The relationship between behavior at school entry and services received in third grade

Recent studies report the cumulative prevalence of behavioral disorders among school‐age children to be second only to anxiety disorders. Unfortunately, by the time behavior has been identified as needing special education services, patterns of disruptive and externalizing behavior have often become unremitting. If at‐risk behavior can be reliably identified at school entry, there is potential to intervene early to reduce severity and chronicity of behavior. Thus, with the aid of a nationally representative sample (n = 17,490), this study aimed to ascertain if teacher‐observed disruptive behavior in kindergarten predicted children’s categorical identification for special education and receipt of behavior goals in their individualized education plans in third grade. Results indicated externalizing behaviors and approaches to learning at school entry, predicted identification with emotional disturbance, and other health impairment due to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in third grade. In addition, externalizing behaviors at school entry increased the likelihood of a child receiving an individualized education plan with an appropriate behavior goal. Self‐control was not a significant predictor of any outcome. Finally, the covariates of sex, reading achievement, and race at school entry were significantly associated with a child’s need for behavior‐related services. Implications for early intervention are discussed.     

Podcasts on Mobile Devices as a Read-Aloud Testing Accommodation in Middle School Science Assessment

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a digitized podcast to deliver read-aloud testing accommodations on mobile devices to students with disabilities and reading difficulties. The total sample for this study included 47 middle school students with reading difficulties. Of the 47 students, 16 were identified as students with disabilities who received special education services. Participants were randomly assigned to three experimental testing conditions, standard administration, teacher-controlled read-aloud in traditional group delivery format, and student-controlled read-aloud delivered as a podcast and accessed on a mobile device, and given sample end-of-year science assessments. Based on a factorial analysis of variances, with test conditions and student status as the fixed factors, both student groups demonstrated statistically significant gains based on their testing conditions. Results support the use of podcast delivery as a viable alternative to the traditional teacher-delivered read-aloud test accommodation. Conclusions are discussed in the context of universal design for learning testing accommodations for future research and practice.     

Educating for a high skills society? The landscape of federal employment,training and lifelong learning policy in Canada

Government reports and documents claim that building a knowledge economy and innovative society are key goals in Canada. In this paper, we draw on critical policy analysis to examine 10 Canadian federal government training and employment policies in relation to the government's espoused priorities of innovation and developing a high skills society and economy. Our findings highlight three areas of contradiction: a tension between high skills and low skills policy, a contradictory focus on the socially and economically excluded and included, and the paradox of both an active and passive federal government. Drawing on state theories such as inclusive liberalism and the social investment state, we argue that while a ‘highly skilled knowledge economy’ may form part of the overall skills discourse, these contradictions raise doubts that it is to become a reality in Canada in the near future.     

Enhancing School-Based Mental Health Services With a Preventive and Promotive Approach to Universal Screening for Complete Mental Health

Universal screening for complete mental health is proposed as a key step in service delivery reform to move school-based psychological services from the back of the service delivery system to the front, which will increase emphasis on prevention, early intervention, and promotion. A sample of 2,240 high school students participated in a schoolwide universal screening to identify behavioral and emotional distress as well as personal strengths. School psychologists, as part of a multidisciplinary team, coordinated the use of these screening data to engage in preventive consultation with administration to make decisions regarding the refinement and expansion of mental health service delivery options. Schoolwide and individual student prevention and intervention activities were tailored according to screening results. The roles of the school psychologist and multidisciplinary team members are discussed as critical components of this approach to service delivery change. Implications for future consultation research, practice, and training are provided.     

Guest reviewers

As the majority of full-time employees drink alcohol, and alcohol can play an important role in professional interactions and career success, the current study examined the ways in which working professionals who abstain from alcohol manage communication about their non-drinking status. Framed by the theoretical lens of facework, semi-structured, in-depth interviews of 29 non-drinking professionals revealed that non-drinking in the real world is a deviant act that can be face threatening for non-drinkers and drinkers alike. Consequently, non-drinkers deployed a variety of preventive and corrective facework strategies (including passing and humor) to mitigate and remediate positive and negative face threat. This investigation uncovered practical communication tools individuals can use to abstain from alcohol without compromising their careers.     

Lady,Inc.: women learning,negotiating subjectivity in entrepreneurial discourses

This paper presents an analysis of individuals' experiential learning through their work as entrepreneurs. ¹In particular, it examines women's learning as a ‘working-through’ of discursive conflicts of subjectivity. The paper is grounded in a poststructural frame that understands subjectivity to be continuously constituted through engagement with cultural discourses and learning to occur at the interstices of negotiating positionality and identity amidst contradictory discourses. The data under analysis is drawn from a qualitative study examining the learning and development of women entrepreneurs across Canada. Interviews explored the process of work learning and personal change reported by these women after at least four years running their new business, their challenges and personal needs in work, the practices they chose to engage, and their meanings of both learning and success. This analysis focuses on the discursive contexts of entrepreneurship, examining the competing images and messages which implicate women, and the various ways women business-owners learn to appropriate or resist these messages to negotiate subject positions and craft their own meanings of success and work. Implications for educators are presented at the conclusion.     

Integration of Play, Learning, and Experience: What Museums Afford Young Visitors

This paper examines important factors in maximizing children’s experiential learning in the context of inquiry-based children’s museums. Learning is understood as situated in physical, social, and interactive context that is best achieved when children have opportunities to engage in play-based inquiry. Recommendations for maximizing children’s learning in museums, supporting children’s interactions with peers and adults, and offering affordances for children’s play are discussed.     

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST DIAGNOSTIC DECISION‐MAKING: A PILOT STUDY

The current study examined the diagnostic decision‐making of school psychologists as a function of a student's disability and academic performance with three research questions using a randomly‐selected sample of school psychologists from the state of Texas. Results from the first research question indicated that school psychologists significantly differentiated between what diagnoses were considered most correct according to the DSM‐IV and what diagnoses would be in a child's best interest at school. Results from the second research question indicated that this differentiation in diagnostic decision‐making was present as significantly associated with academic performance. Results from the third and final research question indicated that school psychologists differed in their diagnostic decision‐making according to their perceptions about the particular disability.