The elementary school: training ground for sex role stereotypes

“Sexism starts with kindergarten activities in which little girls are directed fo the housekeeping corner, while boys are steered toward blocks and trucks.”     

Pyramid training of elementary school teachers to use a classroom management "skill package"

Three regular elementary teachers were trained in the use of a classroom management "skill package". Subsequently, each of these three teachers (tier 1 of training) trained three more teachers to use the same skill package (tier 2 of training). Direct behavioral measures of student disruptiveness were taken in the three tier-1 classrooms and four tier-2 classrooms, and permanent product measures of student productivity in arithmetic were taken in the three tier-1 classrooms. Results indicated that student disruptiveness decreased at least as much in the tier-2 classrooms as in the tier-1 classrooms. Data also indicated that serving as trainers benefited two of the tier-1 teachers who profited least from the original training by producing further reductions in disruptiveness in their respective classrooms. Productivity data suggested that use of the "skill package" increased classroom academic output, especially for those students below the median in productivity during baseline. The investigators' time investment in training a tier-2 teacher was one-fourth that of training a tier-1 teacher.     

Academic engagement of elementary school children with learning disabilities

Variability of attention-to-task and its relation to instructional contexts for children with learning disabilities was investigated. Twenty-four mainstreamed children were observed in both the regular class and the resource room. Student behaviors relating to academic engagement and the situational contexts in which they occurred were coded. Significant differences in rate of engagement were found for classroom setting, type of instruction, and level of peer involvement, indicating that degree of attending is not stable but a function of the context in which it occurs. Implications for the assessment of attentional problems and instructional practices, especially as related to the resource room program, are discussed.     

Behavioral self-management in story writing with elementary school children

The effect of self-management procedures on objective writing responses and on the subjectively assessed quality of children's writing was investigated. All experimental procedures were applied to each of the 37 children in a regular Grade 3 class, and 14 of these children were randomly selected for data collection. Following baseline conditions, self-assessment plus self-recording of writing responses was introduced. This did not increase the number of sentences, number of different action words, or number of different describing words, or improve the quality of the stories. Self-determined and self-administered reinforcement was added to the self-assessment and self-recording procedures contingent on each of the writing responses in turn. Rates of responding were substantially increased and the stories received higher subjective ratings of quality from two independent judges. An increase in on-task behavior was correlated with self-reinforcement of writing responses.     

Comparison of culturally deprived school achievers and underachievers on memory function and perception.

To compare the memory function and perception of culturally deprived achievers with underachievers, 36 culturally deprived children were assigned to one of two groups according to their achievement level, in relation to their age and IQ. Underachievers were children achieving 6 mo. or more below expected level. Achievers were children achieving within at least 5 mo. of expected level. All subjects were between the ages of 8 and 12 yr. and were in Grades 4, 5, or 6. Four tests were administered, the Block Design and Digit Span subtests of the WISC, Memory-for-Designs, and the Minnesota Percepto-Diagnostic Test. The two groups did not differ on the first three tests, but the achievers performed significantly better on the last test than the underachievers. It was speculated that the differences were related to level of motor execution.     

Behavior problems in elementary school children

Two-year follow-up data for an ostensibly normal sample of children who had been previously characterized on a number of behavior problem dimensions by their teachers and peers were analyzed. In addition, 1-year follow-up data were presented for a group of extreme behavior children from the same school. The behavior dimensions of Distractibility and Conduct Problem were fairly stable over 2 years for girls and boys. In addition, Inadequacy—Immaturity was stable for girls and may mark more severe behavior problems for young girls. Behavior problems of young girls were more predictive of later achievement difficulties while behavior problems of boys were more prdictive of peer and teacher difficulty. Finally, teacher's clinical judgment was demonstrated to be useful for indexing behavior for hyperactive boys.Portions of this paper were presented at the New England Educational Research Organization Meeting, Provincetown, Massachusetts, May 1975. The authors wish to thank Dr. Raymond Pressman and the teachers of Hillside Elementary School, Niakayuna, New York, for providing valuable assistance in support of this study. This study was supported in part by the Research Foundation of New York, Grant number 020-7315-A.     

Rehearsal dynamics in elementary school children

Several studies on free recall suggest that processes responsible for recall are analogous to processes responsible for rehearsal. In children, the relationship between cumulative rehearsal and recall performance has been proven to be critical; however, the locus of the effect of rehearsal is not yet fully understood. To unfold the mechanisms that come into play in an overt rehearsal free recall task, we assessed rehearsal and recall sequences in children between 8 and 10 years of age. These sequences give information about the context in which items are repeated and rearranged throughout the list and subsequently recalled. Rehearsal sequences consisted mainly of items from neighboring list positions in their original temporal order. The same characteristics were true for recall sequences. Qualitatively, order effects during study and recall did not differ over age groups. However, in older children who were using cumulative rehearsal more intensively, successive rehearsal and recall of items in their original order was more pronounced. Therefore, we suggest that a main feature of item rehearsal with regard to facilitating recall is the strengthening of interitem associations based on the temporal order within a list and that this characteristic develops with age.     

Bullying in elementary school, high school, and college

This study investigated the continuity in being a bully, victim, or bully-victim from elementary school through college in 119 undergraduates. Of 25 who bullied in college, 18 (72%) had been bullied in high school and elementary school. Of 26 bullies in college, 14 (53.8%) had been bullies in high school and elementary school. Of 12 bully-victims in college, 5 (41.6%) had been bully-victims in high school and elementary school. There were significant positive correlations between being a bully in college, high school, and elementary school, and being bullied in college and high school, and high school and elementary school, and between being both a bully and victim in elementary school, a bully and victim in high school, and a bully and victim in college.     

Contributions of teacher-child relationships to positive school adjustment during elementary school

The current study examined the extent to which teacher-child relationship contributed to school adjustment among 1310 elementary school-aged students and the degree to which this relationship was moderated by significant child characteristics. The results suggest a consistent and comparable effect for children across grades, gender, and types of school outcomes. Children experiencing behavioral or learning problems showed poorer school outcomes and were less able to benefit from a close teacher relationship when compared to peers without such problems. However, a protective effect was noted, such that children with developmental vulnerabilities and a close teacher relationship were significantly advantaged relative to similarly affected peers who lacked such relationships. The results are discussed in light of research and theory, and applications are made to school-based practices.     

Comparability of the WISC and WISC-R with bright elementary school students

The 50 subjects had met initial screening criteria for eligibility in a special program for the intellectually gifted. These 50, enrolled in grades 3 through 5 in Broward County, Florida, public schools, were next given the WISC and WISC-R, in a counterbalanced order: half were administered the WISC first; the other half was administered the WISC-R first. The test-retest interval was approximately 9 months. Higher mean IQ scores were obtained by the total group on the WISC as compared to WISC-R. However, the results showed that when the WISC-R was administered first, subsequent student WISC performance was significantly higher on all scales. No significant performance increase was obtained on the WISC-R when the WISC was administered initially. The results indicated that the WISC-R had a facilitative effect on the WISC, and that this effect did not appear when the order of administration was WISC-WISC-R. Quite conceivably, several differences in the instructions for administration of the WISC and the WISC-R enhanced the practice effect of initial WISC-R experience as opposed to initial WISC experience.     

Depth perception of elementary school students with qualitatively evidenced locomotor impairments

The purpose of the study was to examine differences in depth perception of students classified according to their gross locomotor skills. The seven qualitative gross locomotor tasks of Ulrich's Test of Gross and Motor Development were used to classify 162 students as either motor impaired (n1 =27) or nonimpaired (n2= 135). The Howard Dollman Apparatus was used to measure depth perception. Analysis showed that the motor-impaired group scored significantly lower than the nonimpaired group on depth perception. Discriminant function analysis indicated that only the running task separated the students by depth perception scores. Subsequent multiple regression analysis confirmed that the running task, along with sliding and galloping, were significant predictors of the students' perception of the third dimension. Physical educators working with students with gross locomotor impairments or low perception of the third dimension need to adjust their teaching and offer opportunities for successful involvement in physical education classes and sports.     

Effects of test-wiseness training on test anxiety,locus of control and reading achievement in elementary school children

Abstract

Fifth and sixth grade children were randomly assigned to either a control or an experimental condition in a pretest, posttest, delayed posttest design. The experimental group received instruction and practice in test-taking, and the control group received a placebo treatment. Dependent variables were four components of test anxiety, locus of control and achievement. Factor analysis of pretest data supported I. Sarason's four-factor conceptualization of test anxiety (worry, test-irrelevant thinking, tension, and bodily reactions to test taking). Posttest data generally supported the hypothesized treatment effects. As predicted, children in the experimental condition had higher reading scores, greater internality, and less test-irrelevant thinking. The delayed posttest scores indicated a diminished effect on the achievement and internality measures; however, the amount of test-irrelevant thinking remained lower in the experimental condition.     

Support reciprocity and depression among elementary school and high school students1

Abstract: This study examined the relationship between support reciprocity in friendships and depression among elementary school and high school students, taking specific account of the quality of parent‐child relationships. The participants were 340 first‐year high school students and 317 sixth‐year elementary school students, all of whom completed questionnaires measuring levels of depression and support receiving and support giving in the relationship with their best friend. In addition, high school students answered questions about their parents’ child‐rearing attitudes. Consistent with predictions, it was shown that support reciprocity correlated significantly with lower depression among high school students but not among elementary school students. Moreover, it was found that for high school students who perceived their parents as caring and affectionate, support reciprocity related significantly to lower depression but not for those who perceived their parents as distant and dismissive.     

Modification of school attendance for an elementary population

The staff and students of a school composed of Grades 1 through 3 participated in a program to increase school attendance. Children earned the opportunity to attend part or all of a monthly party by their attendance. Immediate feedback occurred each morning by placing stars on a classroom chart for each child present. The school's attendance during the program was compared both with attendance during preceding years and with attendance at other schools. The experimental school's attendance improved dramatically to become the best of all elementary schools in the system.     

Self-regulation and academic achievement in elementary school children

Self-regulation is a key construct in children's healthy and adaptive development. In this chapter, the authors situate self-regulation in a theoretical context that describes its underlying components that are most important for early school success: flexible attention, working memory, and inhibitory control. The authors review evidence that supports substantive links between these aspects of self-regulation and academic achievement in young children. They also discuss methodological challenges in reliably and validly assessing these skills (involving measures that are biased, are not applicable across broad age ranges, or triangulated) and describe some recent advances in measures of self-regulation (involving the NIH Toolbox or the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders assessment) that are reliable, ecologically valid, and predictive of children's school achievement.