The Detroit Public Schools (DPS) have been battered by substantial outside forces over the last decade. The school system was taken over by the state; its elected school board was dissolved and replaced by an appointed body; its many operating systems were privatized; its citizenry were encouraged to flee to charter schools; and its resources have…

Background/Context: Despite recent gains from a number of students in U.S. schools, African American males continue to underachieve on most academic indices. Despite various interventions that have attempted to transform the perennial disenfranchisement, their school failure has persisted. Conversely, their failure in schools frequently results in…

To measure the extent to which schools are properly informing parents about NCLB school choice we sent emails to choice-eligible schools requesting information. The emails were made ambiguous in their origin and purpose so that schools could believe that they came from parents. What we found was widespread lack of cooperation. The vast majority of…

Research on subject matter instruction across the 20th century (e.g., Stevens, 1912; Bellack, 1966; Hoetker & Ahlbrand; 1969; Gall, 1970; Langer, 1999; Mehan, 1979; Nystrand, 1997;) reveals a preponderance of teacher-directed lecture, recitation, and round-robin reading of text in place of instruction that focuses on reading-to-learn, thinking,…

In this study a group of students with reading and writing difficulties relate their experiences of school to their expressed opinions concerning the possibilities of participation and influence in this setting. Twelve students at upper-level compulsory school or upper secondary school were interviewed. Mostly their reading and writing…

Most children who do not learn to read during the primary grades will probably never learn to read well. Children who reach the end of third grade with low literacy skills typically have less access to the regular curriculum, require long-term support, and fall further behind their peers in literacy achievement and curricular knowledge. However,…

Academic failure among first-year university students has long fuelled a large number of debates. Many educational psychologists have tried to understand and then explain it. Many statisticians have tried to foresee it. Our research aims to classify, as early in the academic year as possible, students into three groups: the "low-risk"…

High-stakes testing and accountability implicate failing schools more frequently and more precisely than ever before. Consequently, efforts to turn around these schools have become paramount for educators, policy actors, and community members. Through a synthesis of research on failing schools, this article unpacks the constructs of school failure…

The OEYP state-funded program provides extended learning for students who are at risk of academic failure. This report summarizes Austin Independent School District's OEYP activities during 2008-2009.

Many educators, parents, and policymakers continue to call for reforms to the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), citing concern about the 10 percent of California students who do not graduate because of their failure to pass the test. By law, current funding for tutoring those at risk of failing the CAHSEE is targeted at those in grade 12…

This quantitative study was designed to investigate if there was differences among the following groups: (1) school size, (2) class size, (3) ethnicity, (4) gender, and (5) a teacher's years of experience with respect to fifth grade TAKS math and reading scores when controlling for low socio-economic status for 1404 students at elementary campuses…

This study examined the reactions and feelings of students and their parents in regard to the nonpromotion experience. Families from four different school districts with children who had been retained at least once in grades one through eight were selected for the study. A total of 52 individuals from 22 families participated in 46 separate,…

Often when total quality management (TQM) does not live up to expectations, that failure is a sign that implementation of TQM was simply fashionable "management hype" or "window dressing" without strong organizational underpinnings. TQM can have staying power when it is backed up by leadership basics of training people…

The explanation of the anomalies that learning disabled students present depends on the discourse in which educators and researchers locate learning disabilities. The field of learning disabilities is a discipline in the midst of a paradigm shift in which the new discourses are incompatible with the field's basic tenets and assumptions.…

These facilitator's skill packets contain 12 units on skills needed for dealing with stress: (1) making a complaint; (2) answering a complaint; (3) sportsmanship after the game; (4) dealing with embarrassment; (5) dealing with being left out; (6) standing up for a friend; (7) responding to persuasion; (8) responding to failure; (9) dealing with…