The Integration of Common Core and Response to Intervention: Supporting Vulnerable Readers in a Time of Sophisticated Standards

The Common Core State Standards and Response to Intervention are significant contemporary educational initiatives that have emerged largely in isolation from one another. We argue that an integration of these initiatives is beneficial. We trace the independent development of these two initiatives and offer suggestions for how they might fruitfully transact, fully supporting vulnerable readers in their efforts to master sophisticated standards. Results from a school implementing these initiatives as an integrated whole are discussed.     

TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION TO LEARNERS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: PREDICTORS OF TEACHER SELF‐EFFICACY AND OUTCOME EXPECTANCY

Learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit difficulty in the area of reading comprehension. Research connecting the learning needs of individuals with ASD, existing effective practices, teacher training, and teacher perceptions of their own ability to teach reading comprehension is scarce. Quantitative survey methodology and hierarchical regression analysis were utilized to investigate teacher preparedness to use effective practices, along with the job‐related factors of experience, administrator support, learner verbal ability, and instructional setting, as predictors of (1) teacher perceived self‐efficacy and (2) teacher perceived outcome expectancy teaching reading comprehension to learners with ASD. Study findings, based on 112 teacher participants, indicate that teachers with a higher confidence in using effective practices have both a higher perception of their own ability to teach comprehension (self‐efficacy), and a higher expectation of their own ability to increase instructional outcomes in learners with ASD (outcome expectancy). Implications for practice include professional development recommendations and provision of ongoing support from principals and administrators.     

Primary prevention of reading failure: Effect of universal peer tutoring in the early grades

Reading is typically considered a survival skill in our technology- and literacy-bound culture. Individuals who struggle with learning to read are at significantly elevated risk for a number of negative outcomes, including school failure, under- and unemployment, and special education placement. Thus, those who do not learn to read fluently will likely be a greater drain on society's resources. The authors examined the effects of a universal (school district-wide) implementation of a well-validated peer-tutoring reading intervention as a system-wide prevention measure in kindergarten through Grade 3 in a small metropolitan area in Canada. Results suggest that nearly all children demonstrated improved reading fluency over time. Yet those at highest-risk for poor outcomes, including those living in poverty and those who face learning challenges due to English as a second-language status or special education enrollment, did not make parallel gains to same-age peers in more affluent schools. Implications for educational policy are discussed.     

“You Can Do it Anywhere”: Student and Teacher Perceptions of an Online Sexuality Education Intervention

Formal sexuality education in schools is declining in the United States and this is disproportionately affecting adolescents in rural settings. The purpose of this qualitative study was to assess student and teacher perception of sexuality education delivered online as a potential solution to address this gap in access. Nine gender-specific group interviews were conducted with ninth grade students (n = 29) in rural North Carolina to discuss students’ experience with an online sexuality education intervention called MyHealthEd. Interviews were also conducted with three health teachers at pilot schools. Students and teachers identified more benefits to online sexuality education including more student engagement and greater privacy and comfort, than drawbacks, such as too much student autonomy and less interaction with others. Online sexuality education is a promising and preferred method of delivery for sexuality education for students and health teachers, particularly in settings where trained health teachers are not available or less willing to deliver state-mandated content. The MyHealthEd intervention has the potential to increase availability of high quality health education to students across North Carolina, as well as students in other rural or underserved areas.     

“I’ve Tried and I’ve Died This Year”: First-Year Teachers Reflect on Literacy Reform

This article describes the challenges associated with outcomes-based education reform as experienced by two novice elementary teachers. Interviews with the teachers provide insights into the tensions between their teaching beliefs and the practices employed in their local contexts. Specifically, pressures to both focus on standardized measures of student achievement and to conform to the social norms of the schools are explored. The authors advocate for the need for situated discussions about these tensions during the first year of teaching and recognition of the complexity of teaching and learning by all stakeholders.     

Sticks and stones and words that harm: Liability vs. responsibility, section 230 and defamatory speech in cyberspace

This article explores recent developments inthe regulation of Internet speech, inparticular, injurious or defamatory speech andthe impact the attempts at regulation arehaving on the `body' in the sense of theindividual person who speaks through the mediumof the Internet and upon those harmed by thatspeech. The article proceeds in threesections. First, a brief history of the legalattempts to regulate defamatory Internet speechin the United States is presented; a shortcomparative discussion of defamation law in theUK and Australia is included. As discussedbelow, this regulation has altered thetraditional legal paradigm of responsibilityand, as a result, creates potential problems forthe future of unrestricted and even anonymousspeech on the Internet. Second, an ethicalassessment is made of the defamatory speechenvironment in order to determine which actorshave moral responsibility for the harm causedby defamatory speech. This moral assessment iscompared to the developing and anticipatedlegal paradigm to identify possible conformityof moral and legal tenants or to recognize theconflict between morality and law in assigningresponsibility to defamatory actors. Thisassessment then concludes with possiblesuggestions for changes in the legal climategoverning the regulation of defamatory speechon the Internet, as well as prediction of theresult should the legal climate continue todevelop on its present course. This is not tosuggest that all law, or even the law ofdefamation, be structured to reflect thesubjectivity of a moral construct, but since itis the authors position that the legalassignment of liability in online settings ismisaligned, this reflection can serve asbeginning reassessment of that assignment.     

Promoting doctoral students' research self-efficacy: combining academic guidance with autonomy support

A diverse sample of doctoral students completed an on-line questionnaire assessing their supervisors' academic, personal and autonomy support and their research self-efficacy. The more task-related help and personal support students received, the more positively they evaluated their supervision. The degree to which supervisors encouraged students to think and act autonomously (autonomy support) was not uniquely associated with students' supervision satisfaction but predicted greater research self-efficacy. A combination of high levels of autonomy and academic support was associated with the highest levels of research self-efficacy, whereas when greater levels of personal support were accompanied by low levels of autonomy support, students reported lower research self-efficacy. These results indicate that effective doctoral supervision involves supporting students to voice and act on their own ideas while simultaneously providing guidance on how to complete research tasks.     

Girls' secondary education in Uganda: assessing policy within the women's empowerment framework

This paper makes the case that policies, such as the National Strategy for Girls' Education in Uganda (NSGE), intended to achieve gender equity in education for girls in developing countries, have limited relevance to, and impact on girls' actual educational experiences. Recent considerations of girls' education acknowledge that gender equity within education is more than access to schooling; it entails the cultivation of capabilities necessary for girls to participate fully, actively and equally in all aspects of their societies. Drawing on a longitudinal, ethnographic policy research case study with 15 Ugandan schoolgirls in rural Masaka District, Uganda, from August 2004 to September 2006, I explore the girls' educational experiences in relationship to the NSGE. I employ the Women's Empowerment Framework (WEF) to evaluate the NSGE with respect to the extent to which its interventions are ‘empowering’ for girls.     

Asynchronous and synchronous online teaching: Perspectives of Canadian high school distance education teachers

This paper presents the results of an inductive, interpretive analysis of the perspectives of 42 Canadian high school distance education (DE) teachers on asynchronous and synchronous online teaching. The paper includes a conceptual overview of the affordances and constraints of each form of teaching. Findings provided insight into the following aspects of asynchronous and synchronous online teaching: degree of use; the tools used; the contexts in which each occur; students' preferences; and limitations. Pedagogy emerged as more important than media for both asynchronous and synchronous online teaching. Synchronous online teaching relied on teacher‐ rather than student‐centred approaches. Asynchronous online teaching provided support for self‐paced, highly independent forms of secondary DE supplemented by synchronous online teaching for answering questions and troubleshooting.