Epistemology from a Global Perspective

Science & Education -     

THE CONTRIBUTION OF SCHOOL COUNSELORS’ SELF‐EFFICACY TO THEIR PROGRAMMATIC SERVICE DELIVERY

Self‐efficacy pertains to individuals’ belief about their capability to accomplish a task; consequently, school counselors’ positive self‐efficacy is a theoretically based prerequisite for their facilitation of school‐based interventions. In addition, school counselor‐led interventions and comprehensive, developmenta l guidance programs benefit students’ personal social, academic, and career development. Therefore, this investigation examined the contribution of practicing school counselors’ (N = 693) self‐efficacy in relation to the frequency of their programmatic service delivery. The findings indicate that participants’ self‐efficacy scores contributed to the frequency of their programmatic service delivery (48% of the variance explained). Implications for school counselors, supervisors, and educational researchers are discussed.     

The Potential Impact of COVID-19 on Student Learning and How Schools Can Respond

There is no denying the impact that the coronravirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has had on many aspects of our lives. This article looks at the potential impact of COVID-19 on student learning as schools abruptly morphed into virtual learning environments using data from several instructional, practice, and assessment solutions offered by Renaissance. First, three hypothetical learning scenarios are considered using normative data from Star assessments to explore the potential impact on reading and math test performace. Next, data on Focus Skills are used to highlight which grades may have missed the most foundational math and reading content if instruction was stopped or reduced. Last, data from two of Renaissance's practice tools are used to evaluate whether students were practicing key skills following school closures. The article concludes that academic decline will likely occur but may be tempered by the increased use of practice tools; effects may look different for math and reading; and may impact grades and schools differently. As such, schools may need to leverage decision-making frameworks, such as the Multi-tiered Systems of Support/Response-to-Intervention (MTSS/RTI) framework, more than ever to identify needs and target instruction where it matters most when school begins in fall 2020.     

A Meta-Analysis of Single-Case Research on Mathematics Word Problem-Solving Interventions for English Learners with Learning Disabilities and Mathematics Difficulties

This single-case meta-analysis is the first to provide a quantitative synthesis of the published literature on mathematics word problem-solving intervention studies for English learners with learning disabilities and mathematics difficulties. A total of ten single-subject studies were included for analysis. The current study investigated the magnitude of the effect of mathematics interventions targeting the improvement of students’ mathematics word problem-solving performance, and analyzed variables that moderated this effect. Results indicate a moderate overall effect size of 0.81 (95% CI [0.71, 0.90]) on word problem-solving performance for English learners with learning disabilities and mathematics difficulties. Moderator variables such as the implementer of the interventions, instructional focus, and word problem-solving content significantly moderated the mathematics intervention effects.