Tenth graders' causal attributions about mathematics and reading success/failure were examined, along with relationships between these attributions and academic achievement and sex. Achievement data for 143, 153, and 105 of the students from grades 2, 5, and 10, respectively, were analyzed. Some attributions are sex specific, but others are not.…

Examines the relationship between academic locus of control and LOGO performance among Black and White primary school students in Zimbabwe. Found that Black females' LOGO scores were negatively related to internal academic locus of control, Black and White males' scores were positively related, and White females' scores were unrelated. (LS)

Type A and B students (N=159) received contingent or non-contingent feedback on an aptitude test, attended a lecture from an expressive or unexpressive instructor, and received an achievement test and attributional questionnaire. Non-contingent feedback lowered perceived control for both types. Self-perceptions of Type A students were unaffected…

Compares results of story telling to kindergarten students using text only, helpful video, and minimal video. Results indicate that multimedia technologies are valuable tools for supporting the development of story comprehension, mental model building, and literacy in young children who are at-risk for school failure. Sample stories used in…

Examined the self-protective role of social attributions by comparing individual attributions made to the self, to one's ethnic group, and to factors external to oneself. Results from 309 Black, Hispanic, and White mothers show they all attributed positive outcomes to themselves, while Whites attributed failure to themselves personally. Middle-…

Compared early adolescent involvement with antisocial peers and boys' experiences at age 10. Poor parental discipline and monitoring, peer rejection, and academic failure at age 10 predicted involvement with antisocial peers at age 12. Continuity between boys' antisocial behavior and peer contact at ages 10 and 12 was found. (BC)

This case study describes an unsuccessful research proposal submitted in response to a request for applications for projects to implement and evaluate up to 18 innovative programs for homeless persons with alcohol or other drug problems. This unsuccessful proposal reflects several tensions inherent in evaluation research. (SLD)

Common situations in which children perceive risk and in which adults can lend them a sense of security are described. Ways in which children can learn to become responsible for the risks they face and acquire a sense of security that makes some risks worth taking are reviewed. (SLD)

Suggests that music education by its nature is well suited to meeting the special needs of at-risk students. Discusses the role of music in motivating and enabling students to succeed. Defines the causes of failure as inability and lack of desire to learn when at-risk students receive the wrong kind of instruction. (DK)

This review describes Nonorganic Failure to Thrive, presents developmental outcomes, and discusses psychosocial assessment and intervention issues relevant to this developmental disability of early childhood, focusing on child-specific variables, situational and family variables, parent-child interaction variables, and biopsychosocial formulation…

The ability of 378 elementary school students (aged 9-12 years) in Israel to extract "lawfulnesses" (invariants) from experience and to react to error by reexamining the problem and finding the error was studied on a self-paced inference task. Results are discussed in terms of postfailure reflectivity and postfailure impulsivity. (SLD)

Fourth grade Taiwan students (94 males and 97 females) completed 2 cognitive risk-taking tasks with variable payoff or fixed payoff in a game or test context. Both variable payoff and game context increased the level of academic risk taking. Results are discussed concerning interactions between ability and risk taking. (SLD)

The at-risk concept has become a deficit notion. Policymakers neglect those for whom at-risk programs are intended, ignoring accounts of institutional injustice previously accompanying the term. At-risk has become an administrative agenda that identifies failure before it occurs. Effective reform efforts require parents, teachers, and students who…

Found that (1) children perceived that school failure attributed to lack of competence, task difficulty, and a bad explanation by the teacher is controllable; and (2) children with problems in learning and concentration perceived failure attributed to lack of effort as noncontrollable more often than did children without such problems. (BB)

Critiques special education as a professional and institutional practice and public education as social practice. Compares the Education for All Handicapped Children Act and the Regular Education Initiative. Argues that school organization and specialized professional culture are not conducive to educational excellence and equity and proposes…