Using data drawn from the National School Effectiveness Study, this paper reveals that by Grade 4 35% of South African learners are overage. The study confirms what every other testing programme tells us about the poor state of learning which characterizes the system: the seeds of low pass rates at Grade 12 level, and of low participation and…

The development and validation of a measure of adolescent future expectations associated with work, education, family, health, and church/community participation is presented. The 25-item measure was administered to a sample of 389 7th- to 12th-grade urban poor and working-class Chilean students. Results of an exploratory principal axis factor…