Academic progress of children who attended a preschool for abused children: a follow-up of the keepsafe project

OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to assess academic progress of children 1 to 5 years after graduating from the C. Henry Kempe Center's Therapeutic Preschool Day Treatment Program. METHOD: Information was gathered through chart review; telephone surveys of care providers, relatives, and social service workers; as well questionnaires on all children who attended the therapeutic preschool day treatment program between 1984 and 1989, including the 24 children reported on by Oates, Gray, Schweitzer, Kempe, and Harmon, 1995. RESULTS: Classroom placement was determined for 27 of the 44 graduates (61.4%), 14 of whom (51.9%) were in a regular classroom, 10 (37.0%) in special education, two (7.4%) in residential treatment, and one (3.7%) was receiving home schooling. Twenty-two of the 27 children (81.5%) improved or remained in the same grade and type of classroom as they had been staffed into at the time of their graduation from the preschool day treatment program. Factors thought to affect stability of classroom placement were studied, of which frequency of family moves was the only significant variable. Its significance was in the direction opposite to that expected. The most effective method of locating families was to contact the Department of Social Services who provided information used to find 60% of them. CONCLUSIONS: Intervention in a therapeutic preschool day treatment program was found to be beneficial, as it enabled most of the children to progress appropriately in public school.     

Political Perspectives on Church Schools and Religious Education: A discussion of the period from Thatcher to Blair

Making use of material written by British prime ministers, a case is presented for understanding church schools and religious education in a way distinct from that normally utilised in academic discourse. Politicians in democratic countries depend on attracting votes to assume power. They therefore integrate church schools and religious education within existing political positions. Conservative politicans see church schools as being an example of parental choice and religious education as being an aid to moral education. Labour politicians see church schools as contributing to a pluralistic society and aiding the cultural identity of ethnic groups.     

Salient Effects of Practice Poster Sessions on Counselor Development: Implications for Research Training and Professional Identification

This study examined the effects of a 2-step practice poster session on first-year doctoral students' self-efficacy beliefs about making professional presentations, and evaluated the usefulness of an active-learning teaching assignment. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from participants after each of 2 practice poster sessions. The results (a) suggest that the relatively brief training exercise significantly increased participants' self-efficacy to give scholarly presentations, and (b) replicate earlier reports about the usefulness of the learning assignment.     

Teaching evolutionary biology: Pressures,stress, and coping

Understanding what teachers need to be more comfortable and confident in their profession is crucial to the future of effective teachers and scientific literacy in public schools. This study focuses on the experiences of Arizona biology teachers in teaching evolution, using a clinical model of stress to identify sources of pressure, the resulting stresses, and coping strategies they employ to alleviate these stresses. We conducted focus groups, one‐on‐one interviews, and written surveys with 15 biology teachers from the Phoenix area. On the basis of their responses, teachers were clustered into three categories: “Conflicted,” who struggle with their own beliefs and the possible impact of their teaching, “Selective,” who carefully avoid difficult topics and situations, and “Scientists,” who see no place for controversial social issues in their science classroom. Teachers from each group felt that they could be more effective in teaching evolution if they possessed the most up‐to‐date information about evolution and genomics, a safe space in which to reflect on the possible social and personal implications with their peers, and access to richer lesson plans for teaching evolution that include not only science but personal stories regarding how the lessons arose, and what problems and opportunities they created. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 791–809, 2004     

Multivariate Behavioral Genetic Analysis of Parenting in Early Childhood

Objective. Caregivers play an important role in child development; in addition to instilling their norms and values in their children through socialization, caregivers modify their parenting practices in response to children’s characteristics. Previous studies have documented child genetic effects on parenting behaviors, but multivariate behavioral genetic examinations of parenting are scarce. Design. The current study examined the multivariate structure of child genetic and environmental influences on parenting in a sample of 236 individual twins aged 0–5 years, providing a total of 542 observations. Results. “Shared environments” (between-family environmental differences that are shared by twins reared in the same home, including parental characteristics, family socioeconomic status, and neighborhood characteristics) account for the majority of variation in parenting practices, whereas child genetic effects are more modest and occur more on specific parenting practices. Conclusion. Caregivers generally engage in similar parenting across children reared together and, at the same time, adjust their broad parenting approach and particularly their specific practices in response to genetically driven child characteristics. Future research may benefit from using a multidimensional framework to examine the different components and age-related transformations in these parent-driven and child-driven processes.     

The Influence of Supervisory Racial Identity Interaction and Racial Matching on the Supervisory Working Alliance and Supervisee Multicultural Competence

Data from 105 counselor trainees indicated that supervisee–supervisor racial identity interactions were related to the supervisory alliance, and racial identity interactions and racial matching influenced supervisees' development of multicultural competence.     

Federal early childhood special education policy: a model for the improvement of services for children with disabilities.

Services in early childhood special education for children with disabilities, birth through 5 years, and their families have expanded and improved substantially in the past 25 years. The federal government, through legislation, regulation, and a variety of incentives, has played an integral role in this progress. The authors review the evolution of federal education policy in early childhood and the accomplishments achieved, including the development of the Handicapped Children's Early Education Program, the Early Childhood Research Institutes, and Public Law 99-457, the Handicapped Infant and Toddler Program (Part H). This history can serve as a model for federal involvement in the improvement of services for other groups of individuals with special needs.     

Spontaneous Collaborative Learning: A New Dimension in Student Learning Experience?

‐ Many studies have reported positive effects of cooperative learning methods on student achievement. In all such cases, cooperative learning experiences were initiated and structured by teachers, and designed according to special task and reward structures. The present study discusses a different kind of cooperative learning, Spontaneous Collaborative Learning (SCOLL), which is not structured by the teachers, but is student‐initiated. The characteristics of such a learning experience are described, and its effects on the learning strategies adopted by students, the quality of the students’ learning outcomes are examined. Quantitative and qualitative data from 39 Hong Kong tertiary (physiotherapy) students showed that SCOLL, as compared to individual preparation, promoted the engagement of a deep approach incorporating high level cognitive strategies, and in turn learning outcomes reflected in a higher structural complexity of assignments than those approaches and outcomes of students who worked individually.