First, Charles M. Blow, in the New York Times, writes about two 11 year old boys who recently suicided.  It is thought that being bullied at school played a major role in their separate decisions to end their lives.  A very moving and thought provoking article.  You can read it hear: “Two Little Boys”

Second, a short post in the Research of Culture blog discusses the results of a study on the effects of the California High School Exit Exam.  One of the findings is that minority and female students do worse on the exam-even when compared to other students with the same skills and previous levels of success in schools.  A possible explanation:
“Stereotype threat is the phenomenon whereby the fear that if one performs poorly on a high-stakes test it will confirm a negative societal stereotype about one’s group (leading) to increased test anxiety among negatively stereotyped student groups…”

It’s an interesting article and you can read it here: “The anxiety of test taking.”