A new English teacher at the Air Force Academy describes his experience with students' academic shortcomings and his own expectations, concluding that teachers need training in taking risks, accepting failure, and findings ways to foster new learning and growth, both in themselves and in students. (MSE)

Reviews conditions in the environment that put the children of Hispanic migrant workers at risk for developing physical and cognitive disabilities. These include inadequate environmental protection, poor housing, and lack of access to health care and community resources. Strategies to facilitate positive change for farm worker families and…

Advocates further revision of the developmentally appropriate practice guidelines of the National Association for the Education of Young Children to more fully recognize the implications of cultural and linguistic diversity and racial equality for the education of young children. Focuses on culture and universality, parent-professional…

Students with special needs share the same basic needs for literacy instruction. General-education teachers should maintain primary responsibility for literacy education for all students, while special educators and reading specialists provide support. This paper examines obstacles to quality literacy instruction, offering a school-based case…

Kindergarten teachers rated the progress of 303 kindergartners toward six academic objectives. Thirty-eight students who received unsatisfactory ratings were matched to 34 children with satisfactory ratings. Identified children had poorer academic achievement, phonological processes, and working memory, and more behavior problems. Follow-up at…

Suggests techniques to assist middle level students who fail because of lack of confidence. Examines reasons for student failure and discusses procedures to identify underachievers and use classroom tests to create a mindset for success. Describes procedures for providing extra help to allow underachieving students to achieve success. Discusses…

Explores the ambivalence of many working class parents to the idea of school choice. Maintains that, for many working class parents, school is associated with powerful memories and images of personal failure. Includes excerpts from interviews and data collected from an Economic and Social Research Council study. (MJP)

A teacher describes the frustrations of an intelligent, learning-disabled fourth-grader who cannot pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System despite standard academic accommodations. The teacher advocates development of alternative or "nonstandard" accommodations and tests that assess students' spatial, problem-solving, and…

A published author's bad experiences with the writing portion of high stakes exams illustrate how such evaluations do not give everyone a fair shot at success. The author's test failures resulted from poor handwriting, inability to shorten the reflective thinking process, and unwillingness to communicate in a rigidly task-oriented form. Contains 6…

With passage of several recent laws, the California State legislature intended to end social promotion, replacing it with a system of prevention, intervention, and retention. The "strategic schooling" approach depends on three elements: targets (both students and content), continuous feedback via assessments, and organizational and…

Two studies involving 29 third-grade teachers found that overall, teachers used whole class instruction for reading and the same materials for all students, including students with learning disabilities. Students with learning disabilities made little academic progress and their attitudes about reading did not improve over time. (Contains…

This article addresses translating phonological awareness research for classroom reading instruction. It presents a practical overview of phonological awareness development and its relationship to beginning reading. Formal and informal assessment methods of children's phonological awareness are presented, and strategies are described for…

Describes a follow-up study on student performance that investigated whether students' lack of success in an introductory psychology course was specific to the class or part of a general pattern of failure. Finds that 9.5% of the students did not finish the course successfully and that academic intervention did not help. Contains 14 references.…

Attempting to capture the complexity of learning on standardized state assessments severely limits student knowledge and expression. Inevitably, schools reduce the curriculum to what is covered on tests. Students control their learning. Constructivist teachers structure lessons around big ideas, value relevance, and strive to challenge students'…

Explains that problem students will have an opportunity to succeed in their education if they are given a chance to attend a rehabilitation institution where they will interact with a community of their peers who all suffer from similar predicaments. Provides three examples of rehabilitation institutions in Russia. (CMK)