Discusses various issues surrounding inability of individualized reading approach to improve reading ability of poor readers at elementary level. Suggested reasons for failure include school environment, peer pressure, self-concept, and individual reading difficulties. Teachers' role in addressing reading failure in children is considered. (DST)

Children were interviewed in two studies to compare the attribution patterns of those with and without learning problems. Normally achieving children in both studies followed the expected pattern of attributing success more internally and failure more externally. Learning disabled children did not follow the expected pattern for failure.…

Presents a theoretical framework for analyzing minority students' school failure and the relative lack of success of previous attempts at educational reform, such as compensatory education and bilingual education. The author suggests that these attempts have been unsuccessful because they have not altered significantly the relationships between…

The Mathematics Attribution Scale-Algebra (MAS) was designed to assess attributions to ability, effort, task, and environment for success or failure in algebra. The study examined the reliability and validity of the MAS with high ability high school students. Results present a complicated picture of the psychometric properties of the MAS. (Author)

Describes research concerned with the way teachers' expressions of sympathy and anger toward failing students influence students' thoughts and self-perceptions. Examines the role that causal attributions play in the understanding and experience of achievement-related affect. (CB)

Subject anxiety is a special case of general anxiety that is encountered by the adult learner in many traditional and nontraditional educational programs. The number of adult learners who require special treatment in order to avoid failure or course avoidance is significant. (Author/SSH)

This study investigated the roots of minority underperformance in selected colleges and universities. Drawing on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen, the study developed a comprehensive analysis of the pathways by which students of differing backgrounds enter higher education in the United States. The chapters are: (1) "The…

This booklet synthesizes principles of motivation that have emerged from research examining the effect of motivational practices on school learning. It addresses achievement motivation, intrinsic motivation, goal orientation, and the effect of teacher practices on the promotion of motivational beliefs, motivation strategies, and willpower. It also…

This report examined the academic review processes at the three Department of Defense service academies, describing how the academies use these processes to review cases of students who have not met academic performance standards. Based on interviews with academy officials and relevant documents, it outlines the review processes in place at the…

This article provides early elementary school teachers with specific strategies to support the diverse needs of children who are vulnerable for failure in school. Children who are vulnerable include those who have an increased risk for failure because of specific characteristics that have been found to predict problems in school, such as poverty.…

This policy brief presents an in-depth look at the issue of grade-retention in Texas, reviews research that finds this practice to be ineffective, and outlines alternatives to both retention and social promotion. In-grade retention has been a recurrent theme in education over the last 30 years, and it is currently linked to calls for higher…

If educational success and failure are social accomplishments, then they are communicatively constituted; to this end, communication education scholars must begin to add their voices to a conversation started long ago in education. A study explored the likelihood of educational failure as a social construction. This paper does not neglect the…

This article discusses four current explanations for man's failure to resolve conflicts. Information about and techniques for improving human judgment and opportunities for students to learn to use these are needed to improve efforts to solve social problems. (KM)

Factors are discussed which may have played a part in the failure of the Chicago Yough Development Project to fit ghetto youth into the "straight" world despite their possession of impressive nonstandard skills. (SA)