The purpose of this study is to investigate the relative significance of certain determinants that contribute to under-achievement of the pupils. The subjects were 168 elementary school teachers and 104 elementary school principals. They were asked to evaluate 15 determinants that contribute to under-achievement, on a five-point scale. The main results are as follows; 1) According to the evaluation by the teachers, the determinants which most greatly contributed to under-achievement were "unfavorable home circumstances" and "teaching material overload", in this order. On the other hand, "unskillful teaching" and "un- favorable home circumstances" were the greatest determinants, in this order, according to the responses of the principals. 2) Both teachers and principals regarded the determinant "bad luck" as comparatively insignificant. 3) With the determinants "unskillful teaching", "bad relationship between the pupil and the teacher", "bad relationship between the pupil and the parents", "the parents' indifferences to education", and "bad luck", the principals regarded these as more greatly contributing to under-achievement than did the teachers. With the factors "teaching material overload" and "the difficulty of teaching materials", the teachers regarded these as more significant than did the principals. 4) Differences in evaluation due to the number of the years of experience in teaching (teachers) or administration (principals) were observed for some determinants.
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