Most of the troubles poor at-risk children have are not "loud" problems like disruptive behavior or gang involvement. They are "quiet." The range of these problems is vast. Hunger, dehydration, asthma, obesity, and hearing problems can all insidiously trip children up in school. Some quiet problems are psychological--depression, anxiety, the fear…

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Kindergarten Cohort, this study was designed to investigate proportional representation, identification rates, and predictors of language-minority (LM) learners in special education using a nationally representative sample of kindergarten, first graders, and third graders. The findings…

Dr. Orfield's highly readable guide on vision development presents ground-breaking solutions to common learning problems and is supported by substantial data. This holistic common sense--that most people do not know--is not just about vision but also how vision is interrelated with learning. It teaches how to care for a child's vision as well as…

An exercise based on images that might shift the balance in favor of students who have superior visual perception and possibly those with language problems and specific learning disabilities, was reviewed. The pictorial format of learning exercise not only increased the students' performance, but also helped students with specific learning…

This report presents results from a multisite, quantitative evaluation of the international Success for Kids (SFK) after-school program. The program seeks to build resilience in children by teaching them to access inner resources and build positive connections with others. The SFK program is unlike most after-school programs both in its focus on…

The nation's focus on the literacy skills of students--especially boys--has produced many notions of reform. School districts reorganized and changed curricula to meet the needs of struggling readers and writers. In New York City, where this author was teaching, "Balanced Literacy" (a reading and writing workshop) had been implemented in…

Discusses factors which stop people from learning and suggests approaches that can help overcome them. (EB)

The proportion of school children on Oahu, Hawaii with learning problems who had been independently reported to the state child abuse agency was compared, after age adjustment, to the rate of such reporting for all children on the island and was found to be 3.5 times higher. (Author)

Discusses research on the "summer loss" of academic progress, especially among students from poor families. Asserts that phenomenon is virtually ignored by policymakers. (PKP)

As public policies increasingly hold schools responsible for preventing school failure, experiences of other organizations that must operate with high reliability may be helpful. This article builds on previous studies of high reliability organizations to inquire how their strategies might inform efforts to improve reliability in loosely coupled…

How do children learn math--and why do some children struggle with it? The answers are in "Number Sense and Number Nonsense," a straightforward, reader-friendly book for education professionals and an invaluable multidisciplinary resource for researchers. More than a first-ever research synthesis, this highly accessible book brings math…

The House of Commons Select Committee on Education (2006) estimated that around 18% of all pupils in England were categorised as having Special Educational Needs (SEN). "Around 3% of all children (250,000) had a statement of SEN and around 1% of all children were in special schools (90,000) which represent approximately one third of children…

The current study investigates how two groups of mathematically gifted pupils with learning difficulties (MG/LD) change/do not change their attitudes towards, and beliefs about, mathematics over five weeks during which they received two different instructional programs in mathematics. Thirty pupils (16 girls and 14 boys), aged 10 years to 11 years…