School-based care and support for the intellectually disabled learners at risk for sexual abuse: South African teacher carer perspectives

This study examined the functionality of a school-based care and support program for the intellectually disabled learners who have a history of sexual abuse. Participants were 28 teachers from four special educational needs schools in the Gauteng Province, South Africa (females = 80%; age range 30 to 55 years). The teachers participated in a focus group discussion on the extent to which the school-based care and support for learners with intellectual disability worked to the intended goals and procedures. Thematic analysis of the data suggested the school care and support program to work to purpose within the school system and with partner non-governmental organisations; but less so with the local school district personnel.     

The Impact of More Fully Implemented Guidance Programs on the School Experiences of High School Students: A Statewide Evaluation Study

Relationships between the statewide implementation of comprehensive guidance programs and the school experiences of high school students were explored. Data from 22,964 students attending 236 Missouri high schools were analyzed by using hierarchical linear modeling. Schools with more fully implemented model guidance programs had students who were more likely to report that (a) they had earned higher grades, (b) their education was better preparing them for their future, (c) their school made more career and college information available to them, and (d) their school had a more positive climate. Positive program effects were found after removing differences due to school enrollment size, socioeconomic status, and percentage of minority students in attendance. Results highlight the important roles school counselors play in promoting the central educational goals of their schools and support a comprehensive guidance program focus for university counseling faculty who train school counselors.     

The educational pyramid: A model for community intervention

Urban adolescents represent a group who are at special risk for a variety of psychological and behavioral problems. A life skills program was implemented with middle and high school students, using an educational pyramid approach to maximize the ecological appropriateness of the intervention and to increase the likelihood that the program will be continued with progressively lessened university facilitation. Additionally, the educational pyramid offers the opportunity for all participants—university faculty, graduate students, collaborating professionals in the community, and high school leaders—to be both teachers and learners.     

A Report on a Four-Year Longitudinal Study of Intellectual Development of Engineering Undergraduates

As part of an investigation into the effects of curricular reforms in the undergraduate program in the College of Engineering, a series of Perry-style interviews were conducted over a 4-year period. The study was undertaken in an attempt to assess the impact of collaborative design-based engineering courses that were being implemented. Students who completed the collaborative design course in their first year were higher on the Perry scale than their peers who did not. However, this effect was not sustained through the rest of the curriculum, as more traditional courses dominated. No statistically significant change in Perry position was observed for students in their 1st and 3rd years; however, a growth of approximately one Perry position was observed between the 3rd and 4th years. The relationship of current curricula to this pattern of intellectual development is discussed, and arguments for altering the curriculum to support intellectual development are made.     

Science Anxiety as a Function of Gender and Experience

This study examined the influence of gender and various background factors on science anxiety. Students (50 women, 37 men) took the Science Anxiety Scale (Mallow, 1994), provided information about high school and college academic accomplishments, described gender-role stereotyping in the home, and evaluated their science teachers and science experiences. Most participants were Caucasian and from an upper-middle class background. Women were not uniformly more science anxious and had a relatively similar science background to men, although they had higher science grades in high school and did report less stringent sex-role socialization in the home. However, students with high science anxiety took fewer science courses in college, had lower SAT-Q scores, and reported that their high school science teachers were not helpful. The findings regarding gender- and anxiety-linked differences are discussed in terms of women's and men's differential interpretations of their abilities, the influence of parental gender typing on pursuit of science, and the gender-appropriateness of studying science.     

Rising to the threat: Reducing stereotype threat by reframing the threat as a challenge

In two experiments, we found that the performance-inhibiting consequences of stereotype threat were eliminated when the threat was subtly reframed as a challenge. In Experiment 1, Black school children in North Carolina completed a 10-item mathematics test. Participants who reported their race before taking the test performed more poorly than participants who reported their race after completing the test, unless the test was framed as a challenge. Experiment 2 replicated this effect with undergraduates at a prestigious university. When reminded that they graduated from high schools that were poorly represented at the university, they performed more poorly than their peers on a math test. However, when the test was reframed as a challenge, this threat had no effect on their performance. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical applications for both educational and athletic training.     

Behaviors and attitudes of normally developing children toward their intellectually disabled siblings

This study investigated behaviors of children who have normal development toward their siblings with intellectual disabilities. 9- to 17-year-old normally developing siblings (55 girls, 39 boys) of 94, 5- to 15-year-old mentally disabled children (51 girls, 43 boys) who were attending a special education and rehabilitation center were enrolled in the study. Data were gathered by using a general information form and the Schaeffer Sibling Behavior Rating Scale. Age of the disabled child did not have a significant effect on siblings' behaviors, while knowledge of family about the diagnosis and educational status of their child with intellectual disabilities affected sibling behaviors.     

Past in the present: the way parents remember their own school years relates to the way they participate in their child’s schooling and remember his/her school years

This study set out to explore the contribution of parents’ own school memories to the way they remembered their child’s school years and took part in his/her schooling. The respondents were a group of academically and vocationally educated fathers and mothers (N =  326), who participated in a full 9-year follow-up study of their child’s schooling. The parents’ own school memories were found to direct their recollection of their child’s school years in a selectively and evaluatively consistent way, especially among the fathers and the vocationally educated parents. For example, the parents with negative recollections tended to help their child to prepare for tests more frequently than parents with more positive recollections did. Parental school memories seem to function like a general educational attitude in that they relate widely to the parents’ perceptions and actions concerning their child’s schooling.     

ANTECEDENT FACTORS DIFFERENTIATING WOMEN AND MEN IN SCIENCE/ NONSCIENCE CAREERS

Factors that differentiate women and men who choose a science career from those who do not were investigated using longitudinal data from 1980 and 1990. The participants (N = 459) were ninth or twelfth graders at six midwestern high schools in 1980. Women in science compared to women in other careers were significantly more likely to value math and science for their future career goals, whereas men in science compared to men in other careers had significantly higher high school grade point averages in natural science and higher career aspirations. Not unexpectedly, both women and men in science careers compared to those in nonscience careers took more high school elective science courses because they wanted to, aspired to higher prestige careers as young adults, and attributed their math successes more to their ability. The male model accounted for more than twice the variance accounted for by the female model, and context variables were not predictive for either model. Suggestions for revising the model and improving the assessment of context influences are made. Implications for research and practice include designing and evaluating programs to increase the number of intellectually able girls valuing math and science as these relate to their future goals.     

Opportunities For Learning: Course Sequences and Positional Advantages

Course sequences are strands of courses in particular content areas that span a student's educational career. Courses that are differentiated and sequentially organized, such as mathematics and science course sequences, create opportunities for positional advantages in a school's curricular structure. When students make a nonroutine change of schools – that is, transferring to a school outside of the regular attendance zone – they are at risk of changing their positional advantage. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988–94 (NELS:88–94), we examine the educational outcomes of sequences and explore curricular dislocations within the context of school choice. We find that the strongest predictors of 12th-grade mathematics and science course sequences are a student's course sequences at 10th grade. With regard to outcomes, students in higher mathematics and science sequences show greater achievement gains. Furthermore, students in higher mathematics sequences are less likely to have behavior problems and are more likely to graduate from high school and attend college. Students who make a nonroutine change of schools are more likely to be in lower course sequences than students who do not transfer. Thus, course sequences in mathematics and science are tangible experiences with real consequences for students' lives during and beyond high school and are sensitive to transitions which disrupt the continuity of students' high school careers.     

A longitudinal study of work-based, adult-youth mentoring

Using a longitudinal design, this study explored the relation of urban high school student attitudes toward school, work, and self-esteem beliefs to work-based mentoring, mentor satisfaction, and employment status. Participants included high school students taking part in a formal work-based mentoring program, students who established informal mentoring relationships at work, students who worked without a mentor, and students who were not employed during the academic year. While there were no significant group differences in the measures at the start of the year, results at the end of the year showed that students in the formal mentoring program believed more strongly that school was relevant to work than those who worked without a mentor. Students with mentors had higher levels of self-esteem than those who did not work. Students who were highly satisfied with their mentors had higher levels of self-esteem and believed more strongly that school was relevant to the workplace than students who did not work. The implications of these results are discussed and future research areas are identified.     

Partnership-Based, Community-Assisted Early Intervention for Literacy: An Application of the Participatory Intervention Model

Many schools, particularly those in low-income, urban neighborhoods serving children from diverse backgrounds, have a high percentage of students with literacy deficits and limited resources for providing remedial services. Addressing these needs requires the use of empirically supported reading intervention strategies and expanding the availability of qualified persons to implement these approaches. Just as importantly, students need to be educated in a culturally meaningful context by one or more individuals who are committed to addressing their educational, emotional, and social needs. One method of expanding the instructional work force and engaging students in attachments with caring adults in a culturally relevant context is to establish a community-assisted tutoring program, that is a program implemented by residents from the community who work in the school. This article describes the process of establishing a partnership-based, community-assisted early intervention program for literacy, based upon a participatory intervention model, by presenting two case illustrations. Challenges for school consultants in establishing such a program in schools are described and directions for future research and practice are outlined.     

L’insertion professionnelle des enseignants débutants au Québec

With an aim of checking if educational circles took into account the professional induction of their beginning teachers, in the context of the renewed teacher educational formation, we investigated the working experience of newly graduated high-school teachers from University of Montreal in the years 1998-1999-2000. This study also tries to see if the renewed teacher educational formation inaugurated in 1994 plays a facilitating role in the beginning high school teachers’ induction and if professional exhaustion is part of their problems. The results obtained indicate that 94 % (N=165 out of 176) of the beginners participating in our study considered to have succeeded in their professional insertion. Most of them find their initial formation adequate. They say to be especially satisfied of the quantity and quality of the training courses and state that their formation covers well the various aspects of the actual teacher’s task. Beginners also find that school Commissions should greatly improve their facilitating measures of professional insertion. The results of the investigation showed that the professional insertion of the beginners is more difficult in the absence of helping measures. Finally, although the majority of beginners complain about the heaviness of their task, the investigation reveals that professional exhaustion does not play a part in the success or failure of their induction.     

Equivalence-based instruction to teaching reading by families and teachers students with autism and/or intellectual disabilities

The study evaluated the learning of computerized equivalence-based reading instruction in students with intellectual disability and/or autism who attend regular school when exposed to a teaching practices package (teaching practices programmed) conducted by different educational agents (parents, regular classroom teachers, and special education teachers) in school settings and at home. The students were exposed to teaching packages that were applied by educational agents. The study has two hypotheses. First, the involvement of teachers and families in implementing interventions, in the presence of the researcher, may contribute to their learning to read in inclusive classrooms and at home. Secondly, the teaching of reading in Portuguese language may be favored by the direct teaching of syllables. A multiple baseline procedure was used to evaluate the teaching of three sets of words. Students improved from zero reading skills in the pretest to an average of 80% correct responses out of 21 taught words.     

HIGH SCHOOL DRIVER EDUCATION USING PEER TUTORS,DIRECT INSTRUCTION,AND PRECISION TEACHING

The authors investigated the combined effects of direct instruction and precision teaching by peer tutors in a high school driver education curriculum. Learners (N = 4) included students with intellectual and learning disabilities and students without disabilities. Peer tutoring was associated with immediate increases in correct responding and a simultaneous and rapid deceleration of errors. Three learners passed the written tests in the driver education classroom, obtained driver's licenses, and produced similar or better driving records than students who did not require assistance. This program is being continued and expanded by school personnel without assistance from the authors.     

The impact of sociocultural background and assessment data upon school psychologists' decisions

Fifty-six school psychologists participated in an adapted version of Algozzine and Ysseldyke's (1981) diagnostic simulation. The adaptation was designed to investigate the effects of sociocultural background (rural vs. suburban) and assessment data (normal vs. LD) on school psychologists' educational decisions. Knowledge of a student's sociocultural background did not influence these school psychologists' decisions; however, the type of assessment data had a strong impact. In contrast to the findings of Algozzine and Ysseldyke, the subjects did not ignore individual test data in favor of teacher referral statements. The school psychologists who received normal data were less likely to have low expectations for pupils' future academic attainment, to diagnose the child as LD, and to recommend special class placement. The subject school psychologists' perceptions of the importance of various diagnostic factors also agreed with their actual practices, as they reported that standardized test data figured prominently in their decision making. In short, this research suggests that school psychologists utilize multiple sources of information but rely primarily upon the more objective sources of information to make educational decisions.     

Physical and motor skill training for children with intellectual disabilities

This study investigated the effectiveness of using special training machines for children with intellectual disabilities to strengthen their body's inner muscles and improve their ability to maintain standing posture and improve walking movement. The participants were 23 high school age boys with intellectual disabilities who had difficulties expressing greetings, and needed to be led by the hand when walking. Four special training machines were used for walking movements, for standing and walking balance, for leg-hip extension, and for ipsilateral movement in a sitting position. Each participant underwent 30 min. of training once a week over a 3-mo. period during school time. Body control ability required to perform each training exercise was improved over the training period. A significant improvement was observed in the 50-m dash, mean 10-m walk time, and 10-m obstacle course walk. The hip joint split angle showed a significant increase. Legal guardians all reported their child had "improved and/or progressed" for each of the targeted movements.     

Predicting Units Needed for College Entrance

This article reports an example of guidance research to improve student decision-making. Each of 278 students in a recent high school graduating class in Palo Alto was classified according to the criterion of highest level of college (in terms of academic preparation required for entrance) by which he had been accepted. A correlation analysis indicated that the criterion could be predicted almost as accurately from test scores and grades available at the end of Grade 9 as from data available in grades 11 and 12. The criterion data and the 9th grade data were incorporated into an experience table for use by 9th graders in determining how rigorous a high school program a student would need for entrance into the highest level of college by which he might eventually be accepted. An additional analysis indicated that many of the poorer students took far more college preparatory courses than they needed for college entrance purposes.     

Comprehensive community-based education and neurorehabilitation for children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury

Children and adolescents who experience a traumatic brain injury (TBI) typically have sensory, cognitive, behavioral, and functional skill challenges that must be addressed in acute and post-acute rehabilitation settings. This article describes a community-based school that combines educational, medical, nursing, family, residential-living, and psychological services in a comprehensive program of pediatric neurorehabilitation. The operational, administrative, and clinical features of these service components are presented. A critical aspect of the program is an emphasis on applied behavior analysis procedures for purposes of assessment, treatment formulation, and evaluation. Data are reviewed to demonstrate demographics, patterns of service delivery, and outcome. The school program represents an educational alternative for students with TBI who are discharged from acute-care settings and require comprehensive support services to facilitate their transition and re-entry to public school and community living. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Math and science motivation: A longitudinal examination of the links between choices and beliefs

This study addresses the longitudinal associations between youths' out-of-school activities, expectancies-values, and high school course enrollment in the domains of math and science. Data were collected on 227 youth who reported on their activity participation in 5th grade, expectancies-values in 6th and 10th grade, and courses taken throughout high school. Math and science course grades at 5th and 10th grade were gathered through school record data. Results indicated youths' math and science activity participation predicted their expectancies and values, which, in turn, predicted the number of high school courses above the predictive power of grades. Although there were mean-level differences between boys and girls on some of these indicators, relations among indicators did not significantly differ by gender.