The purpose of this study was to examine the development of oral reading fluency in a sample of first-grade children. Using growth curve analysis, models of growth were identified for a combined sample of at-risk (AR) and not-at-risk (NAR) children, and predictors of growth were identified for the longitudinal AR sample in first and second grade.…

The activity of working with a preservice teacher during an internship is a complex and intensive one representing a huge investment on the part of mentor teachers. Given this, it is not surprising that the effects on mentor teachers when their preservice teachers struggle or fail would be complex. We began to question how preservice teacher…

This article reviews the hypothesis that mind wandering can be integrated into executive models of attention. Evidence suggests that mind wandering shares many similarities with traditional notions of executive control. When mind wandering occurs, the executive components of attention appear to shift away from the primary task, leading to failures…

This paper focuses on the educational experiences of African-Canadian youth in Canada. Traditionally, the tendency is to emphasize the poor academic performance of black students or issues and problems related to reasons for academic failure or to stereotype them as "loud, lazy, muscular, criminal, athletic, dumb, deprived, dangerous,…

Mandated state testing, college entrance exams and their perceived need for higher and higher grade point averages have raised the anxiety levels felt by many of the average students. Too much focus is placed on state test scores and college entrance standards with not enough focus on the true level of the students. The author contends that…

Perfectionism, which the author defines as beliefs and behaviors associated with high expectations for one's performance, is not necessarily detrimental. Many successful people demonstrate perfectionism that the author labels "functional." They set goals that are attainable, based on realistic self-knowledge. When planning a new venture they focus…

Teenage mothers are acutely aware of the conventional wisdom on early childbearing: namely, that teen mothers' futures are bleak and that their children's development is compromised. This view, while supported by early research, has been tempered by more recent studies. After briefly reviewing trends in teen birthrates, this article highlights the…

In February 2000, with much fanfare, the British government announced funding of 62 million British Pounds ($113 million) for a national, commercial e-university called United Kingdom e-University (UKeU). The initiative was touted as an innovative response to the perceived opportunities and threats of online higher education--in the form of U.S.…

The Young Children's Achievement Test (YCAT; Hresko, Peak, Herron, & Bridges, 2000) is an individually administered achievement test designed to evaluate preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade children for risk of school failure. The test is comprised of five subtests specifically intended to assess general information, reading, mathematics,…

This article examines how an American preschool teacher's practice and her views of her practice for children considered at-risk for later academic failure are constrained by her cultural contexts. The research is framed by a cultural psychology and draws on an 18-month ethnographic and interpretive biographic study of Anita, an experienced…

Studies on the acting white hypothesis--the premise that black students purposefully do poorly in school and on standardized tests because of racialized peer pressure--to explain the black-white achievement gap have not been able to negate the fact that a "burden of acting white" exists for some black students, even though it is not prevalent…

The tertiary education system has been transformed from an elite-oriented system to a system providing tertiary education to a much larger share of each new generation. This re-orientation has contributed to raising education attainment in Belgium. However, in many respects the organisation of the tertiary education systems has not been changed…

Responsiveness to intervention (RTI) is proposed as a valuable construct for schools because of its potential utility in providing appropriate learning experiences for all students as well as the early identification of students as being at risk for academic failure. RTI can be conceptualized as providing a framework for systemic reform directed…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the research literature on three-tier models of reading and behavior and to provide a descriptive analysis and meta-analytic review of these models. An in-depth review of 17 articles was conducted on the similarities and differences between and among three-tier models of reading (n = 5), models of behavior…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) experience difficulty in the educational environment at two levels: behaviorally and academically. Behavioral and academic problems in students with EBD are reciprocal in nature. Behavioral problems may cause a disruption in academic engagement, including a student's attending to instruction,…