Multilevel Analysis of Multiple-baseline Data Evaluating Precision Teaching as an Intervention for Improving Fluency in Foundational Reading Skills for at Risk Readers

In this article, multiple-baseline across participants designs were used to evaluate the impact of a precision teaching (PT) program, within a Tier 2 Response to Intervention framework, targeting fluency in foundational reading skills with at risk kindergarten readers. Thirteen multiple-baseline design experiments that included participation from 35 kindergarten students were included in the current analysis. By combining data from a series of multiple-baseline studies using a multilevel model, we analyzed outcomes to determine an estimated treatment effect. The results indicate that across participants and across studies, PT showed an average increase of 15 correct responses in foundational reading skills per minute. This immediate influence on rates of core reading skills was statistically significant. Moreover, the treatment had a significant positive effect on the time trend indicating that rates in foundational reading skills increased more across time during the treatment phase compared to the baseline phase. The study provides evidence that the obtained rates in foundational reading skills at the end of the intervention were retained after removing the intervention. From the outcomes of the multilevel model, PT can be considered as a promising Tier 2 intervention to increase reading fluency with individuals who are at risk of reading failure.     

Students’ experiences of learning with iPads in upper secondary school – a base for proto-TPACK

This research focuses on Finnish students’ (n?=?84) experiences of using personal iPads in their studies through 3 years of upper secondary schooling. It is based on results from one of the first schools in Finland where all the new students were provided with iPads at the start of their studies. Data consists of: (i) 127 short stories written by students about how they would advise a new teacher and a new student to use iPads in teaching and learning, and (ii) four group discussions on the same topics. Qualitative thematic analysis of the data was guided by the TPACK framework. Results suggest that: (i) teachers’ pedagogical approaches changed little in response to the new devices and remained largely teacher-centred, and (ii) students do not have the confidence to radically change learning styles to take advantage of the affordances of the devices. The value that iPads add to teaching and learning is difficult to quantify because of the complex and often conflicting factors involved. Overall, the findings imply that teachers’ TPACK is generally resistant to change and students’ proto-TPACK is insufficiently developed to initiate change. An approach that systematically develops both students’ and teachers’ TPACK is advocated.     

Réformes Des Programmes Scolaires Et Acquisitions á L’école Primaire En Afrique: Mythes Et Réalités

SCHOOL CURRICULA REFORMS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN AFRICA: MYTH VS. REALITY - This paper proposes a critical analysis of the introduction and implementation of new school curricula in Africa based on the example of the skills based approach (SBA). In many countries, the SBA has been chosen as the most appropriate and relevant method to change their school curriculum and improve education quality. We analyse the implementation of those new curricula based on the SBA in primary schools in Mauritania. The results show that the main problems affecting pupils’ achievement lie rather in the effective implementation of curricula in the classrooms than in their contents. Additional analyses show that this result is confirmed in other African countries. As a background analysis, we present the origins of SBA, define its purposes and assess its limits from a pedagogical point of view. The weaknesses of this approach in taking into account the needs and the realities of African educational systems are stressed. These various elements lead to the conclusion that if curriculum reforms are often necessary in African countries, this can not be a cure for education quality issues.     

Recruiting Honours Students in the Face of Market Demand for Pass Degrees: A Case Study

Third year undergraduate and fourth year honours students in a large university economics department were surveyed for this study with a view to some resolution of how honours participation rates might be improved (and hence the pool of potential postgraduates enlarged) when good employment opportunities are available to three‐year graduates. Reasons why students choose to do or not to do an honours year are examined in relation to their background characteristics, circumstantial factors, previous assessment, course structure and perceptions of market demand for honours graduates, opportunity costs and career paths. The results draw attention to ways in which more students might be attracted to the honours stream, the honours year and beyond. It is concluded that higher education institutions and federal bodies must share this responsibility.     

Adapted Physical Education Teachers’ Concerns in Teaching Students with Disabilities in an Urban Public School District

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not adapted physical education (APE) teachers had job‐related concerns associated with teaching students with disabilities in an urban public school district. The participants were six experienced, itinerant APE teachers, who taught in urban public schools in a midwestern state in the United States. The research method was a collective case study situated in concerns theory. Data were collected from teacher interviews, on‐site observations, and stimulated recall sessions. Case analyses and cross‐case analyses were conducted using constant comparative procedures. Findings indicate that the teachers had job‐related concerns explainable within the tenets of concerns theory. They also had concerns not situated within concerns theory that were unique to their itinerant status.     

Influences on students' perceptions of their personal development during the first three years of college

This study sought to determine whether students' perceptions of their personal growth are related to their college experiences after controlling for their precollege characteristics, whether the amount of reported development varies over the first three years of college, and whether the influences on students' perceived personal development vary from one year to another. Results indicate that students' self-reported personal development is unattributable to their precollege traits and is remarkably constant from the freshman through junior years. Differences between men and women in reported growth are, however, evident. The sources of influence on reported growth vary over the three years; the only common influence is informal contact with faculty.An earlier version of this paper was presented to the annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Toronto, May 1983.     

The Catholic school and social justice in Africa: a Zambian case study

Abstract

This paper will argue that the state-aided Catholic school in Zambia has contributed significantly to the development of the country over the years. However, because of its enmeshment in the state system of education it has inadvertently become an instrument of underdevelopment. It is structurally complicit in alienating some of the poorest sectors of society, which runs counter to its professed religious mission. This essay presents the Zambian situation as a case study where it is contended that in order to understand the current situation there is need to see it in the light of its history. The discussion is intended to explore how faith-based educational settings within the state systems in Africa may become complicit in sustaining forms of oppression. It will include a consideration of how, as part of this, religion has been reduced historically through being too closely allied to a modernisation framework generating the illusion of promoting social justice. The article notes that in the light of better historical appreciation of the issue there is need for a review of the faith-based school’s pedagogy.