Students prenatally exposed to drugs and alcohol: A survey of school personnel preparation

Abstract

The authors surveyed university faculty regarding preparation of general educators, special educators, and speech‐language pathologists to work with students prenatally exposed to drugs and alcohol. The results confirm that, in general, teacher education and speech‐language pathology programs provide limited information on these students to either preservice or inservice teachers and speech‐language pathologists. The authors also compared the responses of the three groups of faculty and the responses of faculty within their specialization areas. Significant differences were found among the three groups and within the general education faculty group, differences that have significant implications for teacher and speech‐language pathologist preparation programs.     

The locus of focus: The effect of switching from a preferred to a non-preferred focus of attention

Abstract

Focusing strategies are known to play a significant role in motor performance, with individuals who use an internal focus on body movement typically showing poorer outcomes than those who focus on features of the external environment. Focus of attention and switching of one's focus are examined in the context of two different complex motor skills along with a factor not previously examined systematically, individual preference. In both experiments, participants were introduced to focusing strategies that might be employed when attempting a sensorimotor task. Explanations of both strategies were given to participants. Specifically, for an internal focus, participants were instructed to concentrate on their body movements, while for an external focus, they were instructed to focus on aspects in the environment. They were then asked which strategy they preferred. Participants then continued either with their preferred focus or were instructed to switch to their non-preferred focus. The advantage that the external focus typically enjoys turns out not to be a simple one and interacts with individual preference and with the “forced-opposite” manipulation. Our results support the growing consensus that encouraging individuals to adopt an internal focusing strategy is counterproductive in complex sensorimotor tasks. They also suggest that individual preferences play a role.     

Modeling and Motor Performance: A Developmental Perspective

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine the effects of age, modeling and verbal self-instruction on children's performance of a sequential motor task. Eighty-four children between the ages of 4–0 and 5–11 years and 84 children between the ages of 7–0 and 8–11 years were randomly assigned to one of six instructional conditions in a 2 × 3 × 2 (age × model type × verbal self-instruction) factorial design. Results revealed that older children performed better than younger children on motor, verbal-cognitive, and attentional measures. More importantly, an age by model type interaction revealed that model effectiveness depended on the age of the observer as well as the type of model observed. Specifically, 7- and 8-year-old children performed equally well after observing either a silent or verbal model, while the 4- and 5-year-olds performed best under a verbal model only. The absence of verbal self-instructional effects was attributed to task difficulty, information processing capabilities and methodological procedures. In general, the results supported the notion that developmental factors play a critical role in the modeling process, and both theoretical and practical implications are outlined.     

Goal Orientation and the Modeling Process: An Individual's Focus on Form and Outcome

Abstract

One's achievement goal orientation (e.g., task, ego) is suggested to reflect a differential focus on skill mastery and performance outcome (Duda, 1992). Goal orientation has further been suggested to be an important observer characteristic in the observational learning of motor skills (McCullagh, Weiss, & Ross, 1989). This study assessed the relationship between goal orientation and a focus on form and outcome aspects of a motor skill demonstration with college students (N = 30) having low perceived ability, knowledge, and experience in tennis. Participants viewed several videotaped demonstrations of a correctly performed tennis forehand and then visual recognition and verbal recall accuracy of form and outcome task characteristics were assessed. A canonical correlation analysis revealed a nonsignificant relationship between goal orientation and recall and recognition of form and outcome task characteristics. These results provide preliminary evidence to suggest that goal orientation may not be an important observer characteristic in the learning phase of the modeling process. Also, achievement goal orientations may not be associated with a differential focus on skill mastery or performance outcome but instead remain a reflection of divergent processes of success evaluation.     

Perceptions of School and Aspirations of Rural Students with Learning Disabilities and Their Nondisabled Peers

This study examined the school perceptions and educational aspirations of 6,599 rural high school students, a sample that included 428 students with learning disabilities (LD). Regardless of disability status, rural high school students who had negative perceptions of school had less well‐defined postsecondary educational plans and less often aspired to complete college or pursue an advanced degree. Compared to nondisabled youth, rural students with LD were more likely to have negative perceptions of school and lower postsecondary aspirations. However, students with LD who had positive perceptions of school more often planned to pursue postsecondary education and aspired to complete college or an advanced degree. Implications for research and interventions pertaining to the educational attainment of students with LD are discussed.     

New guiding principles in educational policy: the case of Germany

Pluralism, decentralization, deregulation, school autonomy, greater diversity and parent empowerment in education are among the new guiding principles in educational policy in numerous industrial countries. Whereas this paradigm shift reflects the advance of the market ideology into the education sector in other (particularly English‐speaking) countries, the driving force behind this movement in Germany is rather the political system's loss of legitimation and the conflict‐ridden state of educational policy. The first part of the article takes a retrospective view which links up to the analyses of Weiler. It shows that the former strategies for securing legitimation and regulating conflicts ‐ involving science in the educational reform process, legalization and judicialization ‐ have only been effective temporarily. Using the new Education Act of Hesse as example, the hypothesis is developed that the strategy of increasing parent empowerment and partially transferring regulatory powers and decision‐making competence to individual schools will also not bring about the expected effects since this will not solve the structural problems of the German school system. In the second part of the article this thesis is elaborated within the framework of a differentiated analysis of the consequences of the structural problems as manifested in individual school types on local educational markets.     

Examining Massive Digital Libraries (MDLs) and Their Impact on Reference Services

Massive Digital Libraries such as Google Books and the HathiTrust can provide libraries with virtual ready-reference collections that match the scope of print collections. Their impact reaches into the tens of millions of public domain and copyrighted titles. Yet, problems persist with these digitized book collections. This article examines some of the flaws and unintended consequences of relying on Massive Digital Libraries at the expense of local print collections. Such problems include lack of metadata accuracy, poorly implemented optical character recognition, lack of quality control in the mass-digitization process, the problem of linguistic representation, and the lack of subject diversity in the source collections.