Craig Alternative School: A Case Study in Therapeutic Educational Intervention

Craig Alternative Middle/High School is an academic/therapeutic multi‐categorical exceptional education program for eighty‐five high risk male and female students who, because of their atypical behaviours, have not been successful in a less restrictive educational environment. The staff consisting of teachers, paraprofessionals, psychologists, social workers, probation officers and a psychiatrist, co‐ordinate the students' therapeutic, vocational and academic programs within a day school setting in an attempt to maximize positive behavioural change.     

Interaction of words and nonwordal stimuli in programed sequences of concept-formation tasks

Summary This study suggests that nonwordal sequences can be employed advantageously in teaching certain concepts; trials to criterion, time, and accuracy all favor nonwordal sequences and, in some cases, successive treatment as well. This study indicates the feasibility of replicating aspects of basic concept-formation research in applied subject-matter areas and suggests that terminology from such research is relevant. This study implies that small-group program-development studies which emphasize experimental analysis of behavior can be given an experimental-design emphasis without going to prohibitively high “N’s”; however, results from such a study should be taken as suggestive for more rigorous investigations by others who concentrate on experimental design and comparisons of treatments. Finally, this study demonstrates that research in curriculum design involving the experimental use of new approaches to teaching, stemming from advanced subject-matter frames of reference, can be carried on in conjunction with research in learning; indeed, in the opinion of the investigators, it is unrealistic to separate these dimensions. The need to draft nonwordal stimuli produced a learning sequence which has powerful implications for the teaching of algebra. The research reported herein was supported by a grant from the Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.