The effects of computer-assisted instruction on number combination skill in at-risk first graders

The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the potential for computer-assisted instruction (CAI) to enhance number combination skill among children with concurrent risk for math disability and reading disability. A secondary purpose was to examine the effects of CAI on spelling. At-risk students were assigned randomly to math or spelling CAI, which they received in 50 sessions over 18 weeks. Acquisition and transfer effects were assessed. The results indicated that math CAI was effective in promoting addition but not subtraction number combination skill and that transfer to arithmetic story problems did not occur. Spelling CAI effects were reliable on acquisition and transfer spelling measures, with small to moderate effect sizes on transfer to reading measures. These results provide the basis for additional work with larger samples.     

Beyond educational semiotics: A response to Cunningham

The case is made that the theoretical propositions and instructional recommendations that Cunningham attributes to semiotics are shared with other perspectives. However, the theoretical and instructional positions Cunningham favors must be evaluated more completely if they are to be acceptable to the educational psychology community, which is generally more positivist in its orientation than the semiotics community. Nonetheless, we emphasize that the methodological approaches favored by Cunningham have the potential for permitting rapid progress in understanding and evaluating the instructional beliefs and practices consistent with semiotic analyses.     

Developing Multicultural Competence Using the Structured Peer Group Supervision Model

Interest in the role of supervision in counselor training has increased concurrent with the interest in effective strategies for developing multicultural counseling competency. L. D. Borders (1991) proposed a model of group supervision appropriate for use with supervisees of differing skill levels; however, the model does not overtly provide for supervisees' development of multicultural awareness and skills. This article presents a format of peer group multicultural supervision in which supervisees work to increase their multicultural competencies while engaging in helper roles important for working with culturally diverse clients.     

Building research capacity collaboratively: Can we take ownership of our future?

This presidential address argues that there is a pressing need in the UK to build educational research capacity at system level and to do so collaboratively. It advances three main arguments for doing so. These are (i) the increasing concentration of research resources; (ii) the dangers of increasing separation of research and initial teacher education; and (iii) the complexity of the links between research, policy and practice. Drawing on evidence about research quality and on demographic trends of academic staff in education departments, it illustrates one approach to collaborative capacity building in Scotland, the Applied Educational Research Scheme. It concludes by drawing attention to the nascent Strategic Forum for Research in Education as an important forum for monitoring the health of educational research.     

Preparing novice teachers to develop basic reading and spelling skills in children

This study examined the word-structure knowledge of novice teachers and the progress of children tutored by a subgroup of the teachers. Teachers’ word-structure knowledge was assessed using three tasks: graphophonemic segmentation, classification of pseudowords by syllable type, and classification of real words as phonetically regular or irregular. Tutored children were assessed on several measures of basic reading and spelling skills. Novice teachers who received word-structure instruction outperformed a comparison group of teachers in word-structure knowledge at post-test. Tutored children improved significantly from pre-test to post-test on all assessments. Teachers’ post-test knowledge on the graphophonemic segmentation and irregular words tasks correlated significantly with tutored children’s progress in decoding phonetically regular words; error analyses indicated links between teachers’ patterns of word-structure knowledge and children’s patterns of decoding progress. The study suggests that word-structure knowledge is important to effective teaching of word decoding and underscores the need to include this information in teacher preparation.     

Collaborative creativity in instrumental group music learning as a site for enhancing pupil wellbeing

This study explores the nature of the elements that co-influence collaborative creativity in instrumental group music learning and the intrinsic potential for enhancing pupil wellbeing as evidenced in a particular secondary-school (extra-curricular) group instrumental programme Percussion 1. Wenger’s Community of Practice (CoP) and Engestrom’s Activity Theory (AT) provide an in-depth analytical framework for the analysis of 14 rehearsals, 13 semi-structured interviews and 41 teachers’ and pupils’ reflective diary entries. Findings support the intrinsic potential for enhancing pupil wellbeing by empowering them through supportive statements and decision-making, and engaging them through the embodiment of music learning.     

The problem with women? Challenges posed by gender for career guidance practice

Institutionalised discrimination continues to perpetuate deep rooted social divisions, with gender inequality persisting as a pervasive feature of labour markets across the world. Despite the depth and breadth of gender inequality, there is limited acknowledgement in career theory that the career support needs of women are distinctive. A qualitative international comparative study into the career trajectories of older women (aged 45–65) has been conducted across six countries (Australia, Argentina, Germany, Italy, England and South Africa). The results provide an international understanding of women’s careers and offer insight into career theory and practice for women that are culturally relevant.     

Promoting Desirable Outcomes Among Culturally and Ethnically Diverse Children in Social Emotional Learning Programs: a Multilevel Heuristic Model

The primary goal of this article is to situate the findings from evidence-based studies of social emotional learning (SEL) interventions into a broader social context by reframing the discussion to consider how aspects of sociocultural competence impact the development and delivery of programs. The limitations of current SEL intervention efforts are discussed and a multilevel heuristic model that identifies and defines the theoretical constructs that we believe are culturally bound and associated with the content, implementation, and evaluation components of SEL intervention programs is presented. We point out constraints associated with this effort and offer specific strategies and activities by which school personnel involved in these activities can be encouraged to embrace socioculturally based SEL practices in their classrooms and offer guidance for future research.     

The Role of Classroom-Level Child Behavior Problems in Predicting Preschool Teacher Stress and Classroom Emotional Climate

Research Findings: Despite the abundance of research suggesting that preschool classroom quality influences children's social-emotional development, the equally important and related question of how characteristics of children enrolled in a classroom influence classroom quality has rarely been addressed. The current article focuses on this question while also considering teacher stress as a mediator of the relationship between child behavior problems and classroom emotional climate. Data came from 2 low-income samples. Ordinary least squares regression revealed that higher levels of child externalizing behavior problems in the fall predicted higher teacher stress in the spring. Teacher stress was nonlinearly related to classroom emotional climate in the spring: Moderate levels of teacher stress were associated with higher (i.e., more positive) classroom emotional climates, and low and high levels of teacher stress were associated with lower classroom emotional climates. Contrary to expectations, higher levels of child externalizing behavior problems were related to higher classroom emotional climates. There was no evidence that teacher stress mediated this relationship. Practice or Policy: These results are discussed in terms of strategies to reduce the disruptive influence of child behavior problems on the classroom emotional climate as well as strategies to limit high levels of preschool teacher stress.