Use of the token economy system to intervene on a school-wide level

Many writers have suggested that professionals dealing with psychological problems in school settings need to consider procedures for consulting on a system level, rather than on an individual or a group level. In this report, a token economy system was implemented for all 459 students in a K-6 elementary school. Managing an intervention program at the system level required comprehensive procedures for staff training and program modification. The results showed a major decrease in classroom disruptions and a decrease in negative teacher interactions during the token economy system compared with baseline data. Data analysis the following summer on system-wide variables demonstrated that the number of suspended students and number of days of suspension decreased, that the rate of gain on achievement tests in reading and mathematics increased compared with the yearly rates suggested by test scores the previous year, and that the teacher turnover rate decreased. Several variables considered necessary for the effective implementation of the program were discussed.     

Regular class teachers' perceptions of transition programs for EMR students and their impact on the students

This study was designed to obtain the perceptions of regular class teachers who taught children who had been in EMR programs, but had been decertified (D) and returned to regular classes in response to court cases and recent legislation. A cohort of regular class (RC) students were selected for comparative purposes. It was found that D students were placed into low ability classes; yet, teachers perceived D subjects to be significantly lower than RC students in both academic achievement and social acceptance. Only a small proportion of teachers indicated that the enrollment of D students had much impact on the regular class instructional program. However, the teachers were rather critical of the services received under the auspices of a transitional program, indicating in large part that the services were either not apparent or ineffective.     

Factor analysis of WISC-R scores for children identified as learning disabled,educable mentally impaired,and emotionally impaired

The WISC-R scores for groups of children identified by school personnel as needing special education services were factor analyzed according to type of classification. WISC-R factor loadings were obtained for the scores of children labeled Learning Disabled, Educable Mentally Impaired, and Emotionally Impaired, as well as groups labeled Other and None. Overall, results show the WISC-R to be factorially similar for all groups, with two principal factors emerging which correspond to the Verbal-Performance structure of the test. Significance tests among mean scale scores and IQ scores yielded few meaningful differences across groups.     

Examiner scoring of ambiguous WISC-R responses

Fabricated test protocols were used to study how effectively examiners agree in scoring ambiguous WISC-R responses. Clinical and school psychologists (N = 62) and graduate students (N = 48) scored WISC-R Similarities, Comprehension, and Vocabulary responses obtained in a group administration procedure. From over 15,000 responses obtained, only unusual, atypical, or ambiguous responses were selected; 726 responses were scored, with 11 groups of 10 raters each scoring 66 responses. Considerable scoring disagreement occurred. Unanimous agreement (within each group of 10 raters) was found on only 13% of the responses, while 80% of the raters agreed on 44% of the responses. Rates of scoring agreement were not related to level of rater experience, but were related to specific subtests. Higher rates of agreement were found on the Similarities and Comprehension subtests than on the Vocabulary subtest for both experienced and inexperienced raters. The results suggest that even with the improved WISC-R manual, scoring remains a difficult and challenging task.     

Student use of a computer

Sans résumé

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Student use of a computer