Slow learners, such as students with borderline intellectual functioning, represent one of the most challenging student populations for administrators and teachers. Standard systems and supports are often ineffective--even counterproductive--because they fail to meet students' specific learning needs and instead create a cycle of failure. This…

The relationship between 45 high school students' attitudes and their involvment in peer-tutoring programs for "slow learners" was examined. Results showed that students' attitudes toward tutees were unrelated to peer-tutoring behavior, whereas there was a trend for their attitudes towards their own tutees to predict whether they met with them.…

This article reports a study that compared slow learners' attitudes toward the freedoms described in the Canadian Bill of Rights with those of vocational and academic students. As a group, slow learners in Canada scored significantly below vocational and academic students, and the scores for each group suggested only a slight libertarian bias.…

Presented is a simple and effective formula for aiding low ability, nonmotivated secondary students to construct an essay. It avoids the particulars of composition, like syntax, and concentrates on organization. (KC)

Discusses a study of secondary education for slow learners. Includes discussion of program organization, identification of slow learners, teacher selection, and curriculum. (JOW)

Four steps for using the aptitudes conversion procedure for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised are obtaining a summary of numerical aptitude ratings; identifying possible placements from the "Dictionary of Occupational Titles" or the "Handbook for Analyzing Jobs"; narrowing placements to match individual needs…

Offering a variety of thoughts and courses for consideration, the theme for this particular issue is electives. Chapters include "How Can They Hear You When They're Snoring? An English Elective for Non-Motivated Students,""'The Literature of Alienation': An English Elective,""Elective Courses in English; A Giant Step toward Individualization and…

Typing special material of interest to high school students but on a third or fourth grade reading level is a way of instructing reading comprehension to slow learners at Bayside (New York) High School. A STAR (Students' Typing and Reading) lesson is described. (MF)

Presents a method of teaching science that employs two kinds of graphic organizers of information, the matrix and the branch-out strategies. Argues that these methods are particularly relevant for slower learners. Provides graphic examples. (HB)

Results of the pilot study indicated that the matching cloze procedure--which does not require language production skills--may provide the classroom teacher of educable mentally retarded children with an evaluation procedure which is both psychometrically and ontologically valid, as well as being easy to construct. (Author/DLS)

Presents tips to teachers of slow-learning junior high and high school students in social studies courses. To help teachers make the material in the textbooks more interesting to students, the article suggests developing an instructional strategy and creating reading guides geared to their students' reading level. (DB)

Discusses a method to motivate low level students in which a reading specialist attended class regularly as a "student." By questioning the teacher, comparing notes with students, and acting as a role model, the reading specialist helped these students improve their grades, their class behavior, and increase their self-esteem. (GEA)

The use of literature in a U.S. history class can revitalize the curriculum. The applicability of biographies, historical fiction, and contemporary fiction to history classes is discussed. A brief annotated list of appropriate sources, chronologically arranged for reluctant, average, and advanced readers, is included. (AM)

Suggests that investigation of contemporary problems be included in social studies/citizenship education programs and stresses the relevance of contemporary problems to social studies curricula for slow learners. Literature pertaining to citizenship education is reviewed, and research to determine effects of a study of contemporary issues on…

A successful program was designed to increase the self-esteem of slow learners in secondary social studies classes. Aspects intended to affect self-esteem were: (1) the suitability of the method; (2) the intellectually challenging material and activities; and (3) the anticipated positive feedback from significant others. (Authors/JN)