The problem of increasing academic motivation and performance in low-achieving students is conceived as an instance of cognitive control, the deliberate process of regulating one's own thinking. The study used experienced teachers to aid in adapting and testing classroom techniques for helping low-achieving students to become more self-regulated learners. Instruments were developed to measure student self-report of various cognitive learning strategies and interpretations (mental planning, attributions, self-efficacy, etc.). A 6-week application of the classroom techniques with low socioeconomic status black high-school students showed low overall use of cognitive learning strategies, large differences in cognitive self-report between classes, and complex pre- and post-changes alternately favoring the treatment and control groups. Results are clouded by differences in teacher implementation and similarities between strategies used by treatment and control teachers. (Author)