This paper describes an educational program for 28 adolescent delinquents at a training school for boys. All of the students had histories of educational failure. Individualized programed instruction and a system of extrinsic learning reinforcements were the experimental basis of the program. Points, exchangeable for money, were given to the…

A major reason for the public's concern about curriculum and instruction at all levels of education has evolved because of the serious decline in student academic achievement. After two decades of innovation in teaching styles there are increasing complaints about academic grade inflation, functional illiteracy, and student inability to read,…

Despite the support for the proposition that learning is enhanced by the reinforcement of correct responses, there remain learners who continue to fail when contingent reinforcement is administered, even though they may have the ability and be motivated to succeed. This condition, known as learned helplessness, presents a problem for instructional…

Conceptualizing progress through college as a sequential process, the study examined factors that affect rates of persistence and dropping out, using longitudinal data for a national sample of young men attending college in the late 1960's. A principal conclusion was that factors important to understanding persistence vary with the stage of the…

School characteristics associated with reading achievement and characteristics of low achievers in reading are examined in separate articles in this report. The first article begins with a review of the literature on school effects, arguing that there are school variables that show consistent associations with achievement, when the structure and…

The Astin study of dropouts is a national survey covering a large population; it is a longitudinal study and is related to action programs. This paper highlights some of the major aspects of the study, draws implications that have special significance to the black colleges, and suggests areas for further research that would appear to be of…

The Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) at Rockland Community College provides direct financial assistance to high risk students. This study compares the performances of 180 part-time EOP students enrolled for the fall 1971 semester (experimental group) with the performances of a randomly selected group of 47 part-time regular students (control…

The Educational Media Technician program at Burlington County College was operated from July 1, 1972 to December 31, 1974 by the Division of Learning Resources under a grant from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Bureau of Libraries. The purpose of the program was to train inmates from nearby Bordentown and Yardville reformatories…

The use of paraprofessionals as tutors for retarded readers has proved successful in reducing the number of school failures. Described here is a program that uses paraprofessionals drawn from the school's neighborhood in order to involve the community in solving some of its problems. This program is a psycho-educational service in a hospital…

A lack of efficiency and effectiveness among many students today in either oral or silent reading, a major mode of modern communication, is cited. It is reasoned that constructive steps must be taken toward improving reading abilities in both the high schools and colleges. The author refers specifically to steps that should be taken in Ohio by the…

This study sought information about selective service rejection in Delaware, specifically rejectee characteristics, reasons for rejection, and the high rejection rate in Delaware. The basic design was a modified case study method in which a sample of individual records were examined. Differences between this sample and national samples were tested…

The North Carolina Advancement School treats underachievement by attempting to improve the status of the psychological factors underlying it. It is held that one of the major problems with the study of underachievement has been its isolation from average achievers. To compensate, the Achievement School has collected comparable data during 1969-70…

In an attempt to lessen academic failure during the early years of schooling, 23 middle class kindergarten children who scored low on tests of cognitive development were given a special 6-week summer enrichment program. A control group of 23 low scorers received no enrichment program. Parents of the experimental subjects were invited to visit the…

Forty-two preschool children participated in this 2-year Head Start research project conducted at the University of Hawaii. The objectives of the overall project were (1) to focus interest on the need for early intervention with poorly-functioning preschool children with the intent to offer services of a preventive rather than remedial function;…

The purpose of this study was to discover what the nonreturning student does when he leaves Montgomery College and why he left prior to earning a degree. This report is the second phase of a total follow-up study conducted by the Office of Institutional Research. The first phase consisted of a study of what the 1970 graduates were doing four…