Novice Supervisees' Self‐Evaluations and Their Perceptions of Supervisor Style

Multiple regression analyses of data obtained for 36 counseling supervision dyads indicated that attractiveness, an aspect of supervisory style, was negatively associated with supervisees' self‐evaluations and positively associated with the difference between trainees' and supervisors' evaluations of counseling competence at the end of the 1st practicum experience. Supervisors' interpersonal sensitivity and task orientation were not found to contribute significantly to either of the criterion variables.     

Tiers of intervention in responsiveness to intervention: prevention outcomes and learning disabilities identification patterns

Response to Intervention (RTI) models have attracted great attention as an alternative to traditional methods used for identifying students with learning disabilities. A major feature of this approach is the implementation of academic interventions in general education and measuring the student's response to those interventions. A common question that needs to be addressed is the number of stages or tiers of intervention necessary in the Response to Intervention model. This article reviews three studies of RTI that investigate the RTI tiers. Sharon Vaughn and Rollanda O'Connor report on studies using the Standard Protocol approach to RTI. David Tilly reports on using the Problem Solving Model as an RTI model. This article summarizes the results of these three investigations.     

Further evidence that conditioned inhibition is not the mechanism of an extinction cue’s effect: A reinforced cue prevents spontaneous recovery

Previous research has demonstrated that discrete cues presented during extinction of a conditioned response (extinction cues) subsequently reduce spontaneous recovery and the renewal effect. In order to assess whether an extinction cue’s effect is due to conditioned inhibition, the effect of pairing an extinction cue with food on the cue’s capacity to modulate spontaneous recovery was investigated in an appetitive conditioning experiment with rats. Conditioned inhibitors paired with the unconditioned stimulus lose their potential to inhibit responding. The food-paired extinction cue did not lose its potential to reduce spontaneous recovery. In fact, it reduced spontaneous recovery more than did an extinction cue that was not paired with food. The results indicate that extinction cues attenuate postextinction recovery of conditioned responding through a mechanism other than conditioned inhibition. The cue’s action appears to be similar to that of serial negative occasion setters. Theories of spontaneous recovery and the relationship of extinction cues to other modulatory stimuli are discussed.     

Generative aspects of the Computer Based Educational Software System (CBESS)

A system of computer-based instruction (CBI) authoring and delivery tools was developed in which generative CBI techniques were used to dynamically create instructional presentations from content databases during program execution. Three applications using these techniques are examined with regard to trade-offs between case of development and limitations imposed by program specificity: 1) A semantic network was used to represent large bodies of terse facts to be memorized. The need for authors to create large numbers of question screens was avoided by a feature enabling questions and foils to be generated on-the-fly from database assertions as the student programs ran. 2) Technical vocabulary training was accomplished with a generative approach in which an array of student learning activities were automatically generated from a database minimally consisting of technical terms and their definitions. 3) A more difficult program allowed greater interface and lesson control flexibility for creating more sophisticated practice lessons in which new instances were dynamically inserted into templates for questions, anticipated answers and feedback. A common application theme emerging from field-testing the programs was their use in learning resource centers to address specific learning objectives from larger courses.     

Maternal social support as a predictor of mother-child stress and stimulation

There is increasing interest in the role of social support in determining risk for child abuse and neglect. The present study assessed the relationship between maternal social support and two areas: stress in the mother-child relationship: and level of stimulation provided in the home. Maternal social support was assessed prenatally and at a two-year follow-up, while the latter variables were compiled at the two-year follow-up. The data were obtained from 38 urban, low SES (80% on public assistance) mothers and their 2-year-old children. Maternal social support correlated positively with level of stimulation and negatively with level of mother-child stress, and was the best predictor of both, relative to any SES, mother or child variables. In addition, high stress, low support mothers provided significantly less stimulation to their children. The theoretical implications for social support as a mediator variable as well as its implications for early identification and prevention efforts in abuse and neglect are discussed.     

THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL DESIRABILITY ON PERCEIVED MEDIA IMPACT: IMPLICATIONS FOR THIRD-PERSON PERCEPTIONS

This study examines variations in perceptions of media influencebased on the locus of impact (self vs. other) and the valenceof the message (pro-social vs. anti-social). After reading oneof four versions of rap lyrics either advocating or condemningviolence or misogyny, 406 undergraduates filled out a surveymeasuring the perceived impact of songs with that type of lyricson themselves and on other students. Results replicated previousfindings of a third-person perception for the anti-social messages.Based on an ego-enhancement motivational explanation, it waspredicted that there would be a reverse third-person perceptionfor the pro-social messages. The findings did not support thishypothesis, and for the pro-social message regarding the treatmentof women, a Lraditional third-person perception was found. However,consistent with the ego-defensive motivational explanation,the size of the third-person perception differential was significantlygreater for anti-social than for pro-social messages. Implicationsof these findings for explanations of the third-person perceptionwere discussed.     

Recovery of conditioned suppression after backward pairings

In four conditioned suppression experiments with rats (Rattus norvegicus), backward pairings of a shock unconditioned stimulus (US) and a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) eliminated an already established conditioned response (CR), but there was recovery of the CR if the shock was later withheld. In Experiment 1, there was recovery after backward pairings, regardless of whether the period after the US was normally shock free or not. In Experiment 2, the occurrence of recovery depended on the CS’s being presented closely after the US in response elimination. Levels of recovery were positively correlated with the resistance of the response to elimination during backward pairings (Experiments 3 and 4). Taken together, these data support the notion that recovery after backward pairings is a form of renewal (see, e.g., Bouton, 1991) and is not due toprotection from extinction.     

Values in Science: An Educational Perspective

Science is not value-free, nor does it provide the only model of objectivity. Epistemic values guide the pursuit and methods of science. Cultural values, however, inevitably enter through individual practitioners. Still, the social structure of science embodies a critical system of checks and balances, and it is strengthened by a diversity of values, not fewer. Science also exports values to the broader culture, both posing new values- questions based on new discoveries, and providing a misleading model for rational decision-making. Science teachers who understand the multi-faceted relationship between science and values can guide students more effectively in fully appreciating the nature of science through reflexive exercises and case studies.     

Factors influencing the career interest of SENCOs in English schools

A named professional with responsibility for overseeing and coordinating the educational inclusion of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities has become an important school role in many countries. In England, the SENCO (special educational needs coordinator) became a mandatory role in 1994, and associated mandatory training was introduced in 2009. A questionnaire survey of 618 in-training and actual SENCOs revealed that their motivating interest in becoming a SENCO varied. An exploratory factor analysis of 32 items covering different interests in the role yielded four interest factors in becoming a SENCO: outward-facing factors (‘inclusion’ and ‘high-quality provision’) and inward-facing factors (‘educational and professional development’ and ‘leadership voice and status’). The outward-facing factors were viewed as more important to respondents than the inward-facing factors. Interest factors did not interact with organisational variables, including age group taught and school quality. Nevertheless, younger SENCOs and those engaged in training were more motivated by educational and professional development. SENCOs holding school leadership contracts were more motivated in developing leadership voice and status compared with their classroom teacher peers. Moreover, there was a significant overall difference with women reporting a higher interest than men across all factors.