Children born at risk: What's happening in kindergarten?

Many studies examine the development of infants born at risk for medical and developmental problems during the early years of life, but far fewer follow these children into their school years. This project compared high-risk vs. low-risk children in their performance on the WPPSI at pre- and postkindergarten levels. In general, both groups of children demonstrated increases in performance; however, their patterns of performance were different. The high-risk children showed increases predominantly in the Performance areas of the test, whereas the low-risk children demonstrated increases predominantly in the Verbal areas.     

The effects of contingency avoidance on programmed student achievement

If it is assumed that student failure in the classroom situation is the result of inadequate performance skills rather than a lack of ability, then the attention of the educator should more properly be directed at teaching the student to develop effective methods of studying. The present experiment employed a Programmed Student Achievement (PA) procedure which required that the student evidence 100% mastery of discrete units of material. Two PA contingencies which differed in the intensity of the consequence of failing to evidence mastery were used, testing the hypothesis that the PA effect is analogous to avoidance conditioning. In addition, generalization of the effect of PA on performance in courses taken concurrently was evaluated. The performance of PA students was found to be significantly superior to that of control students on both weekly quizzes and major exams; however, performance under the two experimental contingencies did not differ. Additionally, the PA effect did not generalize to performance in other courses. The implication of these data for an avoidance hypothesis account of the PA effect is discussed.     

Staff development ideas

Jerry Aldridge is an associate professor of Early Childhood Education and Special Education, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Alabama at Birmingham.     

Using a mathematical model of motivation,volition, and performance to examine students’ e-text learning experiences

This empirical study used Keller’s (Technol Instr Cogn Learn 16:79–104, 2008b) motivation, volition, and performance (MVP) theory to develop and statistically evaluate a mathematical MVP model that can serve as a research and policy tool for evaluating students’ learning experiences in digital environments. Specifically, it explored undergraduate biology students’ learning and attitudes toward e-texts using a MVP mathematical model in two different e-text environments. A data set (N = 1334) that included student motivation and e-text information processing, frustration with using e-texts, and student ability variables was used to evaluate e-text satisfaction. A regression analysis of these variables revealed a significant model that explained 77% of the variation in student e-text satisfaction in both e-text learning environments. Student motivation and intrinsic cognitive load were positive predictors of student satisfaction, while extraneous cognitive load and student prior knowledge and background variables were negative predictors. Practical implications for e-text learning and generalizability of a mathematical MVP model are discussed.     

Principals’ delegation and posts of responsibility in Dublin national schools

Abstract

Effective school administration is seen as important and is the task not only of the principal but also of promoted senior teachers in national schools today. Information on principals’ involvement in tasks that may be viewed as not exclusively theirs was gathered as part of a project on principals’ work behaviour in national schools. Some principals appeared to perform duties that could be delegated. One‐quarter of the national schools in the survey either had no delegated areas of responsibility or did not delegate duties to all promoted teachers. The emphasis in delegation is strongly towards organisational and support duties (and even chores) and to insignificant degrees in the areas of curricular responsibilities or leadership and co‐ordinating roles and duties. The level of professional development involved for promoted senior teachers is not considered adequate.     

An examination of selected dimensions of national school principals’ concerns for school administrative issues

Summary

Determining the purposes and intentions of administrative behaviour has remained problematic despite intensive research on the work behaviour of administrators. The various research methods do however provide a wealth of data on activities, locations and with whom administrators interact. This data provides a means to determine the administrative attention to different issues. Research on National School principals’ work behaviour shows that principals devote over one‐third of their activities to administrative issues, another third to pupil‐related issues and under one‐fifth to curricular and instructional issues. Fewer than one‐in‐five of the latter were with teachers. Meetings were the common means for attending to each of the three main issue areas. A major proportion of the remaining attention to pupil‐related issues was through supervision and to curricular and instructional issues through teaching. While the majority of principals’ attention was self‐initiated, a significant proportion was scheduled especially for supervision and teaching. Principals need to examine their patterns of administrative attention to see if it accords with their stated goals and values. The need for the provision of certain administrative skills would seem necessary if the patterns emerging from this research are not what principals’ perceive as their pattern of attention.     

“This test makes no freaking sense”: Criticism, confusion, and frustration in timed writing

Large-scale writing programs can add value to the traditional timed writing assessment by using aspects of the essays to assess the effectiveness of institutional goals, programs, and curriculums. The “six learning goals” prompt in this study represents an attempt to provide an accurate writing assessment that moves beyond scores. This paper focuses on student challenges to the prompt and testing situation to reveal that many students successfully challenge the task as a deliberate strategy, while less savvy test-takers clearly resist in response to anger, confusion or frustration. While only a small minority of test-takers openly protest the prompt or testing situation, the paper suggests that all students could be better prepared to reflect upon their university experience in timed essays through more coaching and experience with reflective impromptu questions. This finding offers both encouragement and caution for writing programs seeking a single test that can generate both placement scores and valuable feedback.     

Integrated performance management: A conceptual,system‐based model

Organizational success begins with the creativity of strategic vision bounded in the realities of requirements that are then transformed into daily operations and associated work outputs. These operations and outputs hopefully meet predetermined and tracked performance levels. This article graphically portrays and describes an integrated performance management system model linking these critical organizational ingredients in a holistic manner. Integrated performance management represents a construct that, if properly applied, may provide the “glue” to organizational understanding, transparency, and continued improvement.