Understanding oral reading fluency among adults with low literacy: dominance analysis of contributing component skills

This study extends the literature on the component skills involved in oral reading fluency. Dominance analysis was applied to assess the relative importance of seven reading-related component skills in the prediction of the oral reading fluency of 272 adult literacy learners. The best predictors of oral reading fluency when text difficulty was fixed at a single reading level was word reading efficiency. When text difficulty varied based on readers?? comprehension levels, word reading efficiency was also the best predictor with vocabulary and auditory working memory emerging as important predictors as well. Our findings suggest the merit of investigations into whether adults with low literacy may need vocabulary and auditory working memory strategy interventions to improve their reading fluency.     

Dispositional factors affecting motivation during learning in adult basic and secondary education programs

Research indicates that about a quarter of adult students separate from formal adult basic and secondary education (ABE/ASE) programs before completing one educational level. This retrospective study explores individual dispositional factors that affect motivation during learning, particularly students’ goals, goal-directed thinking and action based on hope theory and attendance behaviors, and self-perceptions of competency based on affective domain attributions about external and internal obstacles to learning and employment, and demographic factors. Among 274 ABE/ASE students, those learners who made an education gain in 1 year significantly differed from those who did not in only a few dispositional or demographic variables; and by educational level they significantly differed in a wide variety of dispositional and demographic variables. These findings suggest researchable questions and programmatic considerations that may lead to future innovations that improve learner persistence.     

Teacher identities under stress: The emotions of separation and renewal

During stress, teachers undergo an identity passage. In the first phase, many cherished aspects of the self are attacked and become separated from the personal identity until the individual becomes completely disorientated. During transition, rock bottom is reached, but also the beginnings of redemption appear through 'cocooning' and the influence of significant others. Self-renewal follows during which, for some, a new personal identity is constructed, mostly through relocating and modifying the teacher role, or through re-routeing out of teaching altogether. Using evidence derived from a series of detailed, longitudinal interviews with a group of 21 secondary school teachers, all clinically diagnosed as suffering from stress, the authors examine the structure and process of this identity passage and explore how the extreme emotions involved are socially structured.     

A Model for Recruiting and Retaining Teachers in Alaska's Rural K–12 Schools

The Alaska Statewide Mentor Project (ASMP) is a joint effort of the University of Alaska and the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development to address the persistently low teacher retention rates in the state, especially in rural districts that predominantly serve Alaska Native (AN) students. Over six years, teacher retention in rural districts, measured from year to year, has increased from an average of 67% to an average of 77% among new teachers who receive ASMP mentoring (Adams & Jordan, 2012). We conducted a midcareer teacher study to determine whether ASMP also affects long-term retention and, if so, to identify contributing factors. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach, we first calculated longitudinal retention rates and then interviewed midcareer teachers to identify factors supporting teacher efficacy connected to teacher retention. Interview data were coded using a framework from community psychology that employs a strengths-based perspective grounded, in this case, by the orienting concepts of “stress” and “coping.” The data produced a model of strengths contributing to teacher efficacy related to typical stressors in Alaska's public K–12 schools, a model that includes factors specific to teacher background, professionalism, socializing in the community, and being student-focused. In this paper, we compare and contrast these results to findings by others in northern rural remote areas in order to present practical implications for teacher recruitment, professional development, mentoring and support, and school environment.     

Effective intervention for school refusal behaviour

Evaluation of successful professional intervention for two case studies of female adolescents’ school refusal behaviour is presented. Data gathered from the young person, professionals, and parents in each case are synthesised to propose a multi-level, ecologically situated model of intervention for school refusal behaviour. The proposed model indicates an interaction of child, psychological support, family support, professional, and systemic factors. The utility of explanatory case studies to a practice-based evidence base for practitioner educational psychologists is highlighted.     

Judgement-based performance measures of literacy for students with additional needs: seeing students through the eyes of experienced special education teachers

This article describes the development of judgement-based performance measures to support the instruction of students with additional learning needs. The focus of the research was the design of assessment materials and protocols to help teachers recognise and respond to students’ proficiency in foundational literacy skills. It drew on the expertise of special education teachers to provide all teachers with an evidence framework against which to observe their students’ learning. The assessment materials were trialled in 53 schools and used to monitor literacy learning for 547 students, who ranged in age from 3 to 18 years and represented children and young people with a wide diversity and severity of disabilities. The article reports a new approach to judgement-based performance measurement which directs teachers’ observations to meaningful shifts and transformations in foundational literacy skills for students with additional needs.     

Physical education teachers’ perceptions of perceived mattering and marginalization

Background: In many countries around the world, physical education (PE) has been identified as a marginalized subject. PE teachers have been found to feel negative consequences associated with marginality, such as stress, burnout, and early career attrition. Recent evidence also indicates that physical educators can develop a sense of perceived mattering both in relation the subject of PE and their role as that teacher of that subject. Less is known, however, about the relationship between perceived mattering and marginalization, and how teachers navigate social messages associated with each that they receive while teaching. Role socialization theory has emerged as an approach to studying teachers’ experiences in school environments, and can be used to understand their experiences with marginality and mattering.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to understand how the social environment of schools influences PE teachers’ perceptions of marginalization and perceived mattering, and how these two constructs interact.

Method: The investigation was conceptualized as an interview study, and framed using a social constructivist epistemology. Participants included 30 in-service PE teachers (16 males, 14 females) from the Midwest region of the US. Data were collected using in-depth qualitative interviews, and analyzed through a collaborative approach to data analysis that drew upon both inductive and deductive forms of analysis.

Results: Participants identified experiences with both perceived mattering and marginalization in their work, and noted that sometimes these messages were contradictory. Some participants felt the effects of marginalization as their discipline was viewed as a dispensable commodity that is only meaningful for the service it provides to other teachers (e.g. gives elementary classroom teachers a break for planning). Some of the teachers internalized their marginal status and began to see their primary function as supporting the work of teachers in other subjects. Nevertheless, the participants derived a sense of mattering by building relationships with colleagues, administrators, and students, and by advocating for the discipline. Teachers also felt validated when colleagues acknowledge their attempts to implement effective practices, but struggled when working with colleagues who are resistant to change.

Conclusions: PE teachers experience both marginalization and perceived mattering, which are shaped largely by social interactions within the school environment. This study specifically lends to the view of marginalization and perceived mattering as two constructs at opposite ends of a continuum, rather than a binary conceptualization. This suggests that it could be the summation of marginalizing experiences and those that promote mattering that lead physical educators to develop overall impressions of their role in schools. Furthermore, this study adds to the literature indicating that physical educators may eventually internalize feelings of marginalization when consistently told that they do not matter. This has implications related to the washout effect whereby teachers who no longer feel as if they are making meaningful contributions to children’s education may compromise their teaching practice.     

Entering the Field of Physical Education: The Journey of Fifteen First-Year Teachers

Purpose: Given the significant challenges facing today’s physical educators, the purpose of this study was to examine the expectations of induction teachers and identify the factors in both their personal and organizational environments enhanced or constrained their assimilation into the field during their 1st year. Method: Using occupational socialization theory as a guide, data from demographic surveys and a series of formal interviews with participants at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year were inductively analyzed for theme development. Results: Results revealed positive acculturation experiences and unity regarding the purpose of physical education as preparing students to be fit for a lifetime. Barriers were noted to be family and personal crises, role conflict, isolation, marginalization, issues with classroom management and discipline, and difficulties in developing positive relationships with stakeholders. Enhancers were identified as positive interactions and rapport with students, colleagues, and administrators and favorable individual dispositions. Conclusion: Implications indicate a need for purposeful physical education teacher education training to proactively address these barriers during professional preparation as well as the creation of additional support systems for beginning teachers.     

Stress and coping in primary caregivers of children with a disability: a qualitative study using the Lazarus and Folkman Process Model of Coping

Twenty-six primary caregivers of children with a disability took part in focus groups or interviews to discuss their perceptions of stress and the coping process. Research was framed within the Process Model of Stress and Coping ( Lazarus & Folkman, 1984 ). Findings provided a snapshot of the common stresses encountered by caregivers and indicate the need to consider individual experiences when determining the impact of stressful events. Eight common stressors were identified, as well as novel constructions of stressful experiences. Results suggested that a range of coping resources and strategies were employed. The study also indicated that the majority of participants adapted well to the requirements of raising a child with a disability. The current study indicates the value of using qualitative methods, particularly with unique populations, to inform policy and service provision.