Bringing Research‐Based Practice in Reading Intervention to Scale

Multiple consensus reports have provided converging evidence regarding effective instruction for students who have difficulty learning to read. Evidence‐based instruction in general education classrooms must be in place in order to implement response‐to‐intervention models. Despite the well‐developed knowledge base supporting the value of interventions that have been demonstrated to have positive outcomes, these interventions are not widely employed in typical classroom instruction, and models of service delivery for students with reading and learning disabilities implemented in schools are often ineffective. Recent research has demonstrated that this need not be the case, but there are many obstacles to change. Large‐scale implementation of effective educational practices for struggling readers depends on a research agenda that directly addresses questions related to scaling and sustaining educational innovations. We suggest that reform depends on collaboration among researchers, educational practitioners, teacher educators, and policymakers, with the common goal of improving outcomes for students who might otherwise experience reading failure.     

Closing the Gap: Fostering Successful Research‐Practice Partnerships in Counselor Education

Research‐practice partnerships offer counselor educators an opportunity to generate scholarship that can promote client welfare and create systemic change in practice and policy. The purpose of this article is to articulate strategies for building and sustaining research‐practice partnerships, as well as suggest methods for evaluating these partnerships.     

Career choice motivation using behavioral strategies

Qualified teachers are a fundamental input for any education system. This paper presents the results of a large-scale intervention to attract high performing high-school students into the teaching profession in Chile. The intervention was a three-arm email campaign which made salient three types of motivations: intrinsic/altruistic, extrinsic, and prestige-related. The “intrinsic” and “prestige” arms reduced applications to teaching majors among high performers, while the “extrinsic” arm increased applications among low performers. A plausible interpretation could be that the “intrinsic” and “prestige” messages made more salient an issue that could otherwise be overlooked by high performing students (typically from more advantaged households), negatively impacting their program choice: that the social value of the teaching still lags behind other professions that are valued more by their families and social circles. In turn, the “extrinsic” arm made salient the recent improvements in the economic conditions of the teaching profession in Chile, thus appealing to low performing students who in general come from disadvantaged families and for whom monetary incentives are potentially more relevant. These results show that making salient certain types of motivations to the wrong target group could lead to undesired results.     

Classroom motivation strategies for prospective teachers

Abstract

National surveys indicate that student motivation is a principal concern of teachers, yet few publications within the teacher education literature directly address how teachers can best apply established motivational principles. Pivotal to mobilizing student motivation is understanding the role of rewards in sustaining productive task engagement. This article examines the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for academic learning, the relative value of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation, the potential compatibility of cognitive and behavioral perspectives of student motivation, and research‐based recommendations for promoting classroom motivation.     

Research‐capacity building,professional learning and the social practices of educational research

There have been numerous attempts in the past few years within education research—and social science research more generally—to alter the character of research practice(s). In particular, there has been a systematic effort to address perceived shortcomings in research practice through a series of ‘research‐capacity building’ initiatives, aimed at the restructuring of professional learning. In this article the authors explore empirically the ways in which different modes of professional learning are implicated in the social practices of education research. These considerations lead to the conclusion that the currently dominant approaches to research‐capacity building are based on an underestimation of the difficulties in influencing the professional learning of educational researchers significantly and, thereby, changing the practices of educational research. More realistic expectations of these forms of research‐capacity building, in turn, suggest the need to develop alternative approaches that acknowledge the exigencies of the current social organisation of educational research more fully.     

Implementing Research‐Based Instruction to Prevent Reading Problems Among Low‐Income Students: Is Earlier Better?

It is currently considered imperative to introduce reading instruction as early as possible. This proposition was tested by assigning groups of kindergarteners (N = 256) to two conditions differing in their emphasis on prevention. In the first, teacher‐implemented research‐based interventions were implemented during kindergarten and first grade. In the second, only the first‐grade intervention was implemented. Analyses were conducted separately for students not at risk, at low risk, and at high risk of reading problems. In the short term, the kindergarten intervention was highly effective for both low‐risk and high‐risk students, but it is only for the latter group that early gains translated into better reading skills at the end of first grade. Not‐at‐risk students did not benefit from the early introduction of reading instruction.     

Improving cognitive motivation through strategies of intervention

Editor's Note: In Grutter v. Bollinger, __ U.S. ___ ; 123 S. Ct. 2325; 156 L. Ed. 2d 304 (2003), the Supreme Court rendered a landmark decision approving the use of race as one factor in admissions decisions at the University of Michigan Law School. The opinion of the Court discussed an expert opinion of Kent D. Syverud, Dean of the Vanderbilt Law School, concerning the educational benefits of diversity, noting that "when a critical mass of underrepresented minority students is present, racial stereotypes lose their force because non-minority students learn there is no 'minority viewpoint' but rather a variety of viewpoints among minority students." The expert report to which the Court referred was prepared at the Vanderbilt Law School in 1999 and attached as an Exhibit (in Volume 3 of the Appendix) to the Defendant University of Michigan Law School's Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment, May 3, 1999, Grutter v. Bollinger, C.A. No. 97-75928, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The report was also referenced in the appendix to the Writ of Certiorari in the Supreme Court of the United States at 215a. What follows is the original expert report as submitted to the Court.     

Learning reading strategies by triggering reading motivation

In this article, the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at the development of reading motivation and reading strategies within problem-oriented learning environments is evaluated. The basic assumption underlying the intervention is that reading should occur in meaningful contexts and that reading and science should be regularly integrated. The intervention challenges pupils to investigate a self-formulated problem, read several books or texts on the topic and report the results of their study. The participants were six experimental third-grade classes and seven comparable control classes. The effects of the intervention were measured using a pretest-posttest control group design. Analyses of covariance were conducted to examine the effects as measured by a standardized Reading Comprehension Test, a Reading Comprehension Questionnaire, a Reading Strategy Test and a Reading Motivation Scale. The results showed the experimental group to outperform the control group with regard to knowledge of reading strategies (Reading Comprehension Questionnaire) and the use of such strategies (Reading Strategy Test). A significant difference in favour of the experimental group was also found for the Reading Motivation Scale. An effect on the standardized Reading Comprehension Test was not found.     

The effects of team training on team outcomes: A meta‐analysis

A meta‐analysis was conducted to determine relationships between team training and team effectiveness. Results from the 21 studies provided evidence that training is positively related to team effectiveness and effectiveness in five outcome categories: affective, cognitive, subjective task‐based skill, objective task‐based skill, and teamwork skill.     

Exercising ‘The Right To Research’: Youth‐Based Community Media Production as Transformative Action

This article explores the participatory media practices used by the Center for Urban Pedagogy, a non‐profit community‐based media organisation in New York City. Taking as her point of departure a digital media investigation into bodegas in the south Bronx (neighbourhood grocery stores), the author explores how CUP uses the power of art and design to cultivate civic engagement among youth, in part by strengthening participants’ public speaking, digital media and research skills. In interviews with participants, the author finds that this work mitigates participants’ expressed fears of being dismissed as boring when speaking with public officials, a fear taken seriously through a reading of the work of child psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott. Winnicott worried that the person who felt boring too often retreated from participating in civic life. If, argues the author, youth are to claim what Appadurai describes as the fundamental ‘human right to research’ in the public realm, then the civic as well as the psychological dimensions that enable participants to engage in transformative action must be strengthened.     

Using the 6S Pyramid to Identify Research‐Based Instructional Practices for Students with Learning Disabilities

To optimize students’ learning outcomes, educators are increasingly expected to use instructional practices shown to be effective by credible research. To help make this possible, organizations and scholars are producing resources that summarize research related to various instructional practices. However, as the collection of resources grows in size and complexity, it can be difficult and frustrating for practitioners to locate and utilize this information. In this article, we describe the 6S Pyramid (DiCenso, Bayley, & Haynes, 2009), a framework for efficiently and accurately prioritizing different types of research evidence. We also identify and briefly summarize Internet resources corresponding with each level of the Pyramid that can be used to identify research‐based practices for students with learning disabilities. To illustrate how the 6S Pyramid can be used in school and classroom settings, we begin and end the article with vignettes featuring a pair of co‐teachers seeking to improve instruction for their students who struggle with reading.     

论激发大学生英语口语学习动机的教学策略

动机策略一直被认为是激发学习动机的一个非常重要的因素,然而却很少有研究论证如果将动机策略应用于实际的语言教学课堂当中。本文讨论了教师在大学英语口语课堂上可以组织简单易行的活动,如角色扮演、小组讨论、口语展示、音乐赏析等,来激发学生学习动机,从而达到提高学习者口语水平的效果。     

Helping Head Start Parents Promote Their Children's Kindergarten Adjustment: The Research‐Based Developmentally Informed Parent Program

Head Start enhances school readiness during preschool, but effects diminish after children transition into kindergarten. Designed to promote sustained gains, the Research‐based Developmentally Informed (REDI) Parent program (REDI‐P) provided home visits before and after the kindergarten transition, giving parents evidence‐based learning games, interactive stories, and guided pretend play to use with their children. To evaluate impact, two hundred 4‐year‐old children in Head Start REDI classrooms were randomly assigned to REDI‐P or a comparison condition (mail‐home math games). Beyond the effects of the classroom program, REDI‐P promoted significant improvements in child literacy skills, academic performance, self‐directed learning, and social competence, demonstrating the utility of the approach in promoting gains in cognitive and social‐emotional skills evident after the transition into kindergarten.     

Disciplinary and Contextually Appropriate Approaches to Leadership of Teaching in Research‐Intensive Academic Departments in Higher Education

This paper reports aspects of an international study of leadership of teaching in 19 departments with outstanding teaching records in 11 research‐intensive universities. Leadership was found to take different forms in different discipline areas, in different organisational cultures, and in response to major problems affecting the department. While most of the heads conceived of leadership of teaching in similarly sophisticated ways, and there were other common themes across contexts, how these conceptions were evident in action to support and develop teaching was highly context‐dependent. To illustrate this point, two departments are contrasted in terms of leadership activities found most frequently across all 19 departments. It is clear from this comparison that teaching excellence was achieved in entirely different ways involving widely contrasting leadership behaviour. The paper argues that advice and guidance for heads of department on their leadership of teaching should pay careful attention to the context rather than make assumptions about the general applicability of leadership theory or advice.     

The action‐motivation matrix: Positions people take regarding problems

This article presents the action‐motivation matrix and uses it to identify and examine four basic positions people take with respect to the problems they encounter in the workplace. The matrix arrays reactive‐proactive actions against approach‐avoidance motivation resulting in four cells labeled Firefighter, Early Bird, Phantom, and Artful Dodger. The matrix provides insight, guidance, and ideas to individuals, management, and performance improvement professionals in their efforts to better understand and manage problem‐solving behavior.     

Whole‐class strategies in Religious Education

This journal is always keen to hear of practical examples of the ways in which mainstream teachers are developing teaching approaches responsive to the diverse needs and learning styles of their pupils. In this article Nigel Fancourt outlines some of the strategies in the teaching of Religious Education which have been adopted in one large comprehensive secondary school. Particularly interesting is, firstly, the notion that curriculum subjects can themselves have ‘special needs’ and, secondly, the extent to which the ideas are discussed in a whole‐school context.     

实验技术队伍激励中的“需求”与“公平”

以需求论为依据,探讨如何满足实验技术系列人员的各层次需求,兼顾同系列不同人员之间和不同系列之间的相对公平,建立相应的激励机制,并通过员工帮助计划,提高实验技术人员的幸福感,以此形成激励的良性循环,促进学校教学和科研发展。     

军校学员英语学习动机的自我激励策略实证研究

军校作为特殊的高校,其学员的外语学习动机有其特性,如何最大限度地激发学员外语学习动机是提高军校外语教学效果的重要环节。本文通过实证研究,对适用于军校学员的大学英语学习动机的自我激励策略进行了探索,以期为军校教师指导学员进行大学英语学习动机的自我激励行为提供一些参考。     

Voice over instant messaging as a tool for enhancing the oral proficiency and motivation of English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language learners

The challenge of providing authentic experiences and interactions for fostering oral proficiency and motivation in foreign languages is an opportunity for innovation in educational technology and instructional design. Although several recent innovations have received the attention of scholars, empirical investigation and validation is often lacking, as is the case with voice over instant messaging (VoIM). The goal of this study was to empirically test the effectiveness of VoIM for enhancing students' oral English proficiency and learning motivation. Different types of online discussions were examined—unstructured, structured without the facilitation of English teaching assistants (ETAs) and structured with the facilitation of ETAs. A pre‐test and post‐test quasi‐experimental design was employed to achieve this goal. The participants, 90 students enrolled in three sections of a freshman English course at a large university in Asia, participated in eight VoIM discussions in addition to their regular coursework. The results provide empirical support for the importance of structured discussions and the facilitation of ETAs in improving both oral English proficiency and learning motivation. These findings highlight the role of facilitation in VoIM discussions, and recommend prompt feedback, modelling and encouragement for fostering oral proficiency and learning motivation in foreign language classes. Based on the results of this study, recommendations for future research are provided.     

Adolescents' declining motivation to learn science: A follow‐up study

This is a mix methods follow‐up study in which we reconfirm the findings from an earlier study [Vedder‐Weiss & Fortus [ 2011 ] Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48(2), 199–216]. The findings indicate that adolescents' declining motivation to learn science, which was found in many previous studies [Galton [ 2009 ] Moving to secondary school: Initial encounters and their effects. Perspectives on Education, 2(Primary‐secondary Transfer in Science), 5–21. Retrieved from www.wellcome.ac.uk/perspectives ; Osborne, Simon, & Collins, [2003] International Journal of Science Education 25(9), 1049–1079], is not an inevitable phenomenon since it appears not to occur in Israeli democratic schools. In addition to reinforcing previous results in a different sample, new results show that the differences between the two school types are also apparent in terms of students' self‐efficacy in science learning, students' perceptions of their teachers' goals emphases, and students' perception of their peers' goals orientation. Quantitative results are accompanied by rich verbal examples of ways in which students view and articulate their own and their teachers' goal emphases. Content analysis of students' interviews showed that students in traditional schools are directed more towards goals that are external and related to the outcome of learning in comparison to democratic school students who are motivated more by goals that are internal and related to the process of learning. Structure analysis of these interviews suggests that democratic school students experience a greater sense of autonomy in their science learning than traditional school students do. Implications for research on students' motivation are discussed, such as considering not only the teacher and the classroom but also the school culture. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 1057–1095, 2012