Issues in the school-to-work transition of hard of hearing adolescents

Career theorists emphasize the importance of the development of career maturity in adolescents if they are to successfully negotiate the school-to-work transition. Transitions of deaf and hard of hearing adolescents may be especially problematic. The authors examine the implications of current labor market trends for young people, in particular those with hearing loss, and review data on employment outcomes for deaf and hard of hearing people. They discuss the environmental and attitudinal barriers that can influence the career outcomes of this population, consider the impact of hearing loss on adolescents' career maturity, and review the studies on this topic in the literature. The article focuses on the experiences of students with significant hearing loss who are educated in regular classes with the support of itinerant teachers, who communicate orally, and who may be defined as hard of hearing. Recommendations for research and practice are provided.     

Impact of a Technology-Mediated Reading Intervention on Adolescents' Reading Comprehension

In this experimental study we examined the effects of a technology-mediated, multicomponent reading comprehension intervention, Comprehension Circuit Training (CCT), for middle school students, the majority of whom were struggling readers. The study was conducted in three schools, involving three teachers and 228 students. Using a within-teacher design, middle school teachers' reading classes were randomly assigned to treatment (n = 9) or business as usual (n = 7) conditions. In the CCT condition, students received, on average, 39 lessons of video-modeled instruction in word reading, vocabulary, and comprehension instruction during reading intervention classes. Results of multilevel structural equation models indicated statistically significant effects favoring the CCT condition on three measures: reading comprehension latent variable (ES = 0.14), proximal vocabulary (ES = 0.43), and silent reading efficiency (ES = 0.28). Subgroup analyses indicated that students with lower entry-level reading comprehension tended to benefit more from the CCT intervention in reading comprehension, silent reading efficiency, and state test scores.     

Learning English from signed English: an impossible task?

A sample of elementary school- and high school-age deaf students in special education programs in the Australian state of Queensland using Australasian Signed English (ASE) took the Test of Syntactic Abilities (Quigley, Steinkamp, Power, & Jones, 1978) and wrote a story in response to a wordless picture sequence. Several analyses of the students' test scores and of the written language of their stories were undertaken. It was found that classroom use of ASE was of benefit to these students in developing English and telling a story in writing, but that there were complex aspects of syntax that required special teaching. The implications for the use of Signed English systems and the teaching of English to deaf students who use Signed English communication are examined.     

Strategies for success in education: Time management is more important for part-time than full-time community college students

This paper examines relationships between the Big Five personality factors, time management, and grade-point-average in 556 community colleges students. A path model controlling for vocabulary, gender, and demographic covariates demonstrated that time management mediates the relationship between conscientiousness and students' academic achievement at community college. Separate modeling for part-time (n = 147) and full-time students (n = 409) showed that this mediation was moderated by enrollment status. Thus, time management was a significant mediator for part-time students but not for full-time students. The greater importance of time management for part- versus full-time students suggests that noncognitive constructs such as time management may be more critical for non-traditional students. These findings gather fresh currency as ever increasing numbers of students are enrolling part-time in post-secondary education across the globe.     

Deaf and hard of hearing students' performance on arithmetic word problems

There has been limited research into the intersection of language and arithmetic performance of students who are deaf or hard of hearing, although previous research has shown that many of these students are delayed in both language acquisition and arithmetic performance. The researchers examined the performance on arithmetic word problems of deaf and hard of hearing students in the South-East Queensland region of Australia; they also examined these students' problem-solving strategies. It was found that performance on word problems was similar for deaf and hearing students, but that deaf students experienced delays in achieving successful performance on word problems relative to their hearing peers. The results confirm the findings of other studies showing that students who are deaf or hard of hearing experience delayed language acquisition, which affects their capacity to solve arithmetic word problems. The study conclusions stress the need for greater use of direct teaching of analytic and strategic approaches to arithmetic word problems.     

Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Their Students in Australia: some state comparisons

To survey the work of itinerant teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing in Australia a mail survey of most of those teachers in four Australian states was conducted. The survey sought information about the professional and personal demographics and work characteristics of the teachers and their roles in working with integrated deaf and hard of hearing students. Teachers also reported on the characteristics and level of inclusion of a “sample student” randomly chosen from their caseloads. Information about the distribution of these students' characteristics and the types of services delivered in each state indicated that there were few differences among the states. It was found that Australian itinerant teachers generally reported that they were satisfied with their work and the placement of deaf and hard of hearing students in regular classes. The teachers generally used a “pull-out/ direct tutorial” mode of working rather than one of “consultation only” with regular teachers and reported that schools and teachers were generally cooperative and understanding of the needs of deaf and hard of hearing students. The students in most cases were well integrated socially and academically in their regular classes.     

Effects of Technology-Mediated Vocabulary Intervention for Third-Grade Students with Reading Difficulties

Abstract

In this experimental study, we examined the effects of a technology-mediated intervention to improve students’ understanding of academic vocabulary and its impact on measures of vocabulary and comprehension. The Vocabulators program was implemented in two states involving 24 teachers and 200 third-grade students identified as in need of supplemental vocabulary instruction. Individual students within each classroom were randomly assigned to treatment (n?=?100) or typical instructional practices (n?=?100) conditions. In the treatment condition, students received, on average, 29 lessons on vocabulary and comprehension. Results of linear regression analyses showed statistically significant and practical effects on experimenter-developed proximal measures of decoding (ES = 0.52), expressive vocabulary (ES = 0.78), receptive vocabulary (ES = 0.51), and near transfer measures of understanding vocabulary in sentences (ES = 0.65), and informational text comprehension (ES = 0.28). Group performance did not differ statistically on near transfer measures of sentence verification with vocabulary and narrative text comprehension as well as distal standardized measures of general vocabulary or reading comprehension. Findings suggest the potential impact of technology-based vocabulary/comprehension lessons to supplement typical instruction.     

Assessing schematic knowledge of introductory probability theory

The ability to identify schematic knowledge is an important goal for both assessment and instruction. In the current paper, schematic knowledge of statistical probability theory is explored from the declarative-procedural framework using multiple methods of assessment. A sample of 90 undergraduate introductory statistics students was required to classify 10 pairs of probability problems as similar or different; to identify whether 15 problems contained sufficient, irrelevant, or missing information (text-edit); and to solve 10 additional problems. The complexity of the schema on which the problems were based was also manipulated. Detailed analyses compared text-editing and solution accuracy as a function of text-editing category and schema complexity. Results showed that text-editing tends to be easier than solution and differentially sensitive to schema complexity. While text-editing and classification were correlated with solution, only text-editing problems with missing information uniquely predicted success. In light of previous research these results suggest that text-editing is suitable for supplementing the assessment of schematic knowledge in development.