The low literacy rate of Scheduled Tribes is a serious threat to Indian education. It is significant even to Kerala, the state with highest literacy rate. The intensity of the problem is reflected by the SSLC (Secondary School Leaving Certificate) examination results of March 2010 where the Palakkad district has scored the less pass percentage of…

Grade retention is an educational practice that requires students to repeat the grade level they have just completed (Jimerson, 2001). In the United States, an estimated 15% to 19% of students are retained each year (Holmes, 2006). Previous research on grade retention is comprised of quantitative studies describing students who have been retained…

The present paper describes a four-year project involving the development of a new instrument, the "Attitudes to School Science and Science" instrument, and its use to collect baseline attitudinal data from 280 students aged 11, 14, and 16 years. A key feature of the instrument is that it collects both descriptive and explanatory data in…

Big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) research has demonstrated that academic self-concept is negatively affected by attending high-ability schools. This article examines data from large, representative samples of 15-year-olds from each Australian state, based on the three Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) databases that focus on…

The present study was aimed at developing an attitude scale and then use it to reveal the attitude of mathematical gifted students' attitude towards mathematics. In the first phase of the study, an attitude-scale (AS) towards mathematics were designed using the psychometric approach. The AS was composed of seventeen items aimed to measure four…

This study examined the way performance accountability culture influenced the work of public high school principals. A qualitative multiple case study design was used to discover the way principals responded to, and coped with, performance accountability culture at the local level. Interviews of nine high school principals in the state of New…

This study is a first year principal's quest to transform the culture of Midwest Middle School (MMS). The study covers the 2009-2010 school year. The data from the 2008-2009 school year provided the baseline data for this study. Alarming results of a state survey regarding the culture of the medium sized suburban middle school caused concern. The…

Many models in science education have tried to clarify the causal relationships of affective variables on student performance, by presenting theoretical models, exploratory SEM (structural equation models), and confirmatory SEM. Based on the literature, the recent AS-TI-CU model scrutinised the most robust stimuli of conceptual understanding (CU):…

This report describes the effect of cooperative learning in low-track and regular classrooms, using the dimensions of student alienation, academic self-esteem, willingness to cooperate, and academic supportiveness. The investigators examined the influence of student agency in choosing peers for the cooperative groups in a high school science…

This paper reports partial findings of a qualitative interpretive study of female secondary school English language teachers' perceptions of curriculum change in the United Arab Emirates. The sample consisted of 16 female teachers in three secondary schools who had experience teaching the former and the current English language curricula. Data…

This article discusses research which explored the impact of the Learning Partnerships program on young people's attitudes to help-seeking. The Learning Partnerships program brings classes of high school students into universities to teach pre-service teachers and doctors how to communicate effectively with adolescents about sensitive issues such…

High school students participating in online courses offered by the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) completed end-of-course surveys in spring 2009. When the responses of 559 foreign language students were compared to students in five other subject area groups, the findings suggested foreign language students had significantly lower…

The purpose of this inquiry is to understand how student teachers reacted to homophobic rhetoric from students during their teaching placements. Focus group conversations with 111 student teachers over two years revealed their pupils' negative attitudes towards homosexuality and frequent use of homophobic pejoratives. How did these…

The study presents the results of an educational intervention during in-service training of secondary school teachers in Cyprus, which led to participants' development. The aim was twofold, first to reveal teachers' conception about cooperative learning and second to help teachers through simulation of cooperative learning to construct the…

A study was made of different emotions that prospective primary school teachers report with respect to science subjects, when they were pupils, and during their practice teaching, taking into account the variables gender and the specialty they studied in the secondary education. The study consisted of a questionnaire completed by 63 primary…