Communication Intervention for Students with Severe Disability: results of a partner training program

This paper reports on the evaluation of a professional development program designed for communication partners of students with severe disability. The program aimed to facilitate the translation of reported best practice in the area of communication to classroom practice. A model of case application was used to enhance partner acquisition of targeted skills and knowledge, thereby addressing perceived concerns in this area. Participants including teachers, teacher aides, and speech pathologists completed pre‐ and post‐intervention questionnaires measuring skills, knowledge, and concerns. Data were analysed on the basis of participant role to determine the significance of change between groups. Results suggest that the professional development program was effective. Teachers and teacher aides reported increased skills and knowledge, accompanied by reduced concerns. Speech pathologists indicated minimal change in either area. These findings are explored in the context of the current research literature on partner training in communication intervention.     

Correlates of College Retention and GPA: Learning and Study Strategies,Testwiseness, Attitudes,and ACT

This study assessed unique contributions of learning, study, and test-taking strategies; students' attitudes about college; and ACT scores, and linked them to college GPA and to retention. Although several variables contributed significantly to GPA, only GPA made a significant unique contribution to attrition and retention. This suggests that learning and study strategies and students' college attitudes affect attrition indirectly through GPA.     

Assessing the Issues of Multiracial Students on College Campuses

This is a preliminary study that focuses on multiracial college students' attitudes regarding the challenges they experience on campus. Results of this study highlight counseling issues that affect multiracial college students, and how college counselors' perceptions of diversity need to be broadened in order to accommodate the rapidly growing multiracial and multiethnic student population.     

A partnership to promote teacher preparation for inclusive, urban schools: four voices

This article describes a unique partnership between a university and an urban school district. University students complete a one-year internship. Major stakeholders provided evaluation data which are shared in this article. The data from this investigation confirmed our belief in the value of an immersion program in a fully inclusive urban setting. The authors describe extended research efforts as well as make recommendations for future partnership investigations.     

Teacher ratings of the achievement-related classroom behaviors of maltreated and non-maltreated children

This study investigated in what ways, if any, maltreated children differ from nonmaltreated children in regard to achievement-related classroom behaviors. Elementary school teachers completed the Hahnemann Elementary School Behavior Rating Scale on 33 maltreated children, 33 non-maltreated public assistance children, and 33 non-maltreated lower middle class children. The maltreated children were matched to the comparison children on gender and grade level. Results indicated that the maltreated children exhibited significantly less classroom behavior that is positively linked with academic achievement than did a comparable group of non-maltreated, public assistance children. However, the maltreated children did not differ significantly as a group from the public assistance children in most behaviors that are negatively linked with academic achievement, such as disruptive social involvement in the classroom. When compared with the lower middle class children, the maltreated children were rated as engaging in significantly less classroom behavior that is positively related to academic achievement and significantly more classroom behavior that is negatively related to academic achievement.     

The Effects of an Intensive Reading Intervention for Ninth Graders with very Low Reading Comprehension

This experimental study examined the efficacy of a multicomponent reading intervention compared to a control condition on the reading comprehension of adolescent students with low reading comprehension (more than 1½ standard deviations below normative sample). Ninth‐grade students were randomly assigned to treatment (n = 25) and comparison (n = 19). Reading teachers provided instruction for 90‐min, five times every two weeks for approximately 80 sessions. Treatment effects for each outcome measure were estimated using repeated measure of analysis of covariance for measures of reading comprehension and fluency. Results indicate no statistically significant differences between treatment and comparison conditions. Repeated‐measures analyses of variance between students with lower and higher decoding skills indicated a statistically significant interaction between treatment condition and decoding ability on the WJ‐III PC and Bridge‐IT, with large effect sizes (η_p² .16 and .12, respectively), indicating that treatment was differentially beneficial for students with higher decoding skills.