Threats to Student Success

The threats to student success can take a variety of forms, but primarily fall into the following categories:

(Adapted from Kovalik & Olsen)

Curriculum and Threat:
Curricular aspects that have a strong body-brain antagonistic effect include being:

• Boring when too hard or too easy.
• Difficult to understand if there is no perceivable relevance to the student’s life.
• Humiliating when they can’t get it.
• A potential source of acting out.
• Frustrating because content is not understandable—the material is not age appropriate and/or is composed of factoids.

Instructional Strategies and Threat:
Instructional strategies that have a strong body-brain antagonistic effect include:

• Low standards for cleanliness, maintenance, and décor – lower than for most other public and private settings.
• Lack of community building.
• Lack of personal relationship between teacher and student(s).
• Poor leadership—students are uncertain about what’s happening and why or what will happen next.
• Restricting body movement in the classroom, limited to recess, lunch, and P.E.
• Adherence to rigid timelines, inadequate time to complete tasks
• Threat of bad grades (potential negative consequences from teacher, parent, and fellow students).