This paper explores key gender differences in motivation from a quantitative perspective and presents findings from a qualitative study into boys' perceptions of motivating teachers and motivating pedagogy. Data collected from 3773 high school students suggest that girls score significantly higher than boys in their belief in the value of school,…

Students in gateway business, math, and science courses at Northern Arizona University receive non-passing grades (grades of D, F, and W) at high rates. To identify possible trends in demographic groups that receive DFWs and to investigate why students receive DFWs in these courses, a student survey was administered to 719 students in 7 gateway…

Mentoring programs are increasingly popular as preventive and/or supportive interventions for youth with various needs. A meta-analysis of mentoring program effects conducted by DuBois, Holloway, Valentine, and Cooper (2002) suggests that youth from backgrounds of risk (defined broadly) have the capacity to benefit from mentoring, especially when…

The self-defeating behavior of some students can often make even the most persistent of teachers to feel discouraged. The purpose of this article is to explain and provide a research-based rationale for the use of teacher verbal feedback prompts that convince students of their ability to succeed on a task. He discusses how to understand the…

The study described in this paper used data from two national samples of families with children to describe the home environments in which welfare children are being raised and to identify the children's health, learning, and behavior problems. The study compared children whose families had received Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)…

Noting that the interpersonal dynamics between parents who are high achieving and children who are not achieving up to their potential can be the cause of the disparity, this book explores how children become underachievers and how parents can improve their expectations and the emotional climate to allow their child to feel happy and successful.…

The Phi Delta Kappa Study of Students At Risk assessed who is at risk, what puts students at risk, what schools are doing to help those students, and how effective these efforts are. Data were collected about 21,706 students, 9,652 teachers, and 276 principals; 65 case studies were completed; and holding power data about 27,250 students in 95 high…

This publication contains two essays and an annotated bibliography of publications about risk. The entries in the bibliography were produced by the various clearinghouses in the ERIC system. The first essay, "Who Is at Risk? Definitions, Demographics, and Decisions," by Aaron M. Pallas, categorizes personal, family, and environmental factors that…

This paper presents salient points of a comprehensive project on the educational problems of southern European migrant workers' children in schools in Germany. These selected findings concern the origins of the migrants, the selectiveness of the migration process, and the school situation of the children of the migrants and of those migrants who…

This study was conducted at Mississippi State University (MSU) Meridian, to evaluate the student teaching experience and to determine adjustments required to improve the teacher education program. Participants consisted of 81 elementary, secondary, and special education students from two MSU campuses. Instruments utilized in the study included a…

The Mississippi Teacher Assessment Instruments (MTAIs) contain 16 teaching competencies (14 competencies measured by 3 separate instruments of the MTAI, and 2 performance standards assessed by the local district). The Teaching Plans and Materials MTAI guides assessment of beginning teachers' competence in planning instruction, selecting…

The effectiveness of a peer leadership program connecting senior high school students with at-risk, new eighth-graders in seven Atlanta (Georgia) high schools is evaluated. The program trains the peer leaders in leadership and group dynamics and then places pairs of leaders with 10 or 12 advisees for weekly meetings. The study population includes…

This paper evaluates the Required Academic Proficiency tutorial program, implemented in the Houston (Texas) Independent School District (HISD) to reduce academic failure. Students are eligible for the program if they are failing (scoring lower than 70 on a scale of 100). A total of 14,748 students, eligible and non-eligible, attended the tutorials…

A case study followed a child from birth to approximately age eight, recording his early successes with learning language and reading skills, and then discusses his academic decline after being labeled a low achiever and a candidate for remedial classes. The child had learned to construct words from magnetic letters at an early age, and by age…

This report analyzes practices and conditions that seek to prevent at-risk behaviors among adolescents. Discussion begins with a description of the developmental tasks that adolescents need to complete before they can assume productive adult roles in society. While two conflicting views of adolescence are noted, the capacity of young people to…