This article identifies as problems both social promotion and minimum competency decisions. The author analyzes the need for attention to individual differences and proposes that educational excellence within a compulsory system can be achieved only when standards are adjusted in accordance with individual differences. (MM)

The Instructional Support Team (IST) Project of Pennsylvania identifies effective instructional approaches for students prior to referral for special education and helps support students with disabilities in regular classroom environments. Pennsylvania State Special Education Regulations and Standards require the IST process in schools that have…

Despite advances in primary school enrollment and completion in recent years, school completion in rural areas of Guatemala is low. The problem is especially severe among indigenous female students, where only about one in eight completes primary school. In 1997, the Guatemalan government launched an ambitious program designed to assist poor…

Some parents have chosen to delay their children's enrollment in kindergarten by a year because of individual differences in the pace and pattern of children's development. In other situations, some schools recommend delaying a child's school entry based on "readiness" testing or require that some kindergartners attend kindergarten for a…

This study surveyed 227 teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs) in New York City public schools about the adequacy of the school and classroom services provided to ELLs to help them meet the challenges of New York City's updated promotion and graduation standards. In addition to the teachers' surveys, the report compiles data from the New…

This study examined the relationship between family structure, expenditures on education, and children's educational outcomes for black South Africans, using the nationally representative 1995 October Household Survey. The analyses focused on 28,215 individuals, ages 10 to 24 years, who had not completed secondary schools. The findings indicated…

This paper provides an overview of evidence on education in South Africa provided by household survey data, with a particular focus on large national surveys such as the 1993 South African Living Standards Survey and the annual October Household Survey. These surveys indicate that racial gaps in schooling persist in South Africa, although they…

Surveyed reactions of experienced primary teachers to the educational changes mandated by the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) and whether these changes affected teacher retirement decisions. Responses indicated concern over the primary school program components of multiage grouping, no retention/no promotion, and increased mainstreaming. KERA…

This article describes how a first-grade teacher used poetry to provide students of diverse ability levels with reading and language activities that stimulated their interest and improved basic skills. Activities with poetry included reading the poems aloud individually and as a group, discussing and analyzing the poems' words and meanings, and…

Describes ways in which well-intentioned efforts to protect young children from inappropriate school practices have had the opposite effect. Readiness testing, retention, transition classes, tracking, and increased entrance age are discussed. Alternative strategies are proposed. (BB)

Achievement and ability of 135 retained elementary school students (grade 6) in Canada were compared with those of 103 matched continually promoted students. Reading comprehension, cognitive ability, and achievement test scores indicate that grade retention is ineffective in improving achievement and ability. (SLD)

The Carolina Longitudinal Learning Disabilities Project identified 42 first- and second-grade students with learning disabilities (LD) and compared their development over 5 years with that of randomly selected peers. Different variables were predictive for the two groups. Teacher perceptions of intelligence, measured intelligence quotient, grade…

Discusses the overwhelmingly positive evidence from experience and research which suggests that a multiage environment can be superior to one of age-segregated class levels. Illuminates the logic of educating students in mixed-age groups (called multiage) by discussing the academic and social advantages, the affective benefits, and the positive…

A study of 51 post-treatment survivors (ages 8-17) of cancer found they had difficulties in psychosocial adjustment in the areas of scholastic competence, emotional stability, and social competence. Students who repeated a grade were particularly concerned with academic performance and peer relationships. Homebound instruction was academically…

Reviews major issues germane to the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) case. Discusses the second wave of Texas standards-based reform that would institutionalize retention for students failing a state-mandated achievement test, proposed federal legislation limiting use of high stakes tests, and psychometric and policy lessons learned from…