English language learners with reading-related LD: linking data from multiple sources to make eligibility determinations

Results are reported for an exploratory study of eligibility decisions made for 21 Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) with learning disabilities (LD) and no secondary disabilities who received special education support in reading. Eligibility determinations by an expert panel resulted in decisions that differed significantly from those of school multidisciplinary teams. The panel agreed that some students appeared to have reading-related LD (n = 5) but also identified students that they believed had disabilities, but not necessarily reading-related LD (n = 6). Another group of students (n = 10) had learning problems that the panel believed could be attributed to factors other than LD or for whom substantive additional data would be required to validate eligibility. Issues associated with referral, assessment, and eligibility determinations for ELLs are discussed, and recommendations for improving practice are offered, with an emphasis on the importance of linking data from multiple sources when deciding whether ELLs qualify for special education.     

Experiences of amateur athletes’ non-participating entourage at participatory sport events

ABSTRACT

The proliferation of participatory sport events is attracting scholarly attention, with extant research primarily focusing on profiling participants, and understanding participants’ experiences. The experiences and perspectives of those who travel to participatory sport events to support competing athletes, the ‘non-participating entourage’ (NPE), have largely been overlooked. This stakeholder group is arguably under-recognised by those staging participatory sport events. The purpose of this study was to explore NPE experiences at participatory sport events, adopting a phenomenological approach and employing stakeholder theory as an interpretive lens. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 NPE of amateur athletes in Australia. Findings highlighted that NPE provide emotional and logistical support to their athlete at events. However, while providing support, NPE also experienced positive and negative emotions arising from contextual factors including their relationship to the athlete, group composition, athlete performance, and event design and conditions. This research highlights a vexed, though crucial stakeholder relationship between NPE and event management organisations, requiring unique stakeholder management strategies.     

Perceived contingency of reinforcements,helplessness, locus of control,and academic performance

To determine the relationships among perceived contigency of teacher-administered reinforcements, locus of control, teacher ratings of children's helplessness-competence, and academic achievement, 86 sixth graders (43 girls and 43 boys) were studied. In general, children's internality of locus of control and their perceptions that teachers administer rewards contingently were predictive of good academic achievement and teacher ratings of the children as competent as opposed to helpless. Perceptions of the contingency of teacher-administered punishments were unrelated to academic achievement or teacher ratings. For boys, locus of control and perceived contingency of teacher-administered rewards were significantly related, while for girls they were unrelated. Results are related to prior research linking perceived contingency of reinforcements, locus of control, and academic achievement.     

Dimensionality of Modernity in Singapore Among Chinese Adolescents

The present study examined the relationships between aspects of individual modernity among Chinese adolescents in Singapore aged fifteen years (N = 250, M = 122, F = 128). The Aspects chosen are those seen by Inkeles (1969), changes that occur in a country's modernization as being required in order to cope with the various need for achievement, efficient time-management, future-planning and autonomous decision-making. While there is strong interdependence among achievement motivation, future-planning and time-management of both genders, autonomy emerges as a separate dimension.