Relative effectiveness of reading practice or word-level instruction in supplemental tutoring: how text matters

In this quasi-experimental study, which is part of a series of investigations on supplemental reading tutoring variations, the relative effectiveness of more intense decoding instruction or text reading practice was examined. Fifty-seven first-grade students scoring in the lowest quartile for reading skills received either classroom reading instruction or one of two treatments: tutoring in word study with text reading practice, or word study tutoring alone. Individual instruction was provided by trained paraprofessional tutors. At the end of first grade, treatment students significantly outperformed their nontutored peers on measures of reading accuracy, reading comprehension, reading efficiency, passage reading fluency, and spelling. Differential treatment effects on passage reading fluency are examined, taking into consideration pretest skill levels and text reading practice characteristics.     

Comparing State and District Test Results to National Norms: The Validity of Claims That "Everyone Is Above Average"

Are all states and nearly all districts claiming that their students are above the national average? If so, are the test results “inflated and misleading?” What are the factors that contribute to the abundance of “above average” scores?     

An Australian study of possible selves perceived by undergraduate engineering students

In this study, we worked with second-year engineering students at an Australian university to examine previously identified threshold concepts within the theoretical framework of Possible Selves. Using workshops as the context for intensive work with students, students were encouraged to consider their future lives and work, including their engineering fears, expectations, and aspirations. The findings revealed many students to have a poor understanding of the realities of engineering work. Moreover, perceived gaps between self-efficacy and the requirements of engineering work appeared to be motivating if students deemed it possible to reduce the gap, but demotivating if they identified a characteristic over which there was perceived to be no control. The study suggests that these engineering students needed more opportunities to explore both the roles of engineers and their own possible selves. Overall, the findings indicate that higher education students may need encouragement and support to explore potential future roles, and they strengthen calls for further research in this area.     

Positive Youth Development Among Diverse Racial–Ethnic Children: Quality Afterschool Contexts as Developmental Assets

Positive youth development (PYD) deserves more empirical attention, particularly among children of diverse racial–ethnic backgrounds. Given the need among families for monitoring and supervision during out‐of‐school time, community‐based afterschool is a potentially promotive ecological setting. This study explores the quality of afterschool experiences upon PYD. This multimethod study includes over 500 elementary school children in Grades 2–5 (M_age = 8.80, SD = 1.12). The sample comprises of 49% White, 27% African American, 7% Latino, and 17% mixed race/others with 45% free/reduced lunch eligible children. In multilevel models, independently observed quality across time positively impacted competence, connection, caring for all youth, and cultural values for racial–ethnic minority youth. Afterschool fosters PYD, including sociocultural dimensions, when comprised of appropriately structured, supportive, and engaging interactions.     

The ontogeny of the feature-positive effect in young chicks

The wide generality of the feature-positive effect (FPE) has caused speculation that the FPE may represent innate biases in the stimulus control of discriminative responding. There is little experimental evidence to date ragarding this possibility. In the present study, 1- or 4-day-old chicks were trained on a feature-positive (FP) or feature-negative (FN) discrimination with heat reinforcement. After the acquisition phase, these subjects received extinction training followed by a reacquisition phase. The FP performance was superior to the FN performance in both age groups. Extinction resulted in improved discrimination performance in both the FP and FN conditions. Unmasking of FN learning by the extinction treatment suggests that the FPE represents a deficit in performance, rather than an inability to learn the FN task. These data demonstrate that adult-like performance on feature discriminations is evident as early as the first day post-hatch.     

Instructional principles for self-regulation

The purpose of this article is to suggest principles for embedding support in instruction to facilitate self-regulation (SR) in less expert learners. The principles are based on an analysis of the growing body of research on the distinctive self-regulation differences between higher and lower achieving learners. The analysis revealed four instructional principles that designers should consider to provide support for self-regulation. Each principle is supported by research and instructional examples are included.     

Investigating digital video applications in distance learning

The paper gives a brief overview of the use of digital video in distance education, the background to The Open University's Digital Video Applications (DiVA) Project, the contexts in which the Digital Video Library system is being used and some evaluation findings. Through DiVA, the university is investigating how it can use its video assets effectively, to support reuse of existing materials in course production. The project team is also evaluating student use of the system. The paper reports on an observation study which revealed several usability issues and stakeholders' opinions about potential uses of the DiVA system. This is followed by findings from an evaluation of student use of the system at a residential school and its use as part of an online learning activity undertaken by students accessing the system remotely. Evaluation findings to date indicate some quality and workload issues but they also show opportunities that come to light when using the DiVA system.     

Internalizing symptoms and affect of children with emotional and behavioral disorders: A comparative study with an urban African American sample

Self‐reported internalizing symptoms of seriously emotionally disturbed (SED) and regular education students in grades 4–6 were compared using the Internalizing Symptoms Scale for Children. All participants were African American and from an urban public school district in the Southeastern United States. Each of the two study groups consisted of 50 participants (35 boys, 15 girls) who were matched by gender and socioeconomic status. The SED group reported significantly higher levels of internalizing distress than the regular education group. In contrast to previous findings, there was no significant gender difference in self‐reported internalizing symptomatology in the present study. A discriminant function analysis found that the ISSC scores were able to correctly classify 91% of the participants into their respective educational group. Results of this study provide additional evidence of the construct validity of the ISSC, a recently developed and unique self‐report measure. Results are discussed in terms of future research needs and educational/clinical practice with students who have emotional and behavioral disorders. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.