A Comparison of Responsive Interventions on Kindergarteners’ Early Reading Achievement

This study compared the effects of Tier 2 reading interventions that operated in response‐to‐intervention contexts. Kindergarten children (N = 90) who were identified as at risk for reading difficulties were stratified by school and randomly assigned to receive (a) Early Reading Intervention (ERI; Pearson/Scott Foresman, 2004) modified in response to student performance or (b) their schools’ typical supplemental reading intervention (regrouping and curriculum pacing adjustments). In both conditions, intervention was provided 30 minutes per day in small groups for approximately 100 sessions. Results indicated no statistically significant group differences on any outcome measures. Between‐group effect sizes revealed substantively important differences (Valentine & Cooper, 2003) favoring the ERI responsive condition on multiple measures with effect sizes ranging from .35 to .59. Overall, findings indicated that the majority of students in both Tier 2 intervention conditions performed above the 30th percentile on posttest measures of word reading measures.     

Communication Disorders and Challenging Behaviors: Supporting Children’s Functional Communication Goals in the Classroom

Children with communication disorders may express frustrations through challenging behaviors such as aggressive behaviors and social withdrawal. Challenging behaviors may lead to difficulties with building social competencies including emotional regulation and peer engagement. Individualized planning of functional goals for children with communication disorders provides support for social communication to increase quality classroom interactions. Teachers, families and service providers can work together to assess the purpose of the child’s behaviors in order to create more functional ways for the child to communicate as the spoken language continues to improve. This article focuses on strategies including considerations for collaboration in initial planning, communication modifications, and peer supports.     

Mrs Thatcher’s first flourish: organic change,policy chaos and the fate of the colleges of education

This paper revisits the abolition of the colleges of education in England and Wales, specialist providers of teacher training which were effectively eradicated in the years after Margaret Thatcher’s 1972 White Paper Education: A Framework for Expansion. Its central argument is that the way in which change was enacted thereafter represented a significant break with the model of policymaking which had held sway since the end of World War Two. Whilst more far-reaching change would come after Mrs Thatcher’s ‘conversion’ to neo-liberalism later in the decade, the fate of the colleges of education was, I argue, an important if largely overlooked episode in the history of education – especially in terms of violating the collaborative relationship between central government and local authorities which had, until that point, dominated education policy in post-war Britain.     

Exploring Self-Efficacy among Entry-Level and Advanced BSW Students

This study compared a sample of entry-level and advanced BSW students, who completed pretest and posttest self-efficacy measures, to assess their level of confidence in performing social work tasks after 15 weeks of instruction. By the end of the semester, only advanced students made significant gains in self-efficacy beliefs, and they showed a significantly higher self-efficacy belief than entry-level students. Results suggest that increased mastery experiences, as found in the advanced social work curriculum, may help students develop confidence in their ability to practice as professional social workers.     

Politicising the ‘personal’: the resistant potential of creative pedagogies in teaching and learning ‘sensitive’ issues

Drawing upon student narratives gleaned through qualitative interviews, this paper argues that teaching and learning ‘sensitive’ issues surrounding gender and sexualities through ‘creative’ pedagogies can be a mode of resistance against the reproduction of problematic social discourses, and to the negative impacts of neoliberalism on student’s learning within higher education. The findings point to the importance of speaking about sensitive issues; the value of creative approaches for enhancing learning; and that together these can enable students to articulate an agenda for social change. Students saw the ‘personal as political’ – of sharing personal journeys around sensitive issues as important. They further spoke of ‘apathy’ in an neoliberal era of student ‘consumers’ and how this could curtail ‘creative’ teaching and jeopardise learning. Overall, it is argued that creative approaches to teaching and learning sensitive issues can invoke a resistant potentiality which exposes the ‘hidden injuries’ (Gill, 2010) of the neoliberal university.     

Factor structure of child behavior scale scores in peruvian preschoolers

Behavior rating scales aid in the identification of problem behaviors, as well as the development of interventions to reduce such behavior. Although scores on many behavior rating scales have been validated in the United States, there have been few such studies in other cultural contexts. In this study, the structural validity of scores on a Spanish translation of the six‐factor Child Behavior Scale (CBS) was assessed in a sample of 265 Peruvian preschool children who ranged from 2 to 6 years in age. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a four‐factor structure, and reliability estimates for scores on the four factors were adequate. The authors suggest replicating the study and examining the utility of CBS scores in predicting future problem behaviors in this population. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Undergraduate students' ability to revise text effectively: relationships with topic knowledge and working memory

In order to communicate understanding, students are often required to produce texts which present an explicit, coherent argument. This study examined the extent to which individual differences in undergraduates' topic knowledge and working memory skills were related to their ability to revise texts to better fulfil these goals. Forty-seven students revised texts containing three types of error: language, structure and argument. Topic knowledge was indexed by multiple choice test performance. Verbal short-term and working memory were measured using forward and backward digit recall and reading span. Rates of identification, diagnosis and correction of errors were generally poor. Contrary to expectations neither topic knowledge nor verbal working memory was associated with text revision although significant associations were identified with verbal short-term memory. When revising texts students may focus on the surface features of the text rather than addressing issues of structure and argument. Possible accounts of this tendency are considered.     

Prevention and Intervention in Beginning Reading: Two Complex Systems

This paper addresses two sets of organizing principles to guide prevention and intervention in beginning reading: (a) the complexity in our alphabetic writing system, and (b) the complexity in our schools. The first set is related to instructional design, while the second set is related to a schoolwide model. Prevention and intervention efforts in beginning reading for students with learning disabilities must attend to 2 systems, our complex alphabetic writing system and our equally complex schools. In this article, we present 2 sets of organizing principles to guide prevention and intervention in beginning reading drawn from the substantial body of converging research evidence accumulated over the past 40 years. The first set consists of 6 instructional design principles focused on teaching reading in our alphabetic writing system. These principles include big ideas, mediated scaffolding, conspicuous strategies, strategic integration, primed background knowledge, and judicious review. The second set includes organizational principles designed to anchor effective reading practices at the school‐building level. These principles are structured around 3 interrelated areas: (1) the schoolwide establishment of long‐term reading goals and intermediate performance benchmarks, (2) the early identification and frequent monitoring of students experiencing reading difficulties, and (3) the development of coordinated and differentiated instructional interventions for the full range of learners.