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Structured academic discussions can focus too much on academic language to the detriment of actual discussion, disempowering students with the very tools intended to enhance student voice. The author suggests a new goal for such classroom talk: encouraging students to generate ideas and questions that engage their peers by focusing on the unexpected, provoking them to reconsider their assumptions about the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers strategies to increase the academic achievement of crooked-A students, whom the author identifies as struggling students capable of grades. It focuses on three initiatives that emphasize student motivation and self-efficacy, namely the Early College High School (ECHS) educational program for low-income and minority students to earn vocational degrees alongside a high school diploma, the Second Chance High School Study about alternative education entitled "In the students' words: Findings from three 'second-chance' charter schools for middle and high school students" by Michael Nakkula and J. Harris, and the program called Facing History School in New York City. Topics include students' attitudes to their success, student participation, and student-centered learning.

The article discusses student attitudes toward learning and student-centered education, in response to sample questions of a Gallup Student Poll that were posed to U.S. students. Topics include student motivation and empowerment, strategies to increase student engagement that are centered around the development of students' effective strengths, and educational cooperation to support the identification and fostering of students' strengths. Also presented are tips for teachers to capitalize on student strengths, such as responding with authentic excitement, ensuring positive student-teacher communication, and being an active listener.