Minimum Competency Testing of the Handicapped: A Review of Legal Challenges

The article reviews recent litigation involving minimum competency testing of the handicapped with regard to both constitutional and statutory challenges. Court decisions indicate that handicapped students will be required to pass state mandated competency tests as long as adequate notice of the test as a graduation requirement is provided. The importance of the Individualized Education Program, as well as implications for education and counseling of the handicapped, are discussed.     

学习困难学生语义分类编码策略的研究

通过对３８名学习困难学生与４８名学习优秀学生使用语义编码策略的比较研究,发现学习困难学生不能像学习优秀学生那样自觉地在学习的信息加工过程中使用学习策略;学习困难学生不使用学习策略的机械学习成绩与学习优秀学生无显著差异;教育训练有助于学习困难学生将语义编码之类的活动运用于信息加工过程而促进学习。     

Nine Critical Questions About Selective College Admissions

The misgivings of college faculty, college administrators, and high school counselors about selective admissions are focused on 9 issues. Data relevant to those issues reveal that: (1) prediction of grades is sufficiently accurate to be useful; (2) prediction equations from one year are sound for use in the immediately succeeding years; (3) predictions of first-year grades are related to performance over the 2-year period at a junior college and the 4-year career at a senior college; (4) there may need to be separate prediction procedures for widely different majors, such as science and nonscience; (5) accurate predictions can be made before the student has completed high school; (6) the nonacademic courses students take do not reduce prediction accuracy; (7) introduction of selectivity has not been found to decrease diversity in educational opportunity; (8) grading practices in an institution will tend to fluctuate with the degree of selectivity; and (9) procedures are available to set admissions cutoffs, to provide students with sound counseling information, and to provide a second chance for those who do net meet minimum admissions standards.     

School competence needs of mildly handicapped adolescents

Mildly handicapped adolescents have been identified by their deficient social skills as well as by their learning difficulties. School failure may be due not only to academic difficulties but to ineffectiveness in meeting the demands of the school environment. Using a naturalistic emergent design, this study identifies specific areas of need in coping with the high school environment. Individual interviews were conducted with "stakeholders" in the education of mildly handicapped high school students: 41 teachers, 12 handicapped students, and 12 parents of handicapped students. An analysis of the qualitative data indicated that study and organizational skills, communication, and social skills are areas of particular concern. Specific skill areas are delineated (i.e., class participation, handling criticism, and test taking), and recommendations for direct instruction that could affect both school and postschool success are made.     

Unprogrammed effects of training high-status peers to interact with severely handicapped children.

We examined the effects of a peer initiation intervention with high- and low-status nonhandicapped students on the behavior of untrained peers toward handicapped students. In the context of a counterbalanced withdrawal design, high- and low-status nonhandicapped students were taught to direct social initiations to eight severely handicapped students during recess activities. The interactions of the high-status students resulted in higher levels of initiations by untrained peers toward the handicapped students than did the interactions of the low-status students. Social response levels were also differentially affected by the status of the peer initiator.     

A Comparison of Active Student Response and On-Task Instruction on the Acquisition and Maintenance of Health Facts by Fourth Grade Special Education Students

An alternating treatments design was used to compare the effects of active student response (ASR) and on-task (OT) instruction on the acquisition and maintenance of health facts during small-group lessons. Five students with learning difficulties (4 students identified as developmentally handicapped and 1 student identified as learning disabled) participated in daily instruction on weekly sets of 20 unknown health facts (10 facts assigned to the ASR condition and 10 to the OT condition). During ASR instruction, the teacher modeled the correct response to a health question that was presented visually on a health fact card, and the students immediately repeated the correct response in unison three times. During OT instruction, students attended visually to the health fact card as the teacher modeled the correct response. All 5 students made more correct responses on end-of-day tests on health facts taught with ASR instruction than they did on health facts taught with OT instruction. ASR instruction also produced consistently superior results on maintenance tests administered 2 weeks after instruction.     

RANDOMIZED RESPONSE TECHNIQUE: APPLICATIONS TO RESEARCH ON RAPE

Research on rape is handicapped by a paucity of accurate information on frequency of rape. The randomized response technique (RR), designed to produce reliable information in surveys of sensitive issues, is advocated as a means of uncovering true frequencies. RR surveys were conducted on initial and replication samples of undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students (total n = 292) and 76 graduate nursing students. The estimates of prevalence of rape victimization were 15.1% in the initial and 12.1% in the replication samples, with the difference not significant ( z = 1.25, ρ > .05). The findings are discussed in the context of results from traditional surveys.     

Handicapped Students and Minimum Competency Testing

Minimum competency testing (MCT) programs have become a prominent, if not dominant force in contemporary public education. Provisions made for exceptional students in testing programs by most of the 39 states which have set minimum standards do not afford moderately and severely handicapped students an opportunity to demonstrate competence. The range of accommodation includes some testing programs that categorically exclude the handicapped from participation to others that require their participation with no alternations in testing whatsoever. Somewhere in between these extremes lies the provision of braille and large print editions, extra time, testing in brief segments, alternate-format booklets, individual administration, and readers for handicapped students. Another alternative exists as well: defining separate minimum standards for certain segments of the exceptional student population, standards which reflect the different expectations society and educators hold for many special education students and the special curriculum that enables those expectations to be realized.     

The WISC-III: A reality check

Although the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III) is arguably the best instrument currently available for assessing students' intelligence, its use will present practitioners, especially school psychologists, with some unique challenges. Recent research suggests that significant reductions in special education students' WISC-III Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQ scores will be found, compared with their previous WISC-R results. This finding will have a profound impact on special education placement decisions. Specifically, students who were previously found eligible for learning disability programs may now no longer evidence the significant discrepancies necessary in order to receive continued services. Conversely, students earlier identified as “slow learners” may now be eligible to receive services for those classified under the category of educably mentally handicapped. In addition, the notion that the WISC-III may underestimate the ability of certain populations of students requires further exploration. This article will address these issues as well as implications for practitioners presently administering the WISC-III.     

Retention and generalization of spelling words acquired using a peer-mediated instructional procedure by children with mild handicapping conditions

A peer-mediated instructional procedure termed Classwide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) has been shown to increase the rates and accuracy of student responses to academic tasks and to improve student performance on weekly spelling tests. In addition to replicating previous research, the present investigation evaluated the retention and generalization of words learned using CWPT. Students classified as mildly handicapped participated in daily practice of 10 spelling words using CWPT for 10 weeks. Short- and long-term retention of words practiced was assessed. Results indicated that the students average post-test score was over 84% correct on weekly tests, replicating previous results. When included in a dictation task the following week, 76.2% of previously tutored words were correctly spelled. Short- and longer-term retention measured on posttests was 72% and 69% correct, respectively. Modest improvements in students sight recognition of words practiced during CWPT were obtained. Student failure to learn particular words was attributable to fewer opportunities to practice these words. Further, students reported positive evaluation of CWPT and perceived positive social and self esteem outcomes.     

Teaching Psychological Assessment: Training issues and Teaching Approaches

Clinical psychology graduate programs need to pay attention to important issues involved in teaching psychological assessment, if graduate students are to be adequately prepared. Recent studies have suggested a gap between academic training in psychological assessment and internship expectations. Graduate students are not as well prepared as many internship settings would like. In addition to learning the fundamentals, students need help in dealing with issues of categorizing individuals, using tests in helpful ways, taking responsibility for decision-making, and developing a balance between critical evaluation of tests and appreciation of their usefulness. Teaching approaches for dealing with these issues are discussed. The importance of academic and clinical agencies working together is stressed. Goals for graduate training in assessment are suggested.     

Teaching psychological assessment: training issues and teaching approaches

Clinical psychology graduate programs need to pay attention to important issues involved in teaching psychological assessment, if graduate students are to be adequately prepared. Recent studies have suggested a gap between academic training in psychological assessment and internship expectations. Graduate students are not as well prepared as many internship settings would like. In addition to learning the fundamentals, students need help in dealing with issues of categorizing individuals, using tests in helpful ways, taking responsibility for decision-making, and developing a balance between critical evaluation of tests and appreciation of their usefulness. Teaching approaches for dealing with these issues are discussed. The importance of academic and clinical agencies working together is stressed. Goals for graduate training in assessment are suggested.     

Attitudes toward handicapped peers of mainstreamed and nonmainstreamed children in physical education

The influence of contact (mainstreamed and nonmainstreamed) and sex on attitudes of fifth- and sixth-grade students toward handicapped children was examined. 143 mainstreamed students attended an integrated school, whereas 86 nonmainstreamed students had no handicapped children in their school. Mean responses to the Children's Attitudes Toward Handicapped Scale were subjected to a 2 x 2 analysis of variance which indicated no significant differences by contact or sex. Chi 2 analysis of individual items indicated some significant differences, favoring contact, on items "are fun" and "are interesting".     

Graduate admissions criteria in psychology: an update

Ratings of importance were reviewed for nine graduate admissions criteria for the 573 graduate degree programs listed in American Psychological Association's Graduate Study in Psychology (2003). Overall, the three criteria receiving the highest percentages of importance ratings were letters of recommendation, statement of goals and objectives, and grade point average. Importance ratings varied depending on the degree programs offered. Results are discussed in terms of the advice offered students interested in admission to graduate school and the importance of students tailoring their graduate admissions process to their specific degree program.     

An Empirical Examination of Overt and Covert Integrity Tests

This study investigated the relationship between overt and covert integrity tests. Undergraduate college students completed both an overt and covert integrity test, a personality test, a survey about counter-productive behavior, and a survey about attitudes toward tests. Both the overt and covert integrity tests were predictive of self reports of theft admissions and counterproductive behaviors. While different personality constructs were related to each integrity test, hierarchical regression indicated the personality subtests predicted additional variance for both the overt and covert integrity tests. Differential effects for integrity test type on test-taking attitudes were also found.     

A follow-up study of cross-cultural validity of Developmental Test of Visual-motor Integration

A follow-up study with a younger group of mildly handicapped Japanese students was conducted to determine if the correlations between the Developmental Test of Visual-motor Integration and reading and mathematics achievement would substantiate the previous findings. For 30 mildly handicapped 11- and 12-yr.-old Japanese students, visual-motor integration scores were significantly correlated with both mathematics and reading scores. These results, added to the 1984 Webb and Abe data, further support the test's cross-cultural validity.     

The Black Quest for Higher Education: An Admissions Dilemma

During the past academic year, black students on major college campuses have demanded that institutions of higher learning admit greater numbers of minority youth. This demand has raised serious questions regarding the traditional admissions criteria established by these institutions. As a means of increasing the relevance of the university and of making higher education available to a larger and more representative portion of our society, admissions officers should assess admissions criteria which take into account motivational and attitudinal, as well as the usual intellectual, characteristics of the individual. Colleges and universities that have revised their admissions criteria have found that “high-risk” students can achieve successfully with proper tutorial and counseling services.     

Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing: More Than a Symbolic Exercise

The 1985 edition of the American Psychological Association's Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing has greatly expanded its coverage of the testing of special populations including handicapped students. The enforcement of the Standards depends upon professionals themselves. Yet, recent surveys of practitioners' knowledge of basic testing and measurement concepts raise serious questions about the extent to which they are prepared to administer and interpret not only standard versions of tests but also modified ones. Extensive in-service training to upgrade skills is recommended.     

Careers Advice and Tertiary Decision-Making “Downunder” in Australia

This article provides a broad outline of career services in Australia, highlighting distinctive issues relevant to indigenous people, the multicultural context of Australia, and the industrial relations climate. Three studies are summarized, each involving three waves of data collection over the period during which Year 12 students make tertiary education decisions. These studies document the uniquely centralized processing of university admissions with a comment about the implications of the structure for career planning and decision-making.     

The Role of Socioeconomic Status in SAT-Grade Relationships and in College Admissions Decisions

This article examines the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in the relationships among college admissions-test scores, secondary school grades, and subsequent academic performance. Scores on the SAT (a test widely used in the admissions process in the United States), secondary school grades, college grades, and SES measures from 143,606 students at 110 colleges and universities were examined, and results of these analyses were compared with results obtained using a 41-school data set including scores from the prior version of the SAT and using University of California data from prior research on the role of SES. In all the data sets, the SAT showed incremental validity over secondary school grades in predicting subsequent academic performance, and this incremental relationship was not substantially affected by controlling for SES. The SES of enrolled students was very similar to that of specific schools' applicant pools, which suggests that the barrier to college for low-SES students in the United States is a lower rate of entering the college admissions process, rather than exclusion on the part of colleges.