An extension program sponsored by the Venezuelan government attempted to change a rural area's shifting cultivation system into one that produced cash crops. The program's failure was due in part to the lack of understanding on the part of the extension agents regarding the communities' traditional resource use systems. (LH)

This paper reviews recent literature regarding the impact of teacher expectations on student performance. The first section reviews recent literature with respect to teacher expectations in which teacher characteristics were viewed as the dependent variable in the interaction. The focus of the second section is to review recent literature where…

The At-Risk Children and Youth Task Force in North Carolina has spent almost a year grappling with the many and complex problems of at-risk children and youth. Presented are the recommendations of the task force. The recommendations are based on hours of indepth interviews, hours of reading, and time spent listening to parents, educators, and…

Experienced elementary teachers (N=98) described their general strategies for coping with failure syndrome students and told how they would handle incidents depicted in two vignettes portraying failure syndrome problems at school. Compared to their responses concerning some of the other problem student types addressed in the Classroom Strategy…

It is important to know and understand the cultural heritage of Hispanic students if this population is to achieve academic success. Excessive drop out rates coupled with low high school and postsecondary graduations indicate the need for reforming school reading/writing and academic curricula. Also, educators at all levels need to be aware of the…

This study reports the results of a best-evidence synthesis of research on the use of one-to-one tutoring delivered by adults to students in the primary grades who are learning to read. The synthesis includes research on five programs: Reading Recovery, Success for All, Prevention of Learning Disabilities, the Wallach Tutorial Program, and…

This review of literature on stress and reading disabilities covers some affective research and theoretical footings. The research is considered in terms of historical research foundations (up to 1979) and recent research findings (1979-1989). The literature relates emotional stress either as cause, effect, or a concomitant aspect of reading…

Past research has produced conflicting results concerning the manner in which Type As and Bs make attributions following success and failure. Some studies find that Type As are more likely than Type Bs to blame themselves for all outcomes, particularly failure. Other research indicates that Type As are more self-serving in their post-performance…

The 1984-85 age-grade distribution for the New York City Public Schools shows that one-third of the city's approximately 850,000 general education and resource room students were above the standard age for their grade. The proportion of overage students increased in the upper grades; in grades nine, ten, and eleven, over half were above standard…

In order to restore public confidence in intercollegiate athletics (following well-publicized problems) it is necessary to address a set of serious systematic problems, suggests the president of the American Council on Education. Diagnosis and treatment of the underlying pathology is important to avoid dealing with the symptoms alone. The…

Intended to be of help to teachers who deal with students having problems in reading, this annotated bibliography examines research findings on the relationship between reading achievement and self-concept in elementary students. The introductory portion states the problem and the purpose of the study, as well as its limitations and organization.…

A study assessing the need for English instruction to increase the proficiency of nonnative speakers taking licensing examinations in 24 health sciences in British Columbia is described. Ten areas of study are reported: groups of potential learners, language screening used before the licensing examinations, why nonnative speakers fail the…

There has been an increasing call for school psychologists to spend time collecting data that are functionally related to the planning of academic interventions. In order to identify the problem and plan for remediation, data must be taken that bear directly on the child's academic problems in the classroom and the curricular sequences actually…

Proposed 1989 standards will raise the passing score on the College Level Academic Skills Test from 275 to 295 in computation, from 270 to 295 in reading and writing, and from 4 to 5 on the essay test. A study was conducted at Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) to examine the impact of these proposed standards on the passing rates of students…

This study addresses the effect that grade retention has on dropping out of school. A structural model was developed to test the effect of grade retention on dropping out while controlling for the effects of other possible mediating variables, especially achievement. This model with slight modifications was applied across four different school…