Academic responding during instruction and reading outcomes for kindergarten students at-risk for reading difficulties

The purpose of this study was to investigate the academic responding of students at-risk for reading difficulties in beginning reading instruction. Opportunities for kindergarten students at-risk for reading difficulties to respond academically during teacher-facilitated reading instruction in the general education classroom were examined in relation to student reading achievement as well as social behaviors. Student academic responding during teacher-facilitated instruction significantly predicted end of year reading achievement. Teacher perceptions of students’ social skills (positive correlation) and problem behaviors (negative correlation) were significantly correlated with academic responding. When academic responding and teacher perceptions of social behaviors were examined together, only teacher perceptions of academic competence and problem behaviors predicted spring outcomes.     

Longitudinal analysis of time, engagement, and achievement in at-risk versus non-risk students

This longitudinal study investigated the effects of time spent in academic instruction and time engaged on elementary students' academic achievement gains. Three groups were compared over grades as follows: (a) an at-risk experimental group of low-socioeconomic status (SES) students for whom teachers implemented classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) beginning with the second semester of first grade continuing through Grade 3; (b) an equivalent at-risk control group; and (c) a non-risk comparison group of students of average- to high-SES. In both the control and comparison groups, teachers employed conventional instructional practices over Grades 1 through 3. Results indicated significant group differences in the time spent in academic instruction, engagement, and gains on the subtests of the Metropolitan Achievement Test that favored the experimental and comparison groups over the control group. Implications include the effectiveness of CWPT for at-risk students and the continuing vulnerability of at-risk students whose daily instructional programs provide less instructional time and foster lower levels of active academic engagement.     

Longitudinal outcome effects of non-at-risk and at-risk transition first-grade samples: A follow-up study and further analysis

Fourth-grade follow-up achievement outcome data of placed and nonplaced transition extra-year school readiness samples indicate a nonsignificant standardized score difference, as noted in the second-grade findings. New analysis of correlation data indicates that within-sample age distribution shows a positive correlation with standardized achievement test scores in a study sample of non-at-risk students nonretained or recommended for retention. This age-achievement correlation is strong in kindergarten, with decreased effects by second and fourth grade. Four study samples of at-risk students (students retained in a transition extra-year school readiness program, students recommended and eligible for such placement but not placed, students retained in kindergarten through second grade, and students held out of school prior to kindergarten) reflect moderate inverse (negative) correlations between age and achievement test scores, with increasing inverse effects in fourth grade. Effect analysis and implications are discussed. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Sex,race, and grade differences in the locus of control orientations of at-risk elementary students

Extensive educational efforts recently have been focused on the plight of the at-risk student. A multitude of variables contribute to a depressed likelihood of academic success; among these are poor academic preparation, lack of parental support, and several personality factors such as lowered self-concept, motivation, and confidence. One variable that has not been examined systematically in regard to the at-risk student is locus of control orientation. Two decades of research support the positive relationship of internal locus of control and achievement. To investigate this variable, 643 elementary school students were included in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 6 analysis of variance design. No main effects for sex or race were found. A significant main effect for conditions (at-risk vs. not-at-risk) was observed, with the at-risk students being more externally oriented. In addition, a significant effect for grade was noted, with the trend being for grade (age) to be positively related to internality. The importance of developing a program aimed at enhancing internal locus of control and its nature are discussed.     

Gender differences among students found eligible for special education

The differences between genders in 14 different categories of disability, of samples of children and students found eligible for special education, are presented. In kindergarten and upper secondary schools, 65 per cent of the children or students deemed eligible for special education were boys. In elementary through junior high school the figures were about 70 per cent. In the kindergarten sample the difference in prevalence remained the same as the overall difference within each category of disability. In the samples from elementary, junior high and upper secondary schools a relatively higher prevalence than the overall difference between the genders was found with regard to problems of vision, hearing, language and intellectual disabilities among girls. A similar higher prevalence than expected was found among boys with regard to problems with reading and writing, psychosocial problems and attention deficit disorders. The conclusion is that the higher incidence of boys in special education during the pre-school years must be attributed to genetic or biological differences between the sexes. Further, in addition to these differences, the higher incidence of boys in special education during the school years is caused by an interaction between genetic or biological factors and a pedagogy that does not match the educational needs of male students.     

Individualized help for at-risk students using model-agnostic and counterfactual explanations

Education and Information Technologies - Although using machine learning for predicting which students are at risk of failing a course is indeed valuable, how can we identify which characteristics...     

Using response to kindergarten and first grade intervention to identify children at-risk for long-term reading difficulties

Entry-level kindergartners in classrooms from five middle class school districts were given a test of letter identification and children who scored at or below the 30th percentile on the test were classified as “at risk” for early reading difficulties. Half of these children were randomly assigned to a project-based intervention condition where they received supplementary intervention in small groups until the end of their kindergarten year. The other half received whatever remedial services were available at their home schools and literacy skills development in both groups was tracked throughout kindergarten. All available at-risk children were again assessed at the beginning of first grade and dichotomized into a “continued-risk” group and a “no-longer-at-risk” group using a composite measure of basic word level skills. Normal reader controls were also identified using the same measure. Children in the continued-risk group received either project-based intervention (one-to-one tutoring 30 min daily) or school-based intervention throughout first grade. Intervention for project treatment children was discontinued at the end of first grade and literacy development in all groups was tracked until the end of third grade. The present study focused on literacy development in children who received only project-based kindergarten intervention or both (project-based) kindergarten and first grade intervention, relative to the normal reader controls. Of special interest was the question of whether measures of response to intervention would more effectively distinguish between continued-risk and no-longer-at-risk children than would kindergarten screening measures, measures of intelligence, or measures of reading-related cognitive abilities. Results indicated that the RTI measures more effectively and more consistently distinguished between these two groups than did the psychometric measures.

Instructional approaches: differences between kindergarten and primary school teachers

The article discusses kindergarten and primary school teachers’ preferences for instructional approaches and teaching practices. One hundred and thirty‐three teachers from Estonia completed questionnaires. The results showed that the promotion of students’ comprehension and independence, enhancing practical application and individualisation of instruction are highlighted by kindergarten as well as primary school teachers. The major difference between kindergarten and primary school teachers is in the usage of rote learning practices. Using a person‐oriented approach to data analysis, kindergarten teachers’ instructional patterns were shown to be similar to constructivist approaches, and primary school teachers’ patterns similar to traditional and constructivist approaches.     

Structural pattern differences in course enrollment rates among community college students

This study tested a structural equation model of enrollment patterns of white and Hispanic males and females in two-year institutions and the invariance of parameter estimates among the different subgroups in the study. The model represented a multiequation model with three latent endogenous variables, high school academic preparation in mathematics and science, mathematics and science attitudes, and the dependent variable, enrollment patterns in mathematics and science courses. Exogenous variables included parents' education, levels of encouragement by others, and high school grades. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the structural and measurement coefficients of the hypothesized causal model for all subgroups in the study. In summary, an examination of the direct and total effect coefficients revealed different underlying patterns of factors for white and Hispanic females. No convergence on the model was found for white and Hispanic males. Equality constraints on all structural coefficients for both white and Hispanic females were tested and results indicated that all parameter estimates in the structural models for both subgroups were significantly different from each other.     

Longitudinal factor structure of the WISC‐III among students with disabilities

If the factor structure of a test does not hold over time (i.e., is not invariant), then longitudinal comparisons of standing on the test are not meaningful. In the case of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children‐Third Edition (WISC‐III), it is crucial that it exhibit longitudinal factorial invariance because it is widely used in high‐stakes special education eligibility decisions. Accordingly, the present study analyzed the longitudinal factor structure of the WISC‐III for both configural and metric invariance with a group of 177 students with disabilities tested, on average, 2.8 years apart. Equivalent factor loadings, factor variances, and factor covariances across the retest interval provided evidence of configural and metric invariance. It was concluded that the WISC‐III was measuring the same constructs with equal fidelity across time which allows unequivocal interpretation of score differences as reflecting changes in underlying latent constructs rather than variations in the measurement operation itself. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

School achievement differences among Chinese and Filipino American students: acculturation and the family

The general belief that Asian American adolescents are successful has led researchers to ignore variations in Asian adolescents’ academic success. Using samples of Chinese and Filipino adolescents drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examined whether differences between these two groups in acculturation, parent–adolescent attachment, and parental school involvement could account for academic achievement differences. Results revealed that Chinese adolescents generally performed better in school than their Filipino counterparts. Factors that predicted academic achievement were ethnicity, acculturation, and parents’ academic involvement. An interaction was found between ethnicity and acculturation, indicating that acculturation is a predictor of academic performance among Filipino youth but not among Chinese youth. Cultural values in parent–adolescent attachment, acculturation, and parents’ school involvement are discussed.     

Career coping styles: differences in career attitudes among secondary school students

The types of difficulties associated with career attitudes were studied using Super’s model of career maturity (1990) in a group of 620 Portuguese students from grades 9 and 12. A cluster analysis identified four styles with different patterns of association between time perspective, attributional beliefs, self-esteem and career attitudes. The adaptive style showed more committed career attitudes, and the other three styles—superficial, insecure and pessimistic—showed lower levels of career maturity. Implications for career counselling are further discussed.     

Gender differences in instrumental learning among secondary school students in Hong Kong

This paper examines the extent of gender differences, and discusses the role of gender in musical instrument learning. It focuses on the collective instrumental experiences of 1493 Chinese students (774 boys and 719 girls attending grades 7–13) within Western and non‐Western musical traditions in Hong Kong. The discussion draws attention to gender differences in the learning of Chinese and Western musical instruments, in musical interest and instrumental learning, and in the reasons why students learn or do not learn musical instruments. The paper argues that, while female and male students exhibit different attitudes towards the types of instruments learnt, significant correlations exist between their interest in music and parental support for their instrumental learning. Gender is brought to the fore by the pedagogical actions of the teacher, the mass media and by parental efforts to reduce gender bias and stereotypes through school, public and family education.     

Study orchestration and learning outcome: evidence of association over time among disadvantaged students

This study explores, for the first time, the study orchestrations of (mostly Black) engineering students who enter an academic support programme in their first year at university at an educational disadvantage by virtue of their exposure to an inferior, racially determined school education.The empirical manifestation, and the stability over time, of their study orchestrations is described, and the association between their study orchestrations and learning outcome is investigated.It is concluded that the manifestation of individual study orchestrations of these particular educationally disadvantaged engineering students, as well as the association between their study orchestrations and their learning outcomes, is essentially similar to that of other students; academic success is associated with theoretically desirable study orchestrations - particularly when these are manifested early on in the programme since they remain essentially stable over time. Where changes do occur over time they are generally of a theoretically desirable nature and, to a lesser extent, where theoretically undesirable changes occur they appear to be associated with a decline in academic achievement.The implications of these conclusions for academic support programmes and for future research are discussed in so far as they impinge on admissions procedures, the identification of potentially at risk students early on in the academic year and explicit provisions of intervention mechanisms to assist such students.     

Doing time—Killing time at school: An examination of the perceptions and allocations of time among teacher-defined at-risk students

“Doing time” is an expression that is generally associated with prisoners who are disconnected from society and find themselves counting the days and minutes until their release from prison. In many respects, at-risk students attending our nation's large, urban, inner-city middle and high schools also consider themselves as not being connected to school or society and to be “doing time” in the classroom. Qualitative and subjective impressions of doing time at school have become the theme of many movies, books, and research articles. This study extends this qualitative type of research by quantitatively framing time allocation preferences and temporal dominance characteristics for a large sample of teacher-perceived “at-risk” students at several large urban high school sites. A sample of normal attaining students at the same school site served as a comparison group. The findings of this research effort generally support other more qualitative studies and indicate that there are strong preferences in at-risk students toward nondirected time-consuming activities (i.e., hanging out, video games, watching TV, etc.) with low-directed to nondirected time preference ratios. Normal attaining students had the reverse pattern, i.e., higher-directed to nondirected time preference ratios and higher preferences toward directed time-consuming activities that might be associated with investments in the schooling process (homework, studying, personal development, etc.). Interpretation of the circles test, a projective psychological procedure for establishing temporal dominance for at-risk students, revealed a general lack of recognition and connectiveness between past, present, and future events in their life and weak temporal dominance or orientation toward the future.     

Making learning meaningful: facilitating interest development and transfer in at-risk college students

The Teaching for Transformative Experience in Science (TTES) model has shown to be a useful tool to generate learning and engagement in science. We investigated the effectiveness of TTES for facilitating transformative experience (TE), learning, the development of topic interest and transfer of course concepts to other courses employing a quasi-experimental design. Our goal was to determine the effectiveness of TTES compared to an alternative teaching method in a course designed for academically at-risk undergraduate students. Specifically, we explored the impact of TTES for teaching about motivation in a college success course. The results showed that TTES generated TE outside of the biological sciences, increased learning, developed student interest and facilitated self-reported transfer to other courses. The findings have important implications for facilitating learning and motivation in academically at-risk college students, which may subsequently impact college student retention and academic success.     

Teacher perceptions of differences among elementary students with and without learning disabilities in referred samples

Current referral and identification procedures for students with learning disabilities (LD) have been criticized on conceptual and procedural dimensions, including difficulties in operationalizing the definition and in making eligibility decisions that are data based. Recognizing these difficulties, the Texas Education Agency appointed a task force to examine various issues associated with the identification, assessment, and programming of students with LD. Task force members recognized the need to identify classroom behaviors that differentiate students with LD from their non-disabled peers. Two scales of 83 items each were devised and piloted in 70 school districts. Five significant factors or subscales were identified through discriminant factor analyses. Two subscales and 18 individual items discriminate students later classified as LD and those referred but not subsequently classified as LD. Results are discussed, with implications for further investigation of behaviors that distinguish students with and without LD.     

Development of a school building model for educating students with handicaps and at-risk students in general education classrooms

This study, conducted in the context of a 4-year project to redesign special and remedial services in an elementary school, examined the effects of cooperative learning, cross-age tutoring, and in-class services for students with handicaps and remedial students. All students (524) in Grades 1 through 6 in two medium-sized elementary schools took part in the study. All three treatments were introduced into one of the schools, with the second school serving as a control. The cooperative learning treatment was delivered to all sixth-grade students, cross-age tutoring to special and remedial students in Grades 1 through 3, and the in-class services to all grade levels. Results indicated that, although the character of the instructional services changed markedly, none of the three treatments had much impact on achievement. Reasons for the findings are explored.