Education policy and the ‘ideal learner’: producing recognisable learner-subjects through early years assessment

This article examines how education policy, in the form of a statutory assessment system used in the first year of primary schools, defines the ‘ideal learner’. This ideal model is important because it prescribes the characteristics and skills a child needs to display in order to be recognisable as a learner. An analysis of the content of the assessment itself is used alongside ethnographic data from classrooms where the assessment is conducted, to demonstrate how the values inherent in the assessment and its associated practices reflect neoliberal discourses. Rational choice, self-promotion and individual responsibility for learning are all valued within this framework, and children’s transitions into recognisable student-subjects are dependent on their adoption of these values. It is argued in conclusion that this restrictive notion of what a ‘good learner’ looks like can work to systematically exclude some children from positions of success.     

Engaging Middle-Grade Students to Learn in a Caring Community

Middle-level students have unique emotional and academic needs. As a result, it is important for middle-level educators to realize these needs when creating a caring and engaging classroom climate that results in successful student achievement. This article describes the Caring Community Teaching Model (CCTM), which is a synthesis of affective teaching as well as learning practices tailored to meet the unique needs of middle-grade students. The CCTM is designed as a program with a two-function approach to enhance student engagement: (1) caring relationships and (2) instructional strategies. The authors describe the theoretical framework that underpins the CCTM as well as the emerging literature that creates its needs. Additionally, the CCTM is highlighted through the lens of a case example in which the authors provide concrete examples of CCTM being used in a middle-level classroom.     

Rainbows,Faeries, and Sandcastles: A Differentiated Approach to Literature for the Gifted and Talented from Montgomery County,Maryland

Research suggests that the world is no longer predictable and linear but rather is increasingly characterized by unrelenting volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. The convergence of these disruptive currents threatens the sustainability of contemporary classroom teaching and learning strategies. When an envisioned future and the present are in conflict, fundamental change must necessarily occur to create a new story. The dance of change in classrooms of the future will redefine the traditional role of “teacher as leader” to that of “teacher as enabler.” In tomorrow’s classrooms, the nature of students’ daily work will focus increasingly on skills and tasks that advancing technology cannot do well: higher-order critical thinking, problem solving in novel situations, creative and innovative thinking, and instructional activities that require high emotional engagement with others.     

Early intervention: parental involvement,child agency and participation in creative play

Early intervention activities for very young disabled children are frequently linked to developmental targets and goals. A key challenge for parents and practitioners involved in early intervention programmes is to encourage their child to play and develop creatively through enjoyable, everyday childhood experiences. This paper reports on a small-scale ethnographic study involving two young children identified with Down syndrome participating in early intervention programmes and whether and how their creative process was supported through their play and activities with parents and professionals. The ‘in-the-picture’ method used within this ethnographic study was developed from a listening to children paradigm. This article provides examples of the ways in which early intervention that recognises child agency can support children’s play and self-directing ‘little c’ of creativity.     

Effect of worked examples and Cognitive Tutor training on constructing equations

Algebra students studied either static-table, static-graphics, or interactive-graphics instructional worked examples that alternated with Algebra Cognitive Tutor practice problems. A control group did not study worked examples but solved both the instructional and practice problems on the Cognitive Tutor (CT). Students in the control group requested fewer hints and made fewer errors on the CT practice problems but required more learning time on the instructional examples. There was no difference among the four groups in constructing equations on a paper-and-pencil posttest or on a delayed test that included training and transfer problems. However, students who studied worked examples with a table were best at identifying the meaning of the equation components. The concept of transfer-appropriate processing (the overlap between instructional task and assessment task) aided our interpretation of the findings. Although the CT had a short-term effect on reducing errors and hint requests on CT practice problems, the worked examples were as effective on delayed paper-and-pencil tests. The subsequent construction of a new module for the Animation Tutor (Reed and Hoffman, Animation Tutor: Mixtures. Instructional software, 2011) used both the interactive-graphics and static-table worked examples to take advantage of the complementary strengths of different representations (Ainsworth, Learn Instr 16:183–198, 2006).