Multisensory teaching approach for reading,spelling, and handwriting,Orton-Gillingham based curriculum,in a public school setting

This paper includes an overview of curriculum information and the basic techniques of a multisensory approach for teaching alphabet and dictionary skills, reading, spelling, and cursive handwriting. It also reports the results of a four-year study of reading and spelling in both remedial and nonremedial classes in a public school. The California Achievement Test (CAT) scores in reading and spelling for students in both remedial and nonremedial classes improved over baseline scores following this multisensory approach. Additionally, there was a tendency for the CAT mean scores to increase corresponding to the number of years students had been taught by the multisensory program.     

Constructing the university: Towards a social philosophy of higher education

Almost 40 years ago, a book appeared by J.S. Brubacher entitled On the Philosophy of Higher Education. Today, we have neither its successor nor a sense as to what such a book might contain. The argument here is that we currently lack a recognised subfield of study that might be termed ‘the philosophy of higher education’. The paper attempts to begin to remedy this situation by assembling the main planks of such a field, and identifying broadly the kinds of resources that might be brought together. A particular approach is argued for that builds from a recognition of the university both as institution and as idea. This approach would understand both that the university possesses a social ontology and that the university is accompanied by a widening conceptual hinterland. An undue pessimism is noted, such that the contemporary university is sometimes seen as being subject to overwhelming global forces, which underplays the university’s potential as an agent. It is suggested that an adequate philosophy of higher education would seek to widen the conceptual landscape by identifying universal and imaginative concepts that can assist not merely in understanding the university or in defending the university but in changing it.     

The relationship between gender, depression, and self-esteem in children who have witnessed domestic violence.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether there are measurable gender differences in self-esteem and depression in elementary school-age children who have witnessed domestic violence. METHOD: Forty-five elementary school-age children who were identified as having witnessed domestic violence, and their teachers were surveyed for self-esteem, depression, and classroom behaviors. The results were compared between males and females using linear regression modeling. RESULTS: No significant gender differences were found for self-esteem and depression. An interaction between gender and post-traumatic stress was found to play a significant role in the interpretation of the results. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicated that higher levels of symptoms indicative of post-traumatic stress were associated with greater numbers of depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem for boys who had witnessed domestic violence. The results appeared similar to previous work with children and their emotional reactions to divorce.     

The university in the 1980s: An anachronism?

The purposes of universities as traditionally defined and as specified in both the Carnegie Commission in the USA and the Loi d'Orientation de l'Enseignement Supérieur of 1968 in France, are considered in the context of the profound changes which have occurred in western industrialized societies in recent decades. Some of these changes may make it more difficult for universities to fulfull properly such traditional purposes as providing an independent critique of society's evolution, asking questions about the ways in which moral, material and technological problems are handled and the maintenance of that spirit of free enquiry which is an essential part of human freedom.This paper derives from an address given to Education Section L of the British Association meeting at the University of Lancaster in September 1976.     

Spanish Bilateral Initiatives for Education in Latin America

The research presented in this article concerns la Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional (Spanish Agency for International Cooperation—AECI) and its growing presence in Latin America since the late 1990s. The aim is to evaluate the transformative potential that bilateral funding can have on educational reform in the region. The article starts with a brief history of Spain’s past and present strategies for educational initiatives in Latin America, and then it focuses on three of AECI’s successful projects: basic and adult literacy; gender mainstreaming in development projects; and multicultural and bilingual education. The article explains the effectiveness of Spanish-sponsored projects in Latin America and compares their strategies with those of other bilateral and multilateral donors, such as PREAL. The article concludes by analysing multi-sectoral development efforts that are the foundation of educational strategies sponsored with Spanish funds, based on the grounds that elimination of poverty will not result from projects that focus exclusively on the individual or the family, but rather from those at the community level. AECI’s efforts are directed at cultivating internal capacities already present in the communities through training human resources and deploying financial resources.     

Relationships Between Teaching and Research in Higher Education in England

Although there is a popular conception that research enhances teaching, evidence of such synergistic relationships is inconclusive. Recent research, undertaken as part of the Higher Education Funding Council for England's (HEFCE) fundamental review of research policy and funding, indicated that there are a range of relationships – both positive and negative – between teaching and research. While the ideal relationship might be perceived by many academics to be a positive one, there are a number of factors that shape the ways in which teaching and research can have a negative influence on each other, or even be driven apart. These factors include pressures to compartmentalize teaching and research through accountability and funding mechanisms, management strategies of academic staff time that treat teaching and research separately, and the competition for scarce resources. If teaching and research are to complement each other, new ways of managing the teaching and research relationship need to be considered.     

A surprising effect of feedback on learning

As meta-analyses demonstrate feedback effects on performance, our study examined possible mediators. Based on our cognitive–motivational model [Vollmeyer, R., & Rheinberg, F. (1998). Motivationale Einflüsse auf Erwerb und Anwendung von Wissen in einem computersimulierten System [Motivational influences on the acquisition and application of knowledge in a simulated system]. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie, 12, 11–23] we examined how feedback changed (1) strategies, and (2) motivation during learning, and by doing so improved (3) final performance. Students (N = 211) learned how a dynamic system works and how to reach given goal states for the system. One group received feedback (i.e., knowledge of performance) the other one did not. We expected learners to improve after they received the first feedback. However, we found that learners expecting feedback used better strategies right from the start. Thus, they acquired more knowledge over fewer trials. Although we had also expected effects of feedback on motivation during learning, we could not support this hypothesis.     

Motivational Effects on Self-Regulated Learning with Different Tasks

In our cognitive motivational process model (Vollmeyer &; Rheinberg, Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie, 12:11–23, 1998) we assume that initial motivation affects performance via motivation during learning and learning strategies. These variables are also central for self-regulation theories (e.g., M. Boekaerts, European Psychologist, 1:100–122, 1996). In this article we discuss methods with which the model can be tested. Initial motivation with its four factors challenge, probability of success, interest, and anxiety was measured with the Questionnaire on Current Motivation (QCM; Rheinberg, Vollmeyer, &; Burns, Diagnostica, 47:57–66, 2001). As an indicator for the functional state we assessed flow with the FKS (Rheinberg, Vollmeyer, &; Engeser, Diagnostik von Motivation und Selbstkonzept [Diagnosis of Motivation and Self-Concept], Hogrefe, Göttingen, Germany, 261–279, 2003). We also used different tasks, including a linear system, a hypermedia program, and university-level classes. In general, our methods are valid and with them we found support for our model.     

Bridging the Research-to-Practice Gap in School-Based Consultation: An Example Using Case Studies

Intervention integrity or adherence describes qualities of carrying out an intervention plan and in research is fundamentally linked to experimental validity questions addressed by measurement of independent and dependent variables. Integrity has been well described in conceptual writing but has been a continuing thorny subject in research and practice with some possibility of misunderstandings. In consultation practice, in contrast to research, adherence questions may be best viewed as a triage situation in that teams examine risks and costs of decisions and plan for sufficient intervention implementation checks accordingly. Furthermore, in consultation practice the measurement of intervention adherence is not necessarily needed for internal validity arguments if internal validity evidence is a key characteristic of prior research used in problem solving. However, adherence estimates remain critical for many aspects of decision making. As much thought and resources may be dedicated to the measurement of intervention adherence as are dedicated to the measurement of dependent variables or outcome measures for both consultation practice and research depending on the decision purpose.