Evidence‐Based Practices: Applications of Concrete Representational Abstract Framework across Math Concepts for Students with Mathematics Disabilities

Students with mathematics disabilities (MD) experience difficulties with both conceptual and procedural knowledge of different math concepts across grade levels. Research shows that concrete representational abstract framework of instruction helps to bridge this gap for students with MD. In this article, we provide an overview of this strategy embedded within the explicit instruction framework. We highlight effective practices for each component of the framework across different mathematical strands. Implications for practice are also discussed and a detailed case study is provided.     

Using Evidence‐Based Practices to Build Mathematics Competence Related to Conceptual,Procedural, and Declarative Knowledge

Abstract Mathematics continues to be one of the most difficult components of the school curriculum for students with learning disabilities (LD). The National Council for Teachers of Mathematics, in conjunction with current educational legislation, challenges teachers to maintain high standards for student performance in mathematics. Fortunately, over the past two decades, researchers have identified and validated a number of instructional practices that help students with LD understand and use mathematics in meaningful ways. The purpose of this article is to discuss instructional guidelines and evidence‐based practices for building conceptual, procedural, and declarative knowledge within a comprehensive mathematics curriculum. The importance of balancing these three knowledge areas across mathematics content areas is noted.     

An Investigation of Counselor Educators' Attitudes Toward Evidence‐Based Practices

Evidence‐based practices (EBPs) receive little attention in counselor education curricula despite the ethical obligation for counselor educators to teach EBPs to counseling students. This study investigates counselor educators’ attitudes toward EBPs along with perceived barriers to the inclusion of EBPs in counselor education curricula.     

Moving an Evidence‐Based Parenting Program Into the Community

Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch‐up (ABC) is a parenting program developed to enhance sensitivity among parents of infants who experience early adversity. In several randomized clinical trials, the intervention's efficacy has been demonstrated. Moving interventions into the community with adequate fidelity is challenging, though, and intervention effects are often much smaller than when tested in randomized clinical trials. To enhance the likelihood that ABC is delivered with high fidelity, a microanalytic fidelity assessment was developed. Using this fidelity tool as a central component of training, supervision, and certification, changes in parent sensitivity for 108 families with children ages 6 months to 2 years were as large as those seen in laboratory settings. These findings are discussed with regard to implications for moving other evidence‐based interventions into the community.     

Evidence‐Based Interventions for Depressed Mothers and Their Young Children

Depression in mothers is a significant risk factor for the development of maladjustment in children. This article focuses on modifiable risk processes linking depression in mothers and adaptation in their young children (i.e., infancy through preschool age). First, the authors present evidence of the efficacy of interventions for reducing the primary source of risk: maternal depression. Second, they describe a central mechanism—parenting behaviors—underlying the relation between maternal depression and children's adjustment. Third, the authors recommend two different integrated interventions that successfully treat mothers’ depression and enhance parenting skills with infants and young children. Finally, the authors note the possible need for supplementary interventions to address severity and comorbidity of mothers’ depression, barriers to engaging in treatment, and the sustainability of program benefits.     

Friendships and Group Work in Linguistically Diverse Mathematics Classrooms: Opportunities to Learn for English Language Learners

This ethnographic study examined students’ opportunities to learn in linguistically diverse mathematics classrooms in a Canadian elementary school. I specifically examined the contextual change of group work, which influenced opportunities to learn for newly arrived English language learners (ELLs). Based on analyses of video-recorded interactions, this study revealed a shift in these ELLs’ opportunities to learn from when they worked with teacher-assigned peers to when they worked with friends. In both settings, ELLs tended to be positioned as novices. However, when working with friends, they accessed a wider variety of work practices. In friend groups, ELLs were occasionally positioned as experts and had more opportunities to raise questions and offer ideas. In contrast, when working with teacher-assigned peers, ELLs tended to remain in the position of being helped. In some teacher-assigned groups, interactions were characterized as authoritative, and ELLs’ contributions and ideas were rejected or neglected without relevant justifications or mathematical authority established by their peers. The findings contribute to ongoing discussions on group work and friendship in linguistically diverse classrooms.     

Evaluating Evidence‐Based Practice Behaviors in Team Contexts

The article explores the application of the Hall and Hord (2010) levels of use model to the context of interprofessional teams in health care settings. The discussion provides a framework for evaluating the progression of evidence‐based practice behaviors over time. Although several forms of guidance exist for measuring the strength and characteristics of health care teams, there do not appear to be frameworks in place for assessing the evolution of evidence‐based practices in a team context.     

Evidence‐Based Strategies for Reading Instruction of Older Students with Learning Disabilities

Over a quarter of 8th‐grade students and more than one‐third of 4th graders do not read well enough to understand important concepts and acquire new knowledge from grade‐level text. For students with learning disabilities, the numbers are more troubling. This article describes features of evidence‐based instruction for students who continue to struggle with reading in late elementary, middle, and high school. Recommendations are organized into 5 areas that are critical to the reading improvement of older struggling readers: (1) word study, (2) fluency, (3) vocabulary, (4) comprehension, and (5) motivation. Much of the content in this article reflects our efforts with the Special Education and Reading Strands at the National Center on Instruction, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Two reports, both available at http://www.centeroninstruction.org/ , have particular relevance—Interventions for Adolescent Struggling Readers: A Meta‐Analysis with Implications for Practice and Academic Literacy Instruction for Adolescents: A Guidance Document from the Center on Instruction.     

Science of Learning: Evidence‐Based Teaching in the Clinical Supervision Classroom

Although clinical supervision is widely viewed as an educational process, counseling doctoral students may lack relevant background in pedagogy. In response to calls to incorporate learning theories and principles into supervision instruction, 7 evidence‐based science of learning principles as well as examples from 1 doctoral supervision course are described.     

Knowledge‐ and Evidence‐Based Education: Reasons,Trends, and Contents

Education is in need of reform, and the development of the sciences of mind and brain are candidates to contribute to the renovation of the way people are instructed and of the tools that mediate learning. Knowledge‐ and evidence‐based approaches to education put forward the fact that educational systems are inadequate to provide an answer to the challenges of the 21st century and claim that education should be guided by scientific principles rather than by intuition and professional wisdom only (or, worst, by tradition). This is because sciences that are capable of shedding light into learning process have dramatically advanced during the last half‐century and, still more meaningfully, during the last 20 years. The time has come for a new science of learning to rise, which is structured around cognitive and neuroscience, investigates topics that stem from educational problems, and rests on rigorous forms of in‐laboratory and in‐vivo evaluation.     

Translanguaging as Inclusive Pedagogical Practices in English-Medium Instruction Science and Mathematics Classrooms for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students

Research in Science Education - In English-medium instruction (EMI), English-as-a-second-language students will learn all/some subjects through English. Although there are a considerable number of...     

Reconstructing Clinical Training: In Pursuit of Evidence‐Based Clinical Training

Clinical training and education are of central importance to both the specialty of counselor education and the profession of counseling. Unfortunately, counselor educators may be inadvertently contributing to the well‐known and well‐documented gap between research and practice. This reaction to S. C. Whiston and K. J. Coker (2000) discusses the research–training gap in counselor education and proposes an evidence‐based model of clinical training.     

教师如何应对多样性学习者的教学挑战

课堂上学习者正在呈现更多样性的表征,以往研究关注学习者个体因素的多样性差异,而今更加关注教师因素和世界教育发展因素对学习者带来的动态差异。教师应从尊重个体差异到寻求普遍性发展中掌握为多样性而教的方法,即差异化教学、探究式教学、项目化学习、文化关联教学。在教学实践中,教师要重塑师生关系并提升多样性的教学能力;相关机构也应重视研究与实践同步推进,为多样性学习者培养未来教师。     

Evidence‐Based Teaching in Higher Education: Application to Counselor Education

The authors examined best practices in university‐level teaching, as premised on the evidence‐based teaching (EBT) literature found in fields external to counselor education. Findings were reported in relation to 3 areas: developing an effective learning environment, structuring intentional learning experiences, and assessing teaching effectiveness. Implications regarding the training of doctoral‐level counselor educators using EBT practices are discussed.     

Evidence‐Based Strategies for Improving the Reading Comprehension of Secondary Students: Implications for Students with Learning Disabilities

Reading comprehension is a complex skill that places significant demands on students, beginning with elementary school and continuing through the secondary grades. In this article, we provide an overview of possible factors associated with problems in reading comprehension among secondary students with learning disabilities. Discussion underscores the fact that comprehension problems are evidenced by a heterogeneous group of students. We argue that it is important for teachers to align an intervention with a specific area of difficulty (e.g., teaching prefixes and suffixes to increase reading vocabulary). We highlight research‐based interventions advocated by the National Reading Panel and offer ways that teachers can match specific strategies with the individual needs of students with problems in reading comprehension. Finally, we emphasize that whatever strategy is selected, it should be structured, explicit, scaffolded, and intense ( Williams et al., 2005 ).     

Assessing Millennials in College‐Level Fashion Design Studios: A Study of Evidence‐Based Practice

Providing quality feedback that is both positive and effective while maintaining the required student grade confidentiality is a conundrum for faculty. This issue is particularly complex for faculty teaching studio courses (e.g. fashion design) with performance or creativity components where feedback has traditionally been given publicly as desktop reviews in the open studio. The difficulty of giving feedback in the studio‐style classroom is compounded when teaching millennial college students who tend to reject any criticism, public or otherwise, of their work. Previous research on assessment, rubrics and feedback as well as personal experience with studio classes provide background to this evidenced‐based study comparing three feedback and delivery methods: abbreviated rubric, extensive rubric and one‐to‐one meetings (e.g. dialogical assessment) guided by a project list. Grade consistency and ranking of grades were evaluated. Studio projects from a fashion design course were graded across two semesters using the multiple methods. Comparisons were made based on: (a) student reaction, (b) quality of rework and (c) time to grade. The outcomes showed that the one‐to‐one meetings as a feedback and delivery method of assessment had several benefits over two other methods, including added student engagement and improvement of rework.     

Evidence‐Based Survey Design: The Use of a Midpoint on the Likert Scale

Likert‐type scales are often used in survey instruments, and practitioners and researchers need to clearly understand the appropriate use of a midpoint in these scales. The authors of this article explore research studies from various disciplines to indicate that there are circumstances when a midpoint should be included and others where it should not. They provide tables, summarizing the benefits and problems in each case as well as evidence‐based strategies to employ.     

Effects of an Online Mathematics Curriculum for English Language Learners

This study measured the effects of an online supplementary mathematics curriculum designed for middle school English language learners who speak Spanish as a first language. A randomized experiment measured the achievement differences between middle school English language learners who used the Web-based HELP Math (Help with English Language Proficiency) curriculum and students who used other technology-based programs. Three hundred and ninety-six students participated. Both groups made statistically significant gains from pretest to posttest within their respective curricula, but no main effect was found between the two groups. Post hoc analyses revealed that students with higher levels of English proficiency, who participated in the comparison condition, performed significantly better than students in the HELP Math condition, while students with lower levels of English proficiency performed better in the HELP Math program (although these differences were not statistically significant). Findings are interpreted with caution due to the truncated length of the intervention.