Challenges for teachers’ professional learning for inclusive education in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

Efforts to prepare teachers and other professionals for inclusive education in the Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS/CEE) region are heavily influenced by the legacy of Soviet defectology (the study of children with disabilities) and Soviet traditions of teacher education. The authors identify some challenges facing those concerned with preparing teachers for inclusive education and provide examples of current projects in the region that address the complex problems associated with providing inclusive education for children identified as having disabilities. The changing role of defectologists in inclusion policy and practice is also discussed. Case examples from Armenia, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, and Serbia reflect current innovations in teacher education and professional development in the region.     

Social-emotional effects of early childhood education programs in Tulsa

This article assesses the effects of Tulsa, Oklahoma's early childhood education programs on social-emotional outcomes, examining teacher ratings of children's behavior from the Adjustment Scales for Preschool Intervention and a measure of attentiveness using fixed effects regressions with propensity score matching. The sample includes 2,832 kindergarten students in 2006, of whom 1,318 participated in the Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) pre-K program and 363 participated in the CAP of Tulsa County Head Start program the previous year. Program participation was associated with lower timidity and higher attentiveness for TPS pre-K alumni and a marginally significant reduction in timidity for Head Start alumni. Results were similar for the free lunch-eligible subsample. We conclude that high-quality, school-based preschool programs can enhance social-emotional development.     

Promising Findings on Preschoolers’ Emergent Literacy and School Readiness In Arts-integrated Early Childhood Settings

An approach to early childhood education that integrates visual and performing arts throughout the preschool curriculum—Art as a Way of Learning—was implemented in a program (Promoting and Supporting Early Literacy through the Arts) designed to improve the emergent literacy and school readiness of at-risk young children in community-based preschool settings. A quasi-experimental pre-post treatment-only design was used to explore this program’s potential effects in a real-world setting. Preliminary results revealed improvements in young children’s emergent literacy on a number of targeted and standardized measures after participation in the program. This arts-integrated approach to the teaching of and learning in young children shows considerable promise and warrants a rigorous test of its effects.     

Evaluating the future value of educational interventions in a health care setting

Program evaluation is intended to systematically determine the merit and worth of a program. We broadly define merit and worth to include economic perspectives obtained through the analysis of the finances of a program—both the costs and the benefits. A study reported here addressed the cost and benefit of investing in an educational intervention to change and improve processes in a health care setting. The potential economic impact of a training intervention intended to improve the uptake of a new purchasing process was evaluated. The study illustrates economic evaluation that anticipates the future value of educational interventions, a prospective view.     

Signal-directed behavior in the rat: Interactions between the nature of the CS and the nature of the UCS

Two experiments are described, which involved the investigation of interactions between the nature of the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the nature of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) in producing signal-centered behavior. In Experiment 1, rats received response-independent heat reinforcement in a cold environment. For some groups, this heat UCS was signaled by presentations of a standard aluminum retractable lever; for other groups, it was signaled by a retractable lever covered in acrylic fur (furry lever CS). Only the subjects that received the furry lever CS paired with heat exhibited differential CS-contact behavior, when compared with unpaired, aluminum lever, and warm control subjects. In Experiment 2, hungry rats received pairings of either an aluminum or a furry lever with food (UCS). When compared with unpaired controls, only the subjects that received the aluminum lever paired with food showed differential signal-directed behavior; the subjects receiving the furry lever CS did not show differential contact with the CS, but instead exhibited differential food tray entry behavior during CS presentation. In the two studies, the signal-directed behavior exhibited by subjects resembled either thermoregulatory or feeding behaviors characteristic of rats. The results suggest that signal-directed behavior is determined by a complex interaction between the ecological relevance of the CS and the nature of the UCS—an interaction that can best be described in terms of a behavior systems model of conditioned responding.