The inner-city school needs to be blitzed with high voltage talent and motivated professionals. A sprinkling here and there cannot possibly do the job. Tokenism, public relations, and educational fads have all been tried and all have failed. (Author/SJL)

The authors review some of the shortcomings in schools trying to translate mainstreaming theory into practice: lack of a full range of special placement options, over-reliance on consultation and resource teacher programs, and failure to furnish adequate special instruction in regular classrooms. (Author/SJL)

While minimum competency testing may cause education to become less pluralistic, its effect will weigh most heavily upon those who fail to pass the tests. Because such testing does nothing to improve teaching or learning, one result will be to hold the student responsible for the educational system's failure. (Author/GC)

In an experiment using graduate students, fear of success and fear of failure were highly related factors, but neither interacted with item difficulty to affect test performance. Neither fear of failure nor fear of success influenced males or females differently. (Author/GDC)

Successful and unsuccessful elementary school students are compared with respect to: (1) self-esteem, (2) self-concept of academic ability, (3) intellectual achievement responsibility--locus of control, and (4) the students' concept of home concern and reward for academic achievement. Several self concept tests are described, and bibliographical…

Responds to an article by S. Alan Cohen on oral language deficiency and its relation to reading failure, and concludes that reading achievement and reading failure are largely determined by cognitive and communicative strategies that may be socialized differently in diverse social and ethnic groups. (JM)

A procedural model, designed to assist practitioners in working with students with learning problems, targets three stages of the diagnostic-prescriptive teaching process: (1) defining the problem; (2) assessing potentially causal mismatches between child, task, and setting; and (3) intervening by eliminating or minimizing mismatches. (Author/CB)

Discusses the relationship between English language proficiency and academic success of English as a second language (ESL) students in universities and colleges where English is the language of instruction. The study points out difficulties associated with determining this relationship and makes suggestions for establishing guidelines to determine…

A list is presented of 70 typical academic problems of learning-disabled children that special educators must be able to diagnose and remedy. The problems are categorized as follows: reading, language, spelling, handwriting, arithmetic, thinking, and school task and behavior problems. (JDD)

Explanations for the low school performance of minority children are critiqued. When these explanations are considered in light of social theory, it can be seen how the legitimacy of schools and teachers are factors in school success. A new, more culturally responsive pedagogy is necessary. (VM)

The failure of a geography instruction project in Jamaica suggests the following recommendations to educators considering similar strategies: (1) arrange time off for teacher participants; (2) offer tangible rewards; (3) select suitable teachers who are committed to their subject; (4) offer training in group interaction skills; and (5) limit…

The Ohio County schools in Wheeling, West Virginia are identifying high-risk kindergarten children and enrolling them in an all-day kindergarten program. A pilot study showed that the additional instructional time can help these children overcome patterns of failure. (TE).

Current demands for educational excellence will probably help better students get better; may help average students, who struggle, to enhance achievement; but may create more dropouts among poor students. Students with low grade point averages benefit little from exposure to tougher courses and suffer from loss of vocational and general education…

Academic failure goes hand in hand with juvenile crime. In searching for a solution to the problem, however, one must not look only to the courts. Author states that a team effort on the part of parents, schools, social agencies, and the courts is necessary--with society as a whole accepting ultimate responsibility. (Editor/RK)

Michael G. Thompson knows independent schools. He attended them in elementary and secondary school, and has worked in them as a psychologist. He consults with more than 30 schools a year, addressing a myriad of issues related to complex human interaction. He has written often in "Independent School" about everything from understanding the social…