Table of Contents Ⅰ. School Achievement of K-8 Students 1. Discrepancies Between Aspirations and Preparation of Low SES Elemantary Students 2. Family Involvement: Learning from Secondary Schools in the Texas Borderland 3. Children's Math Self-Concept and it's Relationship with Mathematics Achievement 4. Hopes Transcend Fears: School Transition in an Urban School Cluster System 5. A Cross- National Study of Children's Perceived Control: Its Dimensionality and Relationship with Achievement 6. The ABC's for Effective Schools: Creating a Nurturing Environment to Enhance Learning 7. Perspectives of African American Parents of High Achieving Students Regarding the Home-School Relationship Ⅱ. Perspectives on High School Academic Performance 8. Cultural Differences in Self-Esteem: Ethnic Variations in the Adaptation of Recent Immigrant Asian Adolescents 9. Re-Engineering Academic Success Through Institutional Support 10. The Persistence of African American College Students: How National Data Inform a Hopwood-Proof Retention Strategy 11. Acdemic Achievement of Latino Immigrants 12. Nurturing the Mind to Improve Learning: Teacher Caring and Student Engagement 13.Predictors of Academic Achievement Among African Amercian Adolescnets 14. Blach Students' Achdemic Performance and Preparation for Higher Education Ⅲ. Improving Learning in Postsecondary Education 15. Creative Pedagogy to Enhance the Academic Achievement of Minority Students in Mathematics: Lessons from African American Mathematics Teachers 16. Minority Student Persistence: A Model for Colleges and Universities 17. Feasible Learning Oppprtunities for Urban Latino Students in Community College 18. Observing the Spirit of Reasilience: The Relationalship Between Life Experiences and Success in Higher Education for African Amertican Students 19. Improving Learning Outcomes for At-Risk Multicultural Community College Students Index About the Author