The multiple deficit model of dyslexia: what does it mean for identification and intervention?

Research demonstrates that phonological skills provide the basis of reading acquisition and are a primary processing deficit in dyslexia. This consensus has led to the development of effective methods of reading intervention. However, a single phonological deficit is not sufficient to account for the heterogeneity of individuals with dyslexia, and recent research provides evidence that supports a multiple-deficit model of reading disorders. Two studies are presented that investigate (1) the prevalence of phonological and cognitive processing deficit profiles in children with significant reading disability and (2) the effects of those same phonological and cognitive processing skills on reading development in a sample of children that received treatment for dyslexia. The results are discussed in the context of implications for identification and an intervention approach that accommodates multiple deficits within a comprehensive skills-based reading program.     

Learning grammar through singing? An intervention with EFL primary school learners

Singing has been advocated as an efficient supplementary strategy in language teaching, but little is known about its effect on grammar learning. We conducted an intervention study (five lessons) with primary EFL learners (N = 57, mean age = 8.67, SD = 0.60) who were taught new vocabulary and grammar through either singing or speaking lyrics. The control group had new vocabulary introduced during regular lessons. Language gains were assessed through pre-, post-, and follow-up tests; affect was measured after each lesson. Students in the singing group showed similar vocabulary gains to students in the control group and larger gains than students in the speaking group. Importantly, singing students outperformed both groups on spelling and grammar learning. Positive affect was similar across intervention groups, but only the singing group showed significantly enhanced positive affect compared to the control group. Overall, results indicate a potential benefit of singing for grammar learning.     

Class‐size and Learning: the Tennessee experiment — what follows?

Abstract

The exceptionally large ‘Tennessee experiment’ — involving 7000 pupils — to elucidate the effects of class‐size on primary school pupils’ rate of learning has been widely interpreted as showing convincingly that classes of 15 pupils learn more rapidly, in an important sense, than classes of 24 pupils. The present re‐analysis in terms of value‐added in learning — the annual increase in SAT scores (rather than the absolute levels of those scores) — indicates that the benefits to average children resulting simply from a lowering of class‐size, while positive, are negligible in magnitude and not justifiable in relation to the additional economic resources required. The paper suggests that benefits are more likely to result from targeting additional resources to improved teaching styles, improved teaching materials and providing small classes for pupils with recognised learning difficulties; further research on class‐size needs to concentrate on the correct proportion of low‐attaining pupils that would benefit from attending small classes, the optimal size of such classes, and the fractions of the day which pupils with varying difficulties should attend small and normal‐sized classes.     

Gender differences in primary and secondary education: Are girls really outperforming boys?

A moral panic has broken out in several countries after recent studies showed that girls were outperforming boys in education. Commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Education, the present study examines the position of boys and girls in Dutch primary education and in the first phase of secondary education over the past ten to fifteen years. On the basis of several national and international large-scale databases, the authors examined whether one can indeed speak of a gender gap, at the expense of boys. Three domains were investigated, namely cognitive competencies, non-cognitive competencies, and school career features. The results as expressed in effect sizes show that there are hardly any differences with regard to language and mathematics proficiency. However, the position of boys in terms of educational level and attitudes and behaviour is much more unfavourable than that of girls. Girls, on the other hand, score more unfavourably with regard to sector and subject choice. While the present situation in general does not differ very much from that of a decade ago, it is difficult to predict in what way the balances might shift in the years to come.     

What they think, what they know, what they do: Rural secondary teachers’ motivational beliefs and strategies

This research examined how rural high school teachers’ beliefs and perceptions of themselves, their students and the challenge of motivation influence their strategic classroom and interpersonal motivating practice. Participants were 13 teachers in three rural, public high schools in two US states. Teachers’ beliefs about motivation generally, and their students’ motivation specifically, reflect a position favouring need and willingness to intervene for unmotivated students. However, their self-perceptions reflect a relatively weak efficacy to intervene successfully. Generally, teachers’ prevalent choice of strategies aligned with their perceptions of reasons that students were undermotivated. In contrast, some teachers’ narratives of actual efforts to motivate a specific student were inconsistent with their self-reported philosophies and style of motivation, and with their general statements of how they would motivate students who needed it. These findings suggest implications for design of teacher education and inservice teacher professional development.     

Of organelles and octagons: what do preservice secondary teachers learn from interdisciplinary teaching?

This study examined the impact of an interdisciplinary teaching project on the learning of preservice secondary teachers enrolled in a graduate-level, year-long teacher education program. Data were gathered from four successive cohorts of students. Principal data sources were questionnaires (N=131), field notes from classroom observations, and preservice teachers’ oral and written reflections on the project. The study provided evidence that preservice secondary teachers can successfully create and implement interdisciplinary curriculum and are quite positive about the experience. Through this project, preservice teachers learned from one another, learned about others’ subject areas, learned about students, and experienced the spectrum of rewards and challenges that come from working with others.     

Investigating inclusive education in primary schools in Ghana: what inclusive cultures,environment, and practices support implementation?

Schools create an inclusive environment and cultures and enact inclusive practices to cater for the learning and social needs of learners. Using an adapted Ghana Inclusive Education Monitoring Tool (IEMT), which is based on the Index for Inclusion, we collected data from 74 headteachers of primary schools. Data analysis involved percentages and frequencies of multiple-scaled items of the adapted IEMT. Findings revealed headteachers admit learners with special needs and disabilities (LwSEND) to set the stage for inclusion, while teachers accept these learners in schools. Collaborative cultures among teachers, parents, and other community stakeholders support inclusive education. While classrooms had somewhat good ventilation and lighting, school facilities were less accessible to all learners. Knowledge to adapt the curriculum and the flow of inclusive knowledge among teachers was limited. Suggestions to improve inclusive education include school-wide professional development for sharing inclusive knowledge, enhancing teachers' pedagogical competence and promoting supportive inclusive cultures.     

Relational equality in education: what,how, and why?

Relational equality is broadly understood to be about relating to others as moral equals. I consider three questions of relational equality as applied to education: what, how, and why? Relational equality is important on a macro (societal) level, a meso (school) level structuring of relationships, and a micro (interpersonal relationships) level. I focus on micro level relational equality in schools, and connect theoretical perspectives from two neighbouring fields: education and humanistic counselling, suggesting that we might usefully draw on theory from humanistic counselling to inform our understanding of how egalitarian interpersonal relationships might manifest in education. I emphasise the importance of considering what we are trying to communicate through our behaviour and suggest that in order to treat someone as a moral equal, educators should work towards communicating empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence. Such an understanding gives a clearer focus for increasing equality than broader understandings of relational equality, and greater scope for challenging inequality than distributive accounts.     

Parent involvement in early intervention: what role does setting play?

This study compared levels of parent involvement in early intervention services for children under three which were delivered in community settings (children’s homes and child care programs) and specialized settings (early intervention centers and provider offices) in the USA. Respondents reported the highest levels of parental involvement in the home. However, level of involvement in the home was not significantly higher than the provider’s office for parent attendance, quality and content of parent-provider communication, and effective instruction; level of provider communication and instruction to parents was not significantly higher in the home than in the early intervention center. Early intervention services in the child care setting were associated with the lowest levels of parent involvement. With the exception of child care, these results suggest that specialized and natural settings are associated with similar levels of parent involvement.     

Toward self-directed learning in secondary schools: what do teachers do?

Promoting self-directed learning has become an important educational goal. This goal requires a new role for teachers: not traditional transmission of knowledge but activating and process-oriented teaching. An observational study was conducted to establish the features of teaching in Dutch senior secondary education. Activating features of teaching were more predominant than the mere transmission of knowledge, but process-oriented teaching occurred very little. In other words the observed teachers did not devote much attention to teaching the students how to learn. Two patterns of activating were discerned: one pattern in which the teacher interacts with students focusing on the subject matter, and another pattern where the students are working on their own and the teacher is coaching and supervising.     

Learning motivation and performance excellence in adolescents with high intellectual potential: what really matters?

In the development of performance excellence, the relative roles played by intellectual ability and motivation remain speculative. This study investigates the role played by general intelligence, school environment, self‐efficacy, and aspects of personal identity in the formation of learning motivation in German students attending the Gymnasium schools. Using self‐reports of academic achievement and scores on a shortened version of the Berlin intelligence structure test for adolescence to differentiate students as achievers or underachievers, ninth‐grade students were administered a battery of self‐report instruments, designed to measure learning motivation, school environment, self‐efficacy, and personal identity. After the posited factor structure was confirmed, factor scores were computed and then used as data in hierarchical regression analyses using learning motivation as the criterion variable. The results showed that the greatest predictors of learning motivation were variables related to personal identity‐style, rather than general intelligence, supporting the hypothesis that learning motivation is a moderator variable of intellectual achievement for students with intellectual giftedness, rather than an inherent component of giftedness.     

Learning through on-line discussion: what are the opportunities for professional development and what are the characteristics of on-line writing?

Abstract

This article explores the growing interest in the use of asynchronous text-based discussion to support the professional development of teachers and other occupational groups. It describes a post-degree course in which teachers, lecturers and librarians at local schools and colleges used on-line forums to share and reflect on their professional knowledge. The particular focus of the article is on the experiences of forum participants and the opportunities which on-line discussion provides for their professional learning. The discussion in the article is developed around an extract from a forum and focuses on the initiating of on-line discussion, what participants might learn by taking part, and the style of contributions. The article suggests that electronic forums have huge potential for developing professional knowledge in that participants have opportunities to articulate ideas, have access to other information and other viewpoints and can seek clarification from colleagues. However, the process of discussion is not straightforward. Participation cannot be easily structured, contributors may prefer different styles of messages and text-based communication may not be appropriate for some kinds of discussion. On-line discussion is then valuable and complex.     

International large-scale assessments: what uses,what consequences?

Abstract

Background: International large-scale assessments (ILSAs) are a much-debated phenomenon in education. Increasingly, their outcomes attract considerable media attention and influence educational policies in many jurisdictions worldwide. The relevance, uses and consequences of these assessments are often the focus of research scrutiny. Whilst some argue that the assessment outcomes provide an effective basis for informed policy-making, critics claim that the use of international assessment data can result in a range of unintended consequences, such as the shaping and governing of school systems ‘by numbers’.

Purpose: This article explores and analyses the arguments about the uses and consequences of ILSAs. In particular, the discourse about the assessments’ consequential validity will be discussed and evaluated.

Sources of evidence: Literature relating to the uses and consequences of large-scale assessment was analysed, with a focus on research on the consequential aspects of validity.

Main argument: Much research suggests that ILSAs have unintended consequences that affect and influence educational policy. However, the influences on educational policy are complex and interwoven: for example, it is not clear-cut whether effects such as converging curricular are, necessarily, direct consequences of large-scale assessments. Further, it is suggested that a beneficial consequence of large-scale assessment is the infrastructure they provide for studies in the social sciences, although caution must be applied to causal claims, in particular because of the cross-sectional design of the assessments.

Conclusions: The considerable literature discussing the uses and consequences of large-scale assessments tends to point out potential negative aspects of the studies. However, it is also apparent that large-scale international assessments can be a valuable resource for studying global trends and evolving systems in education. Despite the extensive debates around large-scale assessment outcomes both in the media and in educational policy arenas, empirical educational research all too often appears underused in the discussion.