Children are faced with an increased potential for academic failure due to less stable family lives and career-oriented parents. Cross-cultural reading instruction practices and programs can provide insights that could prevent such failure for children at-risk. One such program is the reading maintenance program used in Denmark, wherein groups of…

Reviewing research on grade retention, this paper describes tools and guidelines developed as an aid in retention decisions and examines actual promotion/retention policies and practices. Most research on academic and social effects of grade retention suffers from poor methodology, leaving the conclusions suspect and the results contradictory. The…

A partnership project to develop and demonstrate a model for interagency cooperation between school districts and city governments operated for slightly over a year in Emeryville (California). Successful results of the project included collection of needs assessment data, completion of a social services resource guide, reopening of school…

The effectiveness of traditional models of remedial education of students has been called into question. Current research supports models that would merge remedial and regular education and provide all students with broad curriculum access and the opportunity to receive instruction that is adaptive to their needs. Guidelines for addressing…

The report of the National Longitudinal Transition Study presents initial findings on the educational experiences since 1985-86 of more than 8,000 youth (ages 13 to 23) with disabilities. The report addresses three questions: (1) What educational programs and other services are provided to secondary special education students? (2) How well do…

Faculty and medical students' conceptions of an optimal progression toward graduation as defined by academic and psychosocial markers were compared. Twenty-four academic indicators of success or difficulty, primarily examination scores or clerkship evaluations, and 10 other indicators of progress toward graduation were assessed by 23 faculty and…

A study was conducted to determine the reading level of students in a college remedial reading and writing class, the gains they made during a semester of instruction, the differences in gains made by students taking the remedial class alone and those taking that class and the normal basic composition course, and the differences in gains made by…

Freshmen who received less than a 2.0 grade average during their first semester at college were asked to indicate on a written questionnaire the extent to which 68 factors were or were not a reason for their poor academic performance. Respondents were also encouraged to supply additional observations about their educational experiences that seemed…

Berkeley undergraduates were surveyed in 1970 and again in 1973 to identify determinants of the decision to leave college among four types of leavers: failing transfers, failing dropouts, transfers in good standing, and dropouts in good standing. The following student characteristics are analyzed: family background, academic preparation, family…

A study involving 513 developmental math students at eight Illinois community colleges was conducted to determine the correlation between student success or failure in developmental math courses and nine independent variables: (1) instructional method, i.e. "traditional," in which the instructor sets the pace for learning, and "nontraditional," in…

Since the phonic abilities of high school shorthand teachers and students affect the students' mastery of dictation and transcription, a study was conducted (1) to develop a dictation/transcription learning cycle depicting the phoneme/grapheme correspondence in the two processes; (2) to determine the phonetic patterns of correspondence of the…

The progress of students under 21 years old at the United Kingdom's Open University (OU) was compared with a sample of mature students, using sociological and psychometric research methods. The research goal was to consider whether the OU's teaching system originally designed for adults is suited to the needs and circumstances of students in the…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 30 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the effect of a series of lessons based on real life experiences for improving reading achievement; (2) reading achievement and the transition from letter to…

The basic objective of this third research phase was to verify and further delineate factors that are constant and valid contributors to the success of postsecondary occupational students enrolled in developmental programs. Follow-up research on a longitudinal basis was conducted on nontraditional students at six New York colleges. Of…

AFTER ACHIEVING SATISFACTORILY FOR SEVERAL YEARS, SIOUX INDIAN STUDENTS TEND TO SHOW A REVERSAL OF THIS PROCESS AND BEGIN A STEADY DECLINE IN ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT. TO STUDY THIS PROBLEM, AN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WAS SELECTED WHICH INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING OGLALA SIOUX YOUNGSTERS--(1) 164 EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS FROM SEVEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, AND (2) 159…