Against the Odds: How "At-Risk" Students Exceed Expectations

Against the Odds is a wise and practical blend of research and experience written to be understood by teachers and parents. Janine Bempechat has written a book we all need to read.
--Sister Ann Dominic Roach, Superintendent of Schools, Archdiocese of Boston

Raymond's family immigrated to the United States from Mexico. Juggling multiple jobs as assembly-line worker, gas station attendant, house cleaner, and newspaper deliverer, his parents successfully put four children through college. For their part, Raymond and his siblings excelled in school and went on to successful careers. This is one family's story of success against the odds, of navigating the journey from working-class to middle-class status.

In Against the Odds: How "At-Risk" Students Exceed Expectations (Jossey-Bass Publishers; Publication Date: December 1998), Janine Bempechat, an assistant professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, examines the lives of children who seem to defy the odds, giving parents, educators, and anyone interested in the well-being of children hope and inspiration as they strive for academic excellence in all our children. Drawing on a six-year study that closely followed more than one thousand high-achieving fifth- and sixth-grade African-American, Latino, Indochinese, and Caucasian students, Bempechat uncovers the family and school practices and attitudes that contribute to high achievement in at-risk children.

What is it about Raymond and his family that enabled them to succeed where so many others falter? What kinds of practices and beliefs did Raymond's family have related to education and what did they do to create a home environment that was supportive of intellectual pursuits? Are there factors related to school success that are culturally universal?

Launching her research from questions like these, Bempechat approaches the persistent problem of underachievement from the opposite perspective of most researchers. Departing from the decades of research that have been done on the factors that contribute to failure, she examines the factors and structure of family life and classroom environment that contribute to academic achievement. Looking into the cultural patterns and beliefs of many ethnic groups in regard to education, Against the Odds shows that high achievers are remarkably similar to one another.

Bempechat's well-written book takes a fresh look at vital questions about the academic achievement of minority children. Her examination...yields unconventional and original insights about how children are socialized for schooling. [Against the Odds is] a valuable contribution to the literature on achievement and motivation in multiethnic nations.
--Herbert P. Ginsburg, professor of psychology and education, Teachers College, Columbia University

Janine Bempechat studies and teaches about achievement motivation and social and moral development in children and young adults at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has a particular interest in ethnic and cultural differences in academic achievement. Her research on achievement and motivation in poor and minority children has been supported by the Spencer Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Against the Odds is her first book.