and low wages for teachers. Furthermore, high rates of absenteeism, drop-out, repetition, and failure can be exacerbated by children's work…

A worldwide problem in Engineering education is the high rates of students' failure and drop out particularly at the beginning of the course. This is related to the process by which students learn Mathematics. An innovative methodology of teaching calculus was developed and it is presented in this paper. The approach, based on both course…

This article is based on the presidential address I delivered at the 12th annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, held in June 2005 in Toronto. I trace the development of my interest in instructional research in, first, beginning reading and, more recently, in comprehension, and I describe studies designed to improve the…

The decade from 1985 to 1995 saw a very significant increase in the numbers of those staying on at school beyond the age of 16 in France, a process largely underpinned by the development of vocational and technological training. This article examines one of the crucial aspects of this "democratisation": the creation of educational routes…

Purpose: This research proposes a framework, which identifies the underlying factors that shape learning behavior in the workplace. It takes organizational members' perspectives into consideration to gain better understanding on managing people and their behavior in the organizational learning process. Design/methodology/approach: Primary data…

School counselors often have to give difficult news to parents, a process that can be stressful and troubling for everyone involved. While the reaction of each parent is unique, research indicates that many parents who have been given difficult news about their children feel that the information was delivered poorly. This article provides…

In this article, the author talks about his experience as an 11-year-old swimmer and shares the lessons he learned as a member of the swim team. In his experience as one of the slowest team members, he discovered that slow and steady does not win the race, and when the focus is only on achievement, one loses the value of failure. As an adult, he…

The Math Essential Skills Screener--Upper Elementary Version (MESS-U) is part of a series of screening tests designed to help identify students ages 9-11 who are at risk for mathematics failure. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, item analysis, decision efficiency, convergent validity and factorial validity of the MESS-U were studied…

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the regulation of goal orientations and strong "oughts" in students with learning disabilities (LD). Participants were 132 Greek students with state-identified LD using the achievement-discrepancy criterion, and 538 typical students. The first hypothesis tested was that feeling obliged to…

The purpose of the present studies was to test the hypothesis that students' perceptions of parental bonding may be predictive of how individuals approach achievement situations. It was hypothesized that reports of parental overprotection would be predictive of elevated fears and subsequent stress and low achievement compared to perceived parental…

"Twelve Together" is a one-year peer support and mentoring program for middle and early high school students that offers weekly after-school discussion groups led by trained volunteer adult facilitators. Each peer discussion group consists of about 12 participants, who are a mix of students at high risk of academic failure and others at…

In this article, the author examines how variability of socioeconomic backgrounds affects parental strategies and academic achievement among Korean American youths. The study compares experiences of high- and low-achieving Korean American high school students in New York City urban schools: 1) academically achieving students attending a…

This study used qualitative methodology to investigate the self-efficacy beliefs of early adolescents with learning disabilities (LD). We conducted a series of focus group interviews with 28 Grade 8 and 9 students with LD and individual interviews with 7 specialist LD teachers. Content analyses of the student and teacher data resulted in 2 a…

"Reading Recovery"[R] is a short-term tutoring intervention program intended to serve the lowest achieving (bottom 20%) first-grade students. Students are chosen for "Reading Recovery"[R] by school staff, and selection is based on prior reading achievement, diagnostic testing (the Clay Observation Survey of Early Literacy…