Experimental analysis of academic performance in a classroom setting

We evaluated the effects of specific stimulus prompts on accuracy of academic performance with adolescents who displayed academic problems in a public special education classroom. We conducted analyses of instructional strategies within a multielement design with two students who had mild disabilities. Differential effects of the strategies on reading comprehension were not apparent on demand (independent-level) tasks but were apparent on high-demand (instructional-level) tasks. These results suggested that the application of experimental analysis methodologies to instructional variables may facilitate the identification of stimulus prompts associated with accurate academic performance.     

Profiling the deaf high school student who is a problem in the classroom

The discipline referral forms and available school records of five residential schools for the deaf were surveyed. Students were categorized as being never referred, periodically referred, and chronically referred. The student characteristics of age, sex, degree of hearing loss, and reading ability were used to predict membership in a frequency of referral category through a log-linear analysis statistic. A conceptual model was built and tested statistically which showed that the most important factor was reading ability followed by hearing loss, age, and sex of the student. The "typical problem" student would be a younger male who was a poorer reader and had a less severe hearing loss.     

Collective student characteristics alter the effects of teaching practices on academic outcomes

The goal of this study was to examine the influence of collective student characteristics (academic skills and task persistence at the beginning of first grade) and different teaching practices (child-centered, teacher-directed, and child-dominated) on the development of academic skills and task persistence during the first two years in school. We hypothesized that teaching practices would differentially impact the development of academic skills and task persistence depending on the collective needs of the classroom. Participants were 523 students (273 boys) from 32 classrooms across Estonia. By using multilevel modeling, we found several interactions indicating that both contextual influences are important in determining subsequent academic functioning and task persistence but that some teaching practices are more beneficial depending on the collective starting point of students. These findings highlight the importance of studying different contextual influences hand in hand when trying to understand what enhances young children's academic development.     

Using response cards to increase student participation in an elementary classroom

The use of response cards during large-group social studies instruction was evaluated in a fourth-grade classroom. The experiment consisted of two conditions, hand raising and write-on response cards, alternated in an ABAB design. During baseline, the teacher called upon 1 student who had raised his or her hand in response to the teacher's question. During the response-card condition, each student in the class was provided with a white laminated board on which to write one- or two-word answers in response to each question asked by the teacher. Rate of active student response during instruction was much higher with response cards than with hand raising. Most students scored higher on daily quizzes following sessions in which response cards were used than they did on quizzes that followed hand-raising sessions. Response cards were preferred over hand raising by 19 of the 20 students in the class.     

Examining classroom influences on student perceptions of school climate: The role of classroom management and exclusionary discipline strategies

There is growing emphasis on the use of positive behavior supports rather than exclusionary discipline strategies to promote a positive classroom environment. Yet, there has been limited research examining the association between these two different approaches to classroom management and students' perceptions of school climate. Data from 1902 students within 93 classrooms that were nested within 37 elementary schools were examined using multilevel structural equation modeling procedures to investigate the association between two different classroom management strategies (i.e., exclusionary discipline strategies and the use of positive behavior supports) and student ratings of school climate (i.e., fairness, order and discipline, student–teacher relationship, and academic motivation). The analyses indicated that greater use of exclusionary discipline strategies was associated with lower order and discipline scores, whereas greater use of classroom-based positive behavior supports was associated with higher scores on order and discipline, fairness, and student–teacher relationship. These findings suggest that pre-service training and professional development activities should promote teachers' use of positive behavior support strategies and encourage reduced reliance on exclusionary discipline strategies in order to enhance the school climate and conditions for learning.     

Toward an ecology of student development

A key assumption behind the Cube is that the work of counselors can be more effective as they strive toward the developmental and organizational ends of those dimensions, using whichever methods are appropriate. Blocher fills in some of the detail behind this assumption with his example of life in the elementary school classroom. He posits three subsystems in the classroom ecology. The first he calls “opportunity structure,” the second “support structure,” and the third “reward structure.” The implementation of an ecological approach to student development will require the preparation of a professional with quite different competencies and interests than has been the case. The last section of this issue is addressed to that concern.     

Understanding what students bring to the classroom: moderators of the effects of diversity courses on student attitudes

We investigated the impact of required diversity courses on students' understanding of racial inequality and their social development with regard to racial outgroups, with a specific focus on the effects of student race and empathy as moderators of diversity course effectiveness. First-semester students (N = 173), enrolled in either diversity courses or introduction to psychology, completed surveys at the beginning and end of the semester. Diversity courses increased understanding of White privilege, acknowledgment of blatant racism, and intersectional consciousness overall, but had a greater impact on intersectional consciousness for White students compared with students of color. White students taking diversity courses experienced a reduction in Protestant work ethic ideology that was absent for White students in psychology courses and for all students of color. Notably, empathy moderated the effect of diversity courses on both outgroup comfort and willingness to act to promote diversity.     

Failure to warn: How student race affects warnings of potential academic difficulty

In two studies, we document “failure to warn”—a reduced likelihood of warning Black students against potential academic difficulty compared to White students. In both studies, participants placed in the role of academic advisors saw a highly challenging academic course plan, attributed to either a Black or a White student, and gave Black students less warning about the potential negative consequences of taking on the proposed plan. Study 1 (N = 172) demonstrates this effect using undergraduate peer academic advisors, and Study 2 (N = 58) provides evidence that this effect is moderated by Internal Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice (Plant & Devine, 1998), suggesting that this effect is driven by the fear that discouraging an ambitious Black student might reflect prejudice. This well-intentioned concern can have the ironic consequence of leading the recipients of this advice into academic difficulties.     

Under-represented college students and extracurricular involvement: the effects of various student organizations on academic performance

Several studies indicate that students who are involved in extracurricular activities during college are more academically successful than are those who are not; however, most studies do not distinguish between different types of activities nor do they adequately consider the unique experiences of under-represented college students. Drawing on Ogbu’s theory of oppositional culture and Tinto’s theory of educational departure, I examine the effect of involvement in six different types of student organizations, as well as involvement in a co-ethnic student organization, on the academic performance of African American and Latino college students attending 27 different selective colleges. I find that student organizations differentially affect academic performance, depending on the type of organization and the race and gender of the students.

Career development theory

Super's theory of vocational development, initially formulated in the 1950s, has led to a number of important research programmes, focusing particularly on the concept of vocational maturity. The major findings of these studies are surveyed in this paper. They suggest that vocational maturity is a development characteristic which increases with age, is multidimensional in nature, develops at different rates in different individuals, and can help in the pre-diction of occupational satisfaction, occupational success, and career success.