This book argues that the overemphasis in school systems on all students meeting high academic standards is detrimental to meeting the needs of idiosyncratic students in unique life circumstances and with aberrant behavior. The book presents stories from one teacher's experience in teaching remedial reading to seventh and eighth graders in a…

Discusses how self concept and its adaptations to academic success and failure are related to each other and to "cultural therapy." Analyzes research with a German agricultural community undergoing industrialization, and Menominee Indians adapting to majority culture using the Instrumental Activities Inventory (IAI). Extends the analysis…

Organizational innovation is a difficult process. Most innovations fail. If an innovation fails there is a high probability the organization will be fractured. It is easy to break apart an organization. It is much more difficult to build it back up. This is a case study of an innovation in a branch of a large private English language school in…

The family plays a primary socializing role in the lives of boys and girls. The quality of relationships within the family is a particularly important element in the development of adolescent behaviors. A great deal of research demonstrates that family interactions characterized by parental nurturance, warmth, and social support reduce…

These three papers address educational improvement through partnerships between institutions of higher education and elementary/secondary schools. In the first paper, "Partnerships for America's Children," Kati Perry Haycock challenges educators in elementary/secondary schools and in higher education to use partnerships to create a continuum for…

An intensive immersion program in English-as-a-Second-Language instruction developed at Pepperdine University (California), a small liberal arts college, is described. The program was designed for limited-English-speaking foreign students who are at risk for academic failure without additional English language skills. Focus of this discussion is…

The content and activities of the nontraditional component of single parent/homemaker projects across Kentucky was perceived by past participants as not being as helpful as other parts. The study determined whether barriers to nontraditional occupations were valid for Kentucky, identified new barriers, identified components of previous projects,…

This needs assessment was prepared to aid in budget planning of special/compensatory/remedial programs in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District (AISD). District data and student needs were examined for 1986-87 in 10 categories: prekindergarten classes, limited English proficiency, migrant status, special education, student dropouts,…

This document is an executive summary of a report asserting that the under-education of a body of students, known as "at-risk" youth, presents a crisis in American public education that has been overlooked by the educational reform movement of the 1980s. These youth are referred to as "at-risk" because they leave school…

A large amount of research has been done in the past few decades to pinpoint the effects of test anxiety on the performance of those taking tests. Much of that research is listed in this bibliography, which originated with a computer search of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) data base, Psychological Abstracts, Comprehensive…

This volume is introduced by Sid Simon's discussion of the "Wad-Ja-Get?" syndrome--society's obsession with grades--and where it has led. Simon also explains each author's strong identification with the grading issue, and presents seven major questions that the authors, in the book, attempt to answer. His overview provides a perspective for…

This chapter moves toward defining high-risk youth as young persons with low probabilities of gaining an education, getting a job, parenting effectively, or being able to participate in the political process. Five snapshots are presented of the latest information on the prevalence of the five categorical behaviors of interest: (1) substance abuse,…

One of the primary essentials to an intelligent appraisement of the success of higher education is an analysis of college student mortality. By student mortality is meant the failure of students to remain in college until graduation. Moreover, the first step in determining the advisability of reforms in higher education is the discovery,…

This PowerPoint report summarizes AISD student demographic and performance results at middle schools as of the end of the 2007-2008 school year.

This module is part of a training program for foster parents and foster care workers offered at Colorado State University. The module's learning objectives address: (1) factors that interact to affect child development; (2) developmental milestones for infants and young children; (3) parenting processes appropriate to the childhood years; (4)…