Academically resilient students are those students who are academically successful, despite coming from the socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds that have typically predicted poorer educational outcomes. These students are an important group to study because if policymakers can understand what factors may have contributed to their…

Japanese children's performance in school is a product of a social consensus favoring attention to children's learning, a set of cultural values focusing on the commitment of effort, and a psychological milieu in the family which encourages achievement in a safe and nurturant atmosphere. This paper treats especially this latter environment, that…

Since at least the 1980s, motivated, in part, by findings from international comparisons of students' mathematics achievement, some American (U.S.) educators and policy makers have initiated educational reform that focuses on improving teaching practices and curriculum designs by advocating for the adoption of Asian educational models. The…

This article reviews the existing anthropological and sociological evidence on school choice and educational stratification in Japan. Traditional linear models developed in the West have given little insight into how stratification processes actually occur. There must be analysis of the institutional linkages and organizational cultures of schools…