Studies of the psychological well-being of low-performing students in US schools

Abstract

The article analyzes the psychological well-being of poorly performing schoolchildren and the personal correlates of academic failure as they are presented in the US school psychology. One of the most important areas is the study of academic engagement as a predictor of academic performance / failure. Research tools are being developed to assess engagement in learning for both primary and secondary schools. The article also analyzes the study of personal factors of poor school performance in representatives of different racial and ethnic groups, including Afro-Americans, the studies of family factors that adversely affect school performance. Examples of research in the field of psychological assistance to poorly performing schoolchildren and their families, as well as programs developed for the prevention of negative emotions as a factor of academic failure, including positive education according to M. Seligman, are discussed. The article considers the contradictions in this field of research, shows the possibilities of overcoming them on the basis of the principles of the theory of developmental education and the theoretical foundations of the Russian educational psychology

Keywords

• students
• well-being
• academic performance
• involvement in learning
• positive education