Secondary school educational practitioners’ experiences of school attendance problems and interventions to address them: a qualitative study

School attendance problems are associated with a range of adverse consequences, and educational practitioners play a role in identifying and responding to attendance problems. This qualitative study explored educational practitioners’ experiences of working with students with attendance problems and interventions to address them. Focus groups were conducted with sixteen practitioners across three secondary schools. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Attendance problems were considered resource-intensive and emotionally challenging. Practitioners expressed difficulty understanding causes, although individual/family factors were emphasised over school factors. A range of interventions were described, including adaptations to school context and providing emotional support. Views on punitive approaches were mixed. Individualised interventions implemented at the first sign of problems, and a team approach, were considered important. Findings highlight the important role of educational practitioners in identifying attendance problems and implementing interventions. Recommendations include early intervention, team-work, and emotional support for students with, and staff responding to, attendance problems.     

Fear-potentiated startle using three conditioned stimulus modalities

The capacities of three different conditioned stimulus modalities (light, noise, and airflow produced by a fan) to produce fear-potentiated startle were evaluated. Previous experiments have shown that following either light-shock or noise-shock pairings, both the light and noise conditioned stimuli acquire the ability to potentiate the acoustically elicited startle response in rats (the so-calledfear-potentiated startle effect). In Experiment 1, the ability of airflow produced by a fan to act as a conditioned stimulus was investigated. Rats were given either paired or impaired fan-shock training followed by a test for fear-potentiated startle. The fan conditioned stimulus potentiated startle only in the group given explicit fan-shock pairings. In Experiment 2, we evaluated the discriminability of the three conditioned stimulus modalities. Rats were given light, noise, or fan-shock pairings and were subsequently tested for fear-potentiated startle with the trained conditioned stimulus as well as the two remaining novel conditioned stimuli. Only the trained conditioned stimulus potentiated startle. These results show that fear-potentiated startle can be produced with three discriminable conditioned stimulus modalities, allowing the future use of fear-potentiated startle in the investigation of higher order conditioning phenomena.     

The acquisition of a running response as a function of odor buildup,squad rotation,and introduction of naive subjects

A three-phase experiment was conducted in which rats received a double-alternation schedule of reward and nonreward. During Phase 1, the baseline period, double-alternation behavior was displayed earlier and more strongly by subjects run last in the daily sequence. This finding suggests that both reward and nonreward odor cues are cumulative over subjects. During Phase 2, a subject-rotation procedure was initiated; that is, each day the last subject in the previous day’s running sequence was moved to the first position in the sequence, etc. Rotation to the first position in the group led to an immediate disruption of responding. During Phase 3, two naive rats were inserted at the beginning of the running sequence and two at the end. The results, which showed that the naive animals placed at the end of the sequence acquired the patterning response much faster than those placed in the beginning positions, are interpreted as reflecting preparedness to respond to such intensified odors.     

Reactive attachment disorder: Implications for school readiness and school functioning

School readiness and functioning in children diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) are important issues due to the dramatic impact RAD has on multiple areas of development. The negative impact of impaired or disrupted early relationships, characterized by extreme neglect, abuse, parental mental illness, domestic violence, and repeated changes in caregivers is examined. A key component of social and emotional development is self‐regulation, which is a critical variable in school readiness and is often impaired in children with RAD. Highlighted topics include the academic and school areas which may exacerbate attachment disturbances as well as ways in which teachers and other school professionals can encourage the development of more productive relationships. Interventions are provided which lead to greater success in school for these children. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 471–479, 2006.     

Spontaneous partitioning: Pre-schoolers and discrete items

This study addresses the question of whether a dealing strategy that is widely used by young children in clinical interviews occurs in less structured situations. Our findings are that it did not in the setting we examined, namely the performance of a routine counting task, by pre-schoolers with the opportunity of sharing sweets when the task was completed. We discuss reasons for the apparent discrepancies between the results for clinical interviews and less structured situations.     

The influence of mentoring on the academic trajectory of a 17-year-old Black male college sophomore from the United Kingdom: a single case study

There has been a national- and state-level call for colleges and universities to develop targeted mentoring programs for Black males. However, there is limited published scholarship that has investigated the experiences of non-U.S.-born Black males in these college mentoring programs generally, and at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) specifically. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the experiences of a 17-year-old Black male college sophomore from the United Kingdom who enrolled in a HBCU male-focused mentoring program. Findings reveal that he benefited from pre-college mentoring as he developed strategies to respond to racist encounters during his K–12 schooling in the United Kingdom. In the university mentoring program, he benefited most from one-on-one mentoring opportunities with university officials. Implications for universities and future research are discussed.     

Understanding the role of the mentor in developing research competency among undergraduate researchers

Undergraduate research and creative activities are established high-impact practices that provide students with both advanced knowledge of their academic disciplines and the ability to apply that knowledge to creatively answer questions. At the center of these experiences, is the close relationship between a student researcher and a mentor. Using survey data from 69 recent undergraduate researchers at one university, we investigated the characteristics and impact of these mentor–mentee relationships. We found that active mentoring practices were a significant influence on how competent students perceived themselves as scholars. These practices were more influential than practical aspects of mentoring. Our findings reflect the complicated nature of mentoring in higher education and identify key characteristics of successful mentoring relationships. With greater understanding of this essential component of undergraduate research, we are equipped to make more informed decisions regarding faculty and administrative support for future undergraduate research and creative activities.