A Feasibility Study of a Full Integration Model Developed for a Group of Students Classified as Mildly Intellectually Disabled

The feasibility of a functional full‐time integration model was examined by comparing the academic and social achievement of two groups of 13 students with mild intellectual disabilities who had been randomly allocated to either age‐appropriate mainstream classes or to a segregated special class. Both groups of students had previously attended special classes in a support unit catering for students with mild intellectual disabilities and had been taught by two special education teachers. During the experimental phase, one teacher remained in the unit while the other acted as a resource teacher for both integrated students with disabilities and regular low progress students in mainstream classes to which the students with disabilities had been allocated. After a 16 week intervention, the results indicated that the integrated students improved significantly more than their segregated counterparts on measures of decoding and mathematics as well as in time spent playing with regular peers. Furthermore, in one regular classroom where the resource teacher had established a mastery learning/cooperative group procedure, both regular students and those with disabilities improved significantly more in academic skills than a parallel group in a traditionally organized classroom. While it is recognised that teacher effects cannot be partialled out in such an intervention, the implications of these results for extending special education services into the mainstream rather than isolating them within special classes are discussed.     

Effects of developmental relationships with teachers on middle-school students’ motivation and performance

We examined how middle-school students’ motivation, belonging, school climate, and grade point average (GPA) are affected by students experiencing developmental relationships—those that go beyond teachers being caring (e.g., showing warmth to students) and providing challenge (e.g., high expectations) to also include teachers providing support, sharing power, and expanding students’ sense of possibilities. We also examined variations in those associations by student socioeconomic status (SES). The study included 534 diverse Grades 6–8 students (51% female, 46% non-White, 33% eligible for free and reduced price meals). Structural equation modeling and regressions showed that students with better developmental relationships with their teachers had better outcomes. Developmental relationships strongly predicted academic motivation at both the beginning and end of the school year, and also directly predicted students’ sense of belonging and school climate. Relationships indirectly predicted GPA, through motivation. Student–teacher relationship quality for low-SES students was lower and declined more than for other students. The results both reflect current literature in showing the importance of strong student–teacher relationships, and extend it in showing the worsening relationships quality for low-income students, and in suggesting that strengthening multiple facets of student–teacher developmental relationships may have important effects on motivation and achievement of middle-school students.     

Perceptions of Secondary School Students with Mild Disabilities to the Academic and Social Support Mechanisms Implemented in Regular Classrooms

The Student Perceptions of Classroom Support Scale (SPCS), which measures the perceptions of students with mild disabilities of academic and social support mechanisms implemented in regular classrooms, was administered to 60 secondary school‐aged students. Data were obtained with reference to curricular, instructional, physical and peer support mechanisms. Item affectivity and multivariate analysis of variance revealed that significant differences were evident in student’s perceptions in regard to academic versus social support mechanisms. Support mechanisms rated highly by students in terms of positive academic and social outcomes often represented traditional teaching values. Conversely, support mechanisms such as one‐to‐one assistance from teacher assistants or volunteers were perceived as positive in terms of completing classroom activities, but of limited value in establishing friendships with peers. The SPCS not only provides researchers, clinicians and educators with a method of objectively evaluating students’ perceptions of support mechanisms, but also as a method of developing effective practical applications for students included in regular classrooms.     

Who is the ideal teacher? Am I? Similarity and difference in perception of students of education regarding the qualities of a good teacher and of their own qualities as teachers

This research examines two images of teachers as seen by students of education: the ideal teacher and their own self‐image as teachers. The research compares the students’ perceptions of these two images using two sub‐groups of students of education: students at an academic teachers’ college who will be referred to as student teachers and beginning teachers, who, while teaching, are completing their academic degrees at teachers’ colleges or regional academic colleges. Data were collected from 89 students at the two colleges by means of a questionnaire that included open‐ended questions which were analyzed qualitatively. The findings of the research indicate that there are two major categories that comprise perceptions of the ideal teacher: first, personal qualities; and second, knowledge of the subject taught as well as didactic knowledge. Both groups of students similarly attributed great importance to the personal qualities of the ideal teacher, but there is a difference in their perception of the importance of knowledge: the beginning teachers attributed great importance to knowledge and perceived it as a quality similar in importance to personal characteristics, while the student teachers, who had not begun their teaching careers, attributed less importance to knowledge as a characteristic of the ideal teacher. A quality which was less prominent when profiling the ideal teacher is general education and wide perspectives. The teacher as a socializing agent, a person who promotes social goals, was not mentioned at all. Students maintained that, during their studies, they had improved their qualities as ‘empathetic and attentive’ teachers, ‘knowledgeable in teaching methods’, and in ‘leadership’. But they had hardly improved their knowledge of the subject they taught or their level of general knowledge. The discussion of knowledge and the desirable personal qualities of a teacher is relevant to the current debate regarding the relative merits of disciplinary education in contrast to pedagogical education in preparation for teaching as a profession. The clear preference for disciplinary education by policy makers in Israel and elsewhere in the field of teacher education is contradictory to the emphasis placed on the personal development of future teachers and their pedagogical education by the students of education who participated in this research.     

Reinterpreting City as a Critical Ground in Atelier 1 Projects: Some Prospects and Projections on Ankara

This article is based on the critical approaches developed in Atelier 1, an architectural design studio in the Gazi University Faculty of Architecture, Department of Architecture in Ankara, Turkey. The main theme of Atelier 1 Projects in the 2014–15 academic year was the ‘City as a Critical Ground’, in which the city, ground and criticism were discussed within the interdisciplinary theoretical field of architecture. Atelier 1, involving second, third and fourth year undergraduate students, reinterpreted and redesigned the urban ground of Ankara with a critical approach to reveal its unique identities and implicit values. Ground, accepted as the main critical material in the design process, was criticised not only in its physical sense, but also its social, cultural, political, economic, technological and even psychological aspects. The students were able to discover their own design methods from their criticisms of the urban ground, which also allowed them to determine their sites and programmes. In this way, Atelier 1 promoted freedom and flexibility as well as criticality in the design process, and pointed out that the relationship of architecture with city, ground and criticism should be discussed from a new theoretical perspective, primarily in the architectural design studio, as the core of architectural education. Atelier 1, as a theory‐based architectural design studio, motivated the students to develop a critical approach to the urban ground of Ankara so as to replace the rising formalism with criticism in architecture.     

Monitoring learning-disabled students in mainstream science classes

While science classes are believed to be interactive learning environments, offering varied ways for students to learn, some experts believe that learning disabled (LD) students should be monitored closely in such settings because of difficulties adjusting to the social, behavioral, and academic demands. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether LD fourth and sixth graders show difficulties adjusting to the demands of their mainstream science classes and to investigate two means of assessing LD students’ functioning in these classes: paired questionnaires for teachers and students and a science curriculum-based assessment (CBA). Subjects include 31 fourth graders (9 LD) and 38 sixth graders (13 LD). Results show that the LD students had significant weaknesses on some subtests of the science CBA relative to their peers; additionally, they rated themselves and were rated by their teachers significantly more negatively than their Non-LD peers. These results suggest the potential value of monitoring LD students in mainstream science classes. Case studies of LD students reveal mismatches in the perception of the student and teacher regarding the student’s adjustment and classroom habits. Examination of these case studies is used to suggest ways in which the collaboration of student and teacher as well as regular and special education teachers might aid the student.     

Academic optimism of individual teachers: Confirming a new construct

Teacher sense of academic optimism is individual teachers' beliefs that they can teach effectively, their students can learn, and parents will support them so the teacher can press hard for learning. This new construct is grounded in the social cognitive and self-efficacy theories, social capital theory, work on school culture and climate and research on learned optimism. At the school level, collective academic optimism has been related to academic performance (Hoy, Tarter, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2006b). The analyses tested and supported the validity and reliability of the construct at the individual level with elementary school teachers in a confirmatory factor analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).     

Students’ perceptions of the learning environment and attitudes in game-based mathematics classrooms

We investigated whether the introduction of games into college-level mathematics classes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was effective in terms of improving students’ perceptions of the learning environment and their attitudes towards of mathematics. A pre–post design involved the administration of English and Arabic versions of two surveys (one to assess students’ perceptions of the learning environment and the other to assess their attitudes) after modification to ensure their relevance for college-level mathematics students in the UAE. For a sample of 33 classes (352 students), eight of which (90 students) were exposed to mathematics games, students involved in mathematics games perceived statistically significantly more teacher support, involvement, personal relevance, enjoyment of mathematics lessons and academic efficacy.     

Students’ classroom experience in foreign-faculty and local-faculty classes in public and private universities in Taiwan

This study investigates university students’ perceptions of classroom experience in foreign-faculty and local-faculty classes and their relations to the type of institution in which they studied. The sample included 714 undergraduate students from 14 universities in Taiwan. The instrument consisted of seven dimensions: peer supportiveness, peer pressure, teacher supportiveness, teacher approachability, study preparedness, class participation, and learning comprehensiveness. The results indicate that students in both types of universities are reluctant to participate, feel pressure, and experience difficulty comprehending course content in the foreign teacher’s class. However, they feel that foreign teachers are more supportive and approachable than local teachers, especially in private universities. Compared with local-faculty classes, private university students prepare more and obtain more peer support in foreign-faculty classes. They also participate more and feel more peer support; however, they comprehend less course content than their public university counterparts in foreign-faculty classes. Detailed discussions regarding the university classroom experience of Taiwanese students in local-faculty classes and foreign-faculty classes are provided.     

Emotion in online college classrooms: examining the influence of perceived teacher communication behaviour on students’ emotional experiences

This research focused on teacher communication behaviour as an influential factor in students’ educational experiences. This study examined students’ perceptions of emotion (involving teachers’ emotional support, students’ emotional work and students’ positive emotional valence toward class and teacher) as influenced by a variety of predicting variables: perceptions of teacher affinity-seeking as well as teachers’ positive behaviour alteration techniques, verbal immediacy and teacher online presence (involving the three factors of instructional design, organisation facilitating discourse and direct instruction). Relying on survey data collected from undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines enrolled in course offerings at a large public university, quantitative analysis examined relationships among existing factors previously studied in educational and communication research. Although this study uncovered multiple significant relationships between variables in the data set, students’ perceptions of their teachers’ verbal immediacy and presence in their instructional design were found to be most predictive relative to students’ emotions in online classrooms. Ultimately this project addresses and emphasises the need to more fully examine students’ emotions and related social experiences with virtual teachers and course content in higher education.     

How first-year students perceive and experience assessment of academic literacies

Abstract

First-year university students’ underdeveloped academic literacies can lead to dissatisfaction and poor performance. University teachers find it difficult to take action without an understanding of students’ perceptions and needs. This study investigates first-year Chinese students’ perceptions and experiences related to assessment of academic literacies in an English-as-a-foreign-language university context. The datasets include student focus groups at two different time points over their first university year, self-reflective essays written by students at the end of the year, and audio records of nine units of teaching in three teachers’ classes. Findings highlight that fostering students’ academic literacies incorporates both linguistic development and epistemological adaptation. Students held mixed feelings towards alternative assessment other than examinations. Their personal learning goals of using English in everyday scenarios dampened their commitment to teachers’ goals of developing learners’ academic literacies. Findings suggest assessment can be an effective ‘card’ played by teachers to nurture students’ appreciation of new learning goals, communicate areas for improvement in learning strategies, and demonstrate their visible progress.     

Students’ behaviour difficulties,sense of coherence and adjustment at school: risk and protective factors

The objectives of the study were to examine the characteristics of non‐referred children with behaviour difficulties (BD) (such as verbal and physical aggression towards children and objects), aged 9–12 years and attending mainstream schools, and to compare them with children with no BD. The second objective was to evaluate the contribution of a risk and protective factors model to the explanation of the social and academic characteristics of these students. The sample consisted of 337 students (Grades Three to Six from seven schools in the central area of Israel) divided into two groups: 163 students with BD (142 boys and 21 girls), and 174 students without BD (145 boys and 29 girls). The groups were compared, using the following measures: teachers’ assessment of academic achievement and behaviour problems (reactive and proactive aggression; hyperactive behaviour); peer’s ratings of social status (degree of social acceptance and rejection, reciprocal friendship and reciprocal rejection), and students’ self‐perceptions – their sense of coherence and loneliness. Results revealed that teachers evaluated students with BD as achieving lower academic grades and as displaying higher levels of hyperactive behaviour as well as three different types of aggression. Peer ratings of social status revealed that students with BD were less accepted at their classes and had fewer friends. They were more rejected by peers and had more identified enemies. Self‐perception comparisons revealed significant differences in their loneliness and sense of coherence. Results of the structural equation modelling analysis suggested a high degree of fit between the risk and protective factors’ model and the empirical findings for students with and without BD. Results of the study corroborate the model that explain children’s academic and social adjustment, considering the joint impact of risk (behaviour disorders) and protective factors (the sense of coherence), with educational implications in terms of teachers’ sensitising and programme development.     

Mainstreaming in an urban middle school: Effects of school organization and climate

Mainstreaming in an urban middle school was examined for three years by a participant observer. It was hypothesized that the school's organization and culture would affect mainstreaming. Findings confirmed this hypothesis. Homogeneity of academic classes and the requirement that students fit into academic groups limited access for special education students to classes where they could function academically as the students did in general education. Criteria for selecting students were not delineated; special and general education teachers communicated informally and irregularly about their students' functioning in mainstream classes; and students received little help with their academic mainstream responsibilities. Students from special education were added to regular classes that were already very large and teacher permission was necessary to include a mainstream student in a general education class. Some school factors facilitated mainstreaming. The principal advocated it and supported its implementation. Special education teachers initiated mainstreaming through their social networks in the school. Heterogeneous groups in minor subjects offered classes with a wider range of ability within which special education students could function, and low track homogeneous classes provided environments that were more like special education classes.     

Personal belief in a just world, experience of teacher justice, and school distress in different class contexts

The study examined the meaning of personal belief in a just world and students’ experience of their teachers’ behavior toward them personally for school distress in different class contexts. The study involved 827 secondary school students from 61 classes (grades 9 to 11). Analyses revealed that the more the students believed in a personal just world, the more they felt their teachers’ behavior toward them personally to be just, and the less school distress they experienced; the association between belief in a just world (BJW) and school distress was partly mediated by students’ personal experience of teacher justice. These associations were stable across school tracks, schools, and classes. According to these results and the just world theory, a strong BJW seems to function as a rather context-independent personal resource for students, explaining their individual experience of teacher justice and school distress. Moreover, teacher justice seems to be a key feature of schools explaining students’ well-being at school.     

Student Achievement for Whom? High-performing and Still ‘Playing the Game,’ the Meaning of School Achievement Among High Achieving African American Students

The preponderance of the research on African American students has generally focused on issues of school failure and underperformance. While the literature on high achieving Black students is sparse, very little is known about these students’ school experiences and the meanings that they assign to achievement. Using student-based inquiry research, this study investigates the meaning of school achievement among high-performing African Americans. The findings reveal that the students were not convinced that standardized examinations, and to a lesser extent course grades, were accurate or valid measures of achievement. Thus, they challenged the dominant achievement paradigm and created their own sense of school success, which included social dimensions such as community involvement and personal growth and development. Although collectively the students concluded that standardized exams and grades were not achievement or accurate measures of achievement, yet they clearly knew how to ‘play the game.’ While students must meet the norms of standardized measures and end-of-course testing related to the Common Core, schools can respond to their diverse assessment needs by incorporating broader measures that include, but are not limited to standardized tests. The findings of this study and student recommendations have great implications for teacher education and student assessment.     

Reducing disruptive behaviours and improving classroom behavioural climate with class‐wide positive behaviour support in middle schools

Disruptive behaviour in classrooms is a significant challenge for learning in schools and a risk factor for students’ academic achievement and a significant source of teachers’ work‐related stress. Earlier research shows that clear behavioural expectations, monitoring students’ adherence to them and behaviour‐specific praise are effective practices to reduce disruptive behaviour. Although behaviour problems are common in middle schools, most of the interventions have been developed and studied in elementary schools. This randomised study evaluated the effects of a class‐wide intervention on classroom behavioural climate and disruptive behaviour, on teacher‐experienced stress and on the time needed for behaviour management in middle school. The classes were selected for intervention by their teachers on the basis of poor behavioural climate. The intervention was based on teachers’ cooperation; they collectively agreed on clear behavioural expectations, used positive feedback and, if needed, applied consequences in response to high rates of disruptive behaviour. The results indicated medium to large effects on classroom behavioural climate according to teachers’ evaluations, and somewhat more inconsistent effects on classroom behavioural climate according to student evaluations and in the time needed for behaviour management. The behavioural climate of the classes remained at a constant level during the follow‐up. The intervention was well accepted by teachers and students. The results suggest that an easily applicable intervention may produce significant improvements in classroom behavioural climate in middle schools.     

Student–teacher closeness and conflict in students with and without special educational needs

Teachers play a key role in creating effective conditions for students to succeed in school. The quality of student–teacher relationships is consistently associated with social, emotional, behavioural and academic adjustment, and this is even more relevant for students with special educational needs (SEN), considering these students’ emotional, social and learning vulnerabilities. This study aimed to examine the associations between students’ externalising and internalising behaviour, social skills and academic performance, and teachers’ perceptions of conflict and closeness in their relationships with students with and without SEN. Data regarding 360 students in Year 3, Year 5 and Year 7 (169 students with SEN) were collected. Teachers (n = 74) reported on the student–teacher relationship and students’ social skills, behaviour problems and academic performance. Special education teachers (n = 38) provided information regarding the diagnosis and profile of functioning of students with SEN. Results showed that teachers’ reports of students’ social skills and externalising problems were the strongest predictors of closeness and conflict. Internalising problems and SEN status also predicted decreased closeness, despite smaller effects. Taken together, findings support the importance of professional development opportunities focusing on facilitating teachers’ relationships with students with perceived challenging behaviour.     

Campus climate: The role of teacher support and cultural issues

ABSTRACT

The literature on campus climate has mainly focused on diversity and demographic variables within single or multiple university campuses from one country. There is a need to investigate campus climate further with regard to cultural issues and the role of teachers. This study thus proposed to examine perceived teacher support as a mediator of the relation between institutional and psychosocial variables of the campus climate of two universities from two culturally distinct countries. To achieve this goal, 980 Brazilian and Portuguese university students answered the Institutional and Psychosocial Campus Climate Inventory. Findings showed significant differences in how students from two different countries described their campus climate and how both Brazilian and Portuguese students described their institutional climate more accurately than their psychosocial climate. Moreover, results from a mediation analysis revealed that perceived teacher support mediated the relationship between students’ perceptions of the institutional readiness of their university and their sense of well-being, as well as newcomer adjustment. A moderation analysis showed that the country of origin moderated the relationship between students’ perceived teacher support and newcomer adjustment. Implications for developing a positive campus climate are discussed.     

Mandatory Virtual Design Studio for All: Exploring the Transformations of Architectural Education amidst the Global Pandemic

Virtual design studio (VDS) has been a part of the discourse of architectural pedagogy for the past two decades. VDS has been showcased as a potential educational tool in schools of architecture often in controlled, pre‐designed experiments. However, the global COVID‐19 pandemic has forced most schools to move their design studios into virtual space. This article aims to explore the potential advantages and shortcomings of VDS during the COVID‐19 quarantine from the perspective of students in a department of architecture. The study investigates three aspects of VDS namely, participating students’ evaluation of the virtual studio experience, the effectiveness of VDS in achieving the studio’s expected learning outcomes and the evaluation process for final design projects. Some 360 students from eight consecutive design studios participated in the study. The results indicate improvement in students’ ability to conduct independent research and in learning new computer‐aided design (CAD) software. Furthermore, the study finds VDS to be much more applicable for third‐ and fourth‐year students. The results also show a significant decline in background informal peer learning among students. Further studies are needed to address the implementation of a more immersive social experience in VDS.