Goodness of fit in the home: its relationship to school behavior and achievement in children with learning disabilities

This study examined whether a "goodness of fit" theoretical model, applied to families with and without children with learning disabilities, would be valuable in understanding the children's performance in school. A home interview was conducted with 63 families with a child with learning disabilities and 53 families with a comparable child without learning disabilities. The mothers were asked to rate how their own child fit into the family's expectations for children. It was found that, for both groups of families, children who were rated as a "poor fit" in the home demonstrated less positive behavior in the classroom and poorer achievement over the elementary school years. There was some evidence that poor fit in the home was even more negatively related to outcomes for children with learning disabilities. Discussion is centered on the importance of this theoretical model for understanding the importance of the home on successful school function.     

Houston Teaching Academy: Partnership in developing teachers

The need for excellent teachers to teach at-risk inner-city children is well documented. Too often new teachers who have received their field experience in the suburbs are hired to teach in multicultural inner-city schools with little preparation to serve this population of children and families. Changing the history of failure for this population of teachers and their students to an experience of success was the primary goal of the partnership between the Houston Independent School District and the University of Houston's College of Education.The structure of the Houston Teaching Academy (HTA) includes four collaborative decision-making councils. Representatives from the school and college serve on each of the councils. Shared weekly seminars for supervising teachers, student teachers, and college supervisors are led by school teachers or college supervisors. Methods courses are taught at the HTA, and the students serve as tutors in the classrooms. Several graduate college courses requested by teachers are offered at the HTA.Concurrent with the development of the HTA, a formative and summative evaluation has monitored the progress of the HTA toward its goals. The HTA graduates have been followed into their first years of teaching. Interviews with their principals indicate that 77% are effectively teaching in inner-city and multicultural settings.     

ANALYSIS OF FOURTH GRADE TESTING

Three hundred and ninety‐nine Grade 4 Brisbane children were given a battery o1 general ability and achievement tests. Means and standard deviations allowed construction of 15‐point scales for a Queensland Grade 4. A correlation matrix included indices concerning sub‐tests of general ability and achievement tests. Comparisons with original A.C.E.R. co‐efficients were made. The matrix was factor sub‐tests of general ability and achievement tests. Comparisons with analysed and rotated, three factors emerging ‐‐ verbal, performance and computational. A canonical correlation was performed and three significant elements emerged ‐‐ a verbal, a computational (or integrative or automatic sequential) and a problem‐solving element.     

Diversity as a natural occurrence: an enrichment strategy of peer learning

Business educators are concerned with integrating diversity-related topics and seek methods by which to teach them. This paper suggests that as classes become more heterogeneous, the opportunity to examine diverse perspectives and experiences naturally arises in the course of class assignments and activities. The differential experiences of majorities and minorities are revealed when students discuss and write about their own experiences related to the content of various business courses. The issues of self and group identity and perceptions of others emerge in the context of small group discussions when students share their experiences as recorded in learning logs, personal cases, research assignments, and typical class discussions. The opportunity for community learning in heterogeneous groups provides a forum for diverse perspectives and experiences to be shared. Students and professors learn about different perceptions and reactions to personal and current events as well as their own perspectives, creating a culture of inclusion in the class. Implications and suggestions for a wider application of our methods to a global context are also offered.     

The Needs-Based Assessment of Parental (Guardian) Support: a test of its validity and reliability

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this paper is to present a newly developed measure of guardian support, the Needs-Based Assessment of Parental (Guardian) Support (NAPS), an empirical evaluation of that measure, and its comparison with another measure of guardian support. The theoretical model that underlies this measure applies humanistic theory and Maslow's hierarchy of needs to the understanding of guardian support. METHOD: The study employed a cross-sectional nonexperimental survey design using 183 nonoffending guardians who accompanied children presenting for a medical/forensic examination for sexual abuse. The NAPS and an existing measure of guardian support were administered during the hospital outpatient visit, and basic information concerning the child and abuse situations were gathered. RESULTS: The NAPS had robust psychometric properties and was culturally sensitive. Tests of specific hypotheses supported the construct validity of the measure and a conceptualization of guardian support as hierarchical, with four stages of support. CONCLUSIONS: The brevity and ease of administration of the NAPS for both the clinician and guardian suggest that it is a viable assessment tool. The strong support for the NAPS' underlying theoretical model suggests that the nonoffending guardians' available resources need to be considered when assessing guardian support.     

School extracurricular activity participation as a moderator in the development of antisocial patterns

This research involves a longitudinal study of antecedents and moderators in the development of antisocial patterns. Participants included 695 boys and girls who were interviewed annually from childhood to the end of high school and again at ages 20 and 24. Cluster analyses identified four configurations of boys and girls that were reasonably homogeneous with respect to behavior and academic performance at the beginning of the investigation. When tracked over time, the configurations differed significantly in patterns of early school dropout and criminal arrests. Boys and girls in the "multiple risk configuration" were more likely than those in other configurations to show long-term antisocial patterns. Participation in school extracurricular activities was associated with reduced rates of early dropout and criminal arrest among high-risk boys and girls. The decline in antisocial patterns was dependent on whether the individuals' social network also participated in school extracurricular activities.     

Child abuse: adolescent records vs. adult recall

In a follow-up study of incarcerated Connecticut youth, 69 subjects were interviewed during young adulthood. On follow-up, 26 gave histories of abuse discrepant with histories obtained from records and interviews conducted in adolescence. Eleven subjects agreed to an additional clarification interview, at which time they were apprised of the discrepancies. Of these, eight had adolescent records indicating that abuse had occurred but denied abuse during the adult follow-up interview. The remaining three had adolescent records indicating no abuse had ever occurred, but, on follow-up, reported having been abused. The additional clarification interviews revealed that all 11 subjects with discrepant histories had, in fact, been abused. Reasons for these discrepant data and strategies to enhance the investigator's ability to obtain accurate data regarding abuse are discussed.     

Economic well-being and children's social adjustment: the role of family process in an ethnically diverse low-income sample

Using latent variable structural equation modeling, a family economic stress model that links economic well-being to child well-being in an ethnically diverse, low-income sample of 419 elementary school-age children was evaluated. The sample was 57% African American and 28% Hispanic, and most families were headed by single mothers. The results provided support for the position that family process is a critical mediator of the effects of economic hardship on children's social adjustment. Lower levels of economic well-being, and the corollary elevated perceptions of economic pressure indirectly affected parenting behavior through an adverse impact on parental psychological well-being. Distressed parents reported feeling less effective and capable in disciplinary interactions with their child and were observed to be less affectionate in parent-child interactions. In turn, less than optimal parenting predicted lower teacher ratings of children's positive social behavior and higher ratings of behavior problems. Multiple-group analyses revealed that the pathways by which economic hardship influences children's behavior appear to operate similarly for boys and girls, and for African American and Hispanic families.