Doctoral and nondoctoral practicing school psychologists: Are there differences?

The purpose of this study was to examine and describe differences between doctoral and nondoctoral practicing school psychologists. Participants selected for the study were school psychologists who were full-time practitioners in a school setting. The sample was randomly selected from the 1992 National Association of School Psychologists Membership Database. Four hundred forty persons were selected to serve as a sample of the NASP membership, and 359 responded to the survey. Of those that responded, 232 were full-time practitioners employed in the schools and formed the sample used in the data analysis. Overall, doctoral and nondoctoral school psychologists were very much alike in terms of age, gender, and years of experience. Doctoral level school psychologists were more likely to be employed in urban areas. Both groups spend a similar amount of time participating in seven different job activities. Doctoral and nondoctoral level practitioners working in schools maintain high levels of job satisfaction and the majority intend to remain in their current position and the profession for the next five years. Higher salaries and an increased likelihood of having a private practice outside of school are the major differences between doctoral and nondoctoral school psychologists practicing in the schools. Future evolution of the role of school psychologists may allow for the increased use of the advanced skills obtained by doctoral level school psychologists. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Ratings of severity of life events by ninth-grade students

Special education, basic, and honors students rated the severity of stress for each of the life events on the Source of Stress Inventory (Chandler, 1981). There was a significant positive relationship between the Chandler rankings and the rankings made by the 60 ninth-grade students. Special education students reported they had experienced more of the events than had honors students, and the special education students reported more intense stress for the experienced events. Life experiences considered more stressful by students when compared to the stress values assigned by the Chandler rankings (teachers and mental health workers) include poor grades in school, loss of job by parent, mother beginning to work, birth of brother or sister, increased arguments with brothers and sisters vision problem requiring glasses.     

Teacher preferences for collaborative relationships: Relationship to efficacy for teaching in prevention-related domains

Recent movements in educational reform call for increased collaborative activities among school personnel. The present study examines student and practicing teacher preferences for modes of working on a variety of student-related concerns and relationships with personal and general efficacy for teaching in prevention-related areas. Elementary and secondary student teachers and practicing teachers were asked to rate their preference for working on student academic, behavioral, and self-esteem problems. The range of working preferences included working with other professionals (collaborative), letting other professionals handle the problem (expert), and working alone. These working preferences were found to vary according to teacher level of experience and grade level of teaching. Significant relationships were found between collaborative work preferences and personal teaching efficacy.     

Is dyslexia a form of specific language impairment? a comparison of dyslexic and language impaired children as adolescents

Two groups of adolescents with a childhood history of language impairment were compared with a group of developmentally dyslexic young people of the same age and nonverbal ability. The study also included two comparison groups of typically developing children, one of the same age as those in the clinical groups, and a younger comparison group of similar reading level to the dyslexic students. Tests of spoken and written language skills revealed that the adolescents with dyslexia were indistinguishable from those with resolved language impairments on spoken language tasks, and both groups performed at age-expected levels. However, both dyslexic readers and those with resolved specific language impairments showed deficits in phonological awareness. On written language tasks, a different pattern of performance was apparent. In reading and spelling, adolescents with dyslexia performed only as well as those with persistent oral language impairments and younger controls. However, their reading comprehension was better. The theoretical and educational implications of these findings are discussed.     

Early Literacy Predictors and Second-Grade Outcomes in Children Who Are Hard of Hearing

This study contrasted the early literacy outcomes of children who are hard of hearing (CHH) with children with normal hearing (CNH). At age 5, prereading skills of oral language, phonological processing, and print knowledge were examined in CHH (N = 180) and CNH (N = 80). The CHH had poorer oral language and phonological processing abilities than the CNH but comparable knowledge of print. At age 8, measures of word reading, and reading comprehension yielded no differences between CHH (N = 108) and CNH (N = 62) except for reading comprehension for the moderately severe CHH. Reading achievement in CHH was found to exceed predictions based on prereading performance. This resilience was associated with gains in oral language during the early school years.     

Student Plagiarism in Universities: What are we Doing About it?

Student plagiarism subverts the system of course evaluation, debases qualifications and offends against academic integrity. Research findings from the U.S.A. and the U.K. indicate the widespread nature of student plagiarism in universities. Opportunities for plagiarism among university students appear to be on the increase but there is evidence to suggest that official policies, procedures and responses on the part of some universities and academic staff may be inconsistent and inequitable. Universities need to be more proactive in: developing strategies to raise student awareness of the unacceptability of student plagiarism; developing and enforcing policies aimed at controlling student plagiarism; and setting up programmes to promote academic integrity. A continuum consisting of seven plagiarism behaviours linked to a suggested set of procedures and penalties can be used by academic staff to classify instances of plagiarism and deal with individual cases in a fairer, more consistent manner.     

The inherent impact of nonpromoted students on reading scores in a big city elementary school

Using data from a single urban elementary school, it is argued that (1) retaining low achieving students affects standardized reading scores in the subsequent year, and (2) that a failure to identify spurious gains can divert the change process in nonproductive or even dysfunctional directions.