Effects of a classroom management intervention on student selective attention: results from a randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT

A main objective of classroom management (CM) is to raise students’ attention to their daily academic work by creating a classroom environment that supports academic and socioemotional learning. While studies have addressed CM effects on classroom-level behaviour or students’ academic outcomes, students’ attention skills been largely overlooked. This randomized controlled trial evaluates the effectiveness of a teacher-targeted CM intervention on students’ selective attention. Twenty-four primary schools were randomized into receiving the Inclusive And Appreciative Classroom Management (IACM) intervention (treatment) or a general information technology (IT) didactics course (control condition). All participating 1st-grade teachers and their students (N = 1,160) were followed for 1 year. Using repeated measurements of the d2 Test of Attention, we find that the IACM intervention improves students’ selective attention with .26 standard deviations. The effect is robust to the inclusion of student- and classroom-level characteristics. All analyses account for the variation across students, classrooms, and schools.     

A Randomized Trial of Teacher Development in Elementary Science: First-Year Achievement Effects

Abstract

This article describes 1st-year experimental effects of a large-scale reform providing professional development to elementary school teachers to implement an extended, inquiry-oriented science curriculum. Known as “immersion teaching” because it “immerses” teachers and students in the full cycle of scientific inquiry, this approach developed through a partnership involving university-based science and mathematics content experts and educators and K-12 educators from the Los Angeles Unified School District. Multilevel analyses, which examined school-level effects of assignment to the professional development intervention, nested Grade 4 students and their science achievement outcomes within the 80 study schools. The analyses revealed a statistically significant negative 1st-year treatment effect of school-level assignment to the initiative on the key science achievement outcome. We also tested whether the treatment had differential effects for English language learners, schools with large proportions of English language learners, and students of new teachers. We found an interaction effect of the treatment by teacher experience level for the teachers who were the primary target of the intervention, with the treatment having positive effects for novice teachers (3 years of experience or less) but a larger, negative effect for veteran teachers. We explore analytically three sets of explanations for the unexpected negative main effect of treatment: potential statistical and design artifacts, possible misalignment between the assessments and content of the treatment, and practical issues related to implementation of the treatment.     

当前我国师范专业招生问题及对策探讨

文章从分析当前我国师范生招生的录取分数线,院校的评价及录取标准入手,认为当前我国师范专业的招生质量不高,影响到教师教育的质量。文章提出,提高教师社会经济地位;重建师范生的免费制度和教育服务制度———如采取与教育服务挂钩的费用支付制度;建立师范生的招生标准,严格招生程序是提高师范专业招生质量的关键性因素。     

Teacher as Researcher,Teacher as Scholar,and Teacher as Leader

ABSTRACT

Too often, because of the static nature of schools and the dominant existence of high-stakes testing, professional learning for teachers is determined by administrators or policy and is facilitated by those who are not part of the school community using prepackaged programs. These initiatives run counter to authentic teacher inquiry where teachers enhance their understanding of students and learning and, ideally, develop new teaching practices (Borko, 2004; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999, 2009; Darling-Hammond, 1997). In this article, we focus on how teachers participating in action research begin to position themselves as teacher leaders.     

Students’ Preference for Field Dependence‐Independence Teacher Characteristics

The study explored whether FI students would rank certain FI teachers’ characteristics as more important for success than would FD students. Similarly, it was examined whether FD students would rank certain FD teacher characteristics as more important for successful teaching than would FI students. The subjects consisted of 50 female teachers (25 FD and 25 FI) and their 844 5‐year‐old classroom children (422 females and 422 males) attending an all day early childhood program. The teachers and children were administered the appropriate form of the Embedded Figures Test to characterise them as more FD or FI. Students rated FDI teacher characteristics. A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) for the students’ preference for the FDI teacher characteristics was found to be significant by the Wilks’ Lambda Critierion. Significant univariate F ratios are discussed. Significant interactions were found for: (1) the teachers’ cognitive style and sex (p<0.01); (2) the teachers’ cognitive style, sex, and the FDI teacher characteristics (p<0.001); (3) the teachers’ cognitive style and the FDI teacher characteristics (p<0.001).     

对师生关系的审视和再思考

能否形成正确、和谐的师生关系是教育成败的关键。本文从教育意义、教师和学生地位及教师角色和职能三个方面入手，对传统师生关系进行了审视和思考，指出了构建新型师生关系的途径和方法。     

The Impact of Supply and Demand on Doctorates in Physical Education Teacher Education: The Future of the Profession

ABSTRACT

Quality preparation of doctoral students is a key to the survival of physical education teacher education. Past research has revealed a shortage of students graduating with a doctoral degree in physical education and a general reluctance of teachers to leave their jobs to pursue an advanced degree. As the number of universities preparing new physical education teacher education assistant professors decreases, those in the profession are concerned for the future of teacher education. Unlike other professions that prepare more doctoral students than the market can accommodate, this is not the case for physical education teacher education doctoral programs. This article will provide summary information on supply and demand, which will be used to identify trends and recommendations for the future. This article will explore the status of doctoral programs in the United States and whether university programs will be able to prepare a sufficient number of professors to replace the aging physical education teacher education professoriate.     

Student Teachers’ Beliefs and a Changing Teacher Role

This article discusses the encounters between the changing expectations on the teacher role, teacher education and Swedish student teachers’ beliefs about their role as teachers, with special emphasis on the socialisation process of the pupils and the teacher's possible influence on it. The discussion is based on two empirical studies among Swedish compulsory school student teachers (M. von Wright, (1996) Propedeusis? Om motet mellan lärarstuderande och lärarutbildningen, in: Grundskollärarutbüdningen 1995. En utvärdering. Högskoleverkets rapportserie 1996:1 R.; M. von Wright (1997) Socialisationsprocessen. Metaforer och synsätt hos blivande lärare. Licentiatuppsats. Lärarhögskolan i Stockholm). The results show that student teachers when they enter their education on the one hand tend to carry with them explicit expectations which strongly reflect the values of what is considered pedagogically correct. At the same time students express implicit beliefs and underlying conceptions of human development, which in many cases are incoherent. During teacher education the pedagogically correct beliefs might become replaced, but implicit beliefs as affinity to certain pedagogical discourses are not changed or brought to awareness unless they are seriously challenged and problematised. Yet these beliefs direct the students’ attention. Changing demands on the teacher role bring about expectations on a shift in thinking about teaching and learning. Teacher education and educators can play important roles in making the students aware of their everyday beliefs and eventually change them.     

Teacher collaboration: 30 years of research on its nature,forms, limitations and effects

ABSTRACT

This article reprises and reflects on 30 years of the author’s work on teacher collaboration. The distinctive nature of this work has not been in making a case for teacher collaboration in terms of its benefits for students, teachers, or educational change. These arguments are widely available elsewhere. Rather it has examined ways of collaborating that are available to teachers, how formal or informal collaboration should be, how collaborative efforts can be misused or misdirected, and what factors must be considered when deliberately designing teacher collaboration so it will have the most beneficial effects. The article discusses the explanatory and strategic power of three concepts in particular—contrived collegiality, professional capital, and collaborative professionalism. Conclusions are drawn about next steps for educational research in terms of establishing clear typologies of teacher collaboration in relation to their impact and appropriateness in different circumstances.     

Between Student and Teacher: Learning to teach as translation

In this article, I propose that teacher educators use the metaphor of translation to illuminate the process of preparing to teach. Drawing on my analysis of the experience of preservice teachers enrolled in a methods course required for certification to teach at the secondary level, I explain how a project based in that class supports the preservice teachers' translations. Through a weekly exchange of letters with selected students who attend a local public high school, and ongoing reflection on that exchange, preservice teachers enrolled in this methods course face two challenges: to translate what it means to be a teacher as they translate themselves into teachers, and to translate the language they use with students as they interact with those students.     

The Influence of a Teacher Training Program on Student Perception of Classroom Climate

ABSTRACT

Many studies of classroom climate demonstrate effects on student learning outcomes. In this study the effect of a short in‐service teacher training program on pupil perceptions of the classroom climate is investigated. Two conditions are compared: in the first condition the teachers participated in the training program at the beginning of the school year; in the second condittion the teachers participated in January. It appeared from the results that pupils did not perceive a difference between teachers in the first condition and teachers in the second, with respect to the topics which were the focus of training (classroom management and instruction). However, a difference in the perception of the teacher/pupil relationships was found in favor of the teachers in the first condition.     

Protocol Analysis as a Fruitful Tool for a Problem Posing Teacher Education

With respect to European science teacher education, a growing interest can be noticed in the idea that teachers should not be confronted with solutions to teaching problems but be given real teaching problems which are open to different interpretations. This ‘problem posing’ course strategy should pay attention to school students’ conceptions as well as existing and new (student) teachers’ conceptions. The present article deals with classroom protocol analysis as a tool for a problem posing teacher education. Some methodological aspects of the production and interpretation of this type of protocol are described. Experiences with classroom protocol analysis in the context of inservice courses in teaching and learning electrochemistry and in problem solving in chemistry are reported. The impact of the analysis method on chemistry teachers’ thinking is investigated by analysing protocols of teacher meetings. Implications for innovating science teacher education are discussed.     

Re-envisioning Teacher Preparation: Lessons from China

Stereotypes of the 'Chinese learner' have been extensively investigated, leading to the conclusion that knowledge about the social, cultural and pedagogic origins of Chinese students' dispositions to learning should be incorporated into programs preparing teachers for China service. In this paper it is suggested that teacher education initiatives of this type should redress sociological blindness about the particularity of local pedagogic contexts. A case study of the production of 'obedient' students in the Chinese school system during the 1990s is presented, illustrating sociological tools that enable analysis of the origin of students' dispositions to learning in particular conditions. The recommendation is that such tools be incorporated into teacher education for domestic, as well as international contexts, given the critical insight that is required if teachers are to provide equitably for all students in conditions of increasing cultural diversification and re-traditionalisation of education.     

Student and Teacher Outcomes of The Superkids Quasi-Experimental Study

In this article, we report kindergarten student and teacher outcomes from a quasi-experimental evaluation of The Superkids, a systematic, phonics-based, comprehensive K-2 reading program. We recruited 23 kindergarten teachers to implement The Superkids program from a diverse, yet predominantly ethnic minority, group of classrooms from across the United States. We then employed a precise computerized matching methodology to derive a statistically equivalent comparison group of 20 control teachers who implemented their standard “business as usual” core literacy program. Multilevel analyses of classroom-level effects of The Superkids revealed achievement advantages of more than 1/10 of a standard deviation, d = 0.11, to 1/4 of a standard deviation, d = 0.25, for the treatment group on the 5 subtests from the Stanford Achievement Test, 10th edition (SAT-10). Four measures of teachers’ self-reported satisfaction with the core reading program used in their classrooms also revealed statistically significant advantages for Superkids of nearly three-quarters of a standard deviation, d = 0.72, to nearly 1½ standard deviation units, d = 1.49.     

Evidence of efficacy of the Integrated Literacy Study Group professional learning program to enhance reading instruction for students with emotional and behavioral disorders

This article reports on a pilot study of the Integrated Literacy Study Group, a digitally delivered professional learning intervention to prepare elementary school teachers to provide evidence-based reading instruction and behavioral strategies to students with or are at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. Using broadcast methods, we recruited 72 teachers across five states in the western United States to participate in the randomized controlled trial. Intervention teachers, relative to controls, made significant gains in self-efficacy and use of the reading and behavioral strategies learned in the professional learning program. Students with or at risk of emotional and behavioral disorders served by participating teachers made significant improvements in academic competence and engagement. Teacher professional learning can improve teacher knowledge of evidence-based reading and behavioral strategies for students with (or at risk for) emotional and behavioral disorders, teacher self-efficacy, and teacher practice, with positive impacts on student early literacy and academic competence.     

Teacher preparation in Malaysia: needed changes

The article attempts to present personal views of some changes that are needed to be made within teacher education in Malaysia. It uses one teacher education university as a point of reference to forward concerns. The university remains anonymous as it is not the intent of the article to critique the university but rather to highlight the more general challenges in preparing preservice teachers and to explore some approaches to improve teacher education within this university and its setting. The article starts by drawing together a set of concerns that face the field, arguing that three changes are needed to improve teacher preparation, namely (1) a curriculum that is grounded in the Malaysian context, (2) an improved practicum experience, and (3) to develop and situate practices in the schools. It concludes that the efforts to change within teacher education will not be easy, but needful; else the ultimate losers are the future teachers and their students.     

Oregon Teacher Pathway: Responding to National Trends

ABSTRACT

National population trends demonstrate a shift in the U.S. ethnic population, similar to changes in the ethnic landscape of U.S. public schools. However, the teaching landscape has not adjusted to align with student demographics. Research highlights the academic and social/emotional benefit for students of color who experience having a teacher of color during their education. Therefore, it is valuable to consider frameworks for increasing the number of teachers of color in the educational landscape. Although there are initiatives for supporting these efforts in urban communities, rural communities often are not seen as having much need in this area. The authors of this article present literature and findings on the impact and needs for diversifying teacher education, and then outline a self-study of the Oregon Teacher Pathway (OTP) as a framework that takes into consideration promising practices for recruiting and supporting preservice teachers of color in rural eastern Oregon and other rural and urban communities.     

Evaluation of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Program in a Regular Norwegian School Setting

ABSTRACT

This study examined whether the Incredible Years (IY) Teacher Classroom Management (TCM) program implemented as a school-wide preventive intervention at 1st to 3rd grade in a regular school setting reduces the development of problem behavior and improves social competence. Using a quasi-experimental pre-post design, the IYTCM was implemented in 21 schools and compared with 22 matched schools that did not receive the program. A total of 241 1st to 3rd grade teachers and 1518 students aged 6 to 8 years took part in the trial. Mixed-model analyses found small positive effects on changes in students’ social competence (d_w?=?0.19), while effects on change in students problem behavior were less than small (d_w?相似文献