Assessment and intervention practices with second‐language learners among school psychologists

This paper describes assessment and intervention practices with second‐language learners among practicing school psychologists in one southwestern state. A 10‐item survey was used to gain information about the assessment instruments and procedures and intervention practices used with linguistically different children by school psychologists. Surveys were mailed to all members of the state professional organization. Thirty‐three percent of the surveys were returned and considered usable for analyses. An analysis of the returned surveys revealed that a number of school psychologists are using alternative assessment techniques, such as curriculum‐based measurement, dynamic assessment, and portfolio assessment with this population. The majority, however, continue to use traditional cognitive tests, such as the Weschler Scales, and traditional interventions, such as resource room service delivery. Results of the survey are discussed in terms of best practices with linguistically different children. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Teaching experiments and professional development

The challenge that we address concerns teachers’ shifts toward student-centered instruction. We report on a yearlong professional development study in which two United States elementary school teachers engaged in a teaching experiment, as described by Steffe and Thompson (in: Lesh and Kelly (eds) Research on design in mathematics and science education, 2000). The teaching experiment involved close mathematical interactions with a pair of students after school, in the context of solving fractions tasks. By conducting a teaching experiment, we anticipated that each teacher would have more opportunity to develop insight into students’ mathematics. We also anticipated that these insights would influence the teachers’ classroom practice, even without explicit support for such a shift. Indeed, the teachers found that they began asking more probing questions of their students and spending more time listening to students’ explanations, but shifts to classroom practice were limited by constraining factors such an inflexible curriculum.     

Combined Use of Online Tutorials and Hands-On Group Exercises in Bibliographic Instruction for Pharmacy Students

This study describes the new blended learning methodology implemented in a Drug Literature Evaluation course for pharmacy students that involves combined use of online tutorials and in-class group exercises. Assignment grades earned by 909 students enrolled in the course before and after the new methods were implemented (2008–2010) were studied to measure student performance. Course evaluations were analyzed in order to ascertain students’ perceptions. The hybrid approach used to deliver the course content allowed students to perform at the same level as traditional didactic teaching. Students’ evaluations reported a positive educational experience and favorable perceptions of the new course design.     

Gender differences in the risk for delinquency among youth exposed to family violence

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to illuminate gender differences in adolescent delinquency against a backdrop of childhood exposure to both marital violence and physical child abuse. Specifically, analyses were performed to trace the unique effects of exposure to either form of family violence (marital or child) on the violent and nonviolent delinquency of boys and girls. METHOD: This is a prospective study of 299 children who were interviewed with their mothers in 1991 about forms of abuse in the family. Approximately 5 years later a search of juvenile court records was performed for these same children. Details on the nature of the crimes were collected. Outcome variables included: (1) whether there was ever an arrest; and (2) whether there was ever an arrest for a violent crime. RESULTS: Preliminary analyses indicated no gender differences in overall referral rates to juvenile court, although boys were more likely than girls to be referred for property, felony, and violent offenses. Exposure to marital violence in childhood predicted referral to juvenile court. Girls with a history of physical child abuse were arrested for violent offenses more than boys with similar histories, but the context of violent offenses differed dramatically by gender: Nearly all referrals for a violent offense for girls were for domestic violence. CONCLUSIONS: Although boys and girls share similar family risk factors for delinquency, girls are more likely than boys to be arrested for violent offenses in the aftermath of child physical abuse. These findings suggest that it takes more severe abuse to prompt violence in girls than is necessary to explain boys' violent offending.     

The Relationship Between Children's Drawings of Rectangular Solids from Memory and Performance in Cognitive Tests,Art and Practical Subjects

A total of 127 11 + and 81 12 + subjects drew rectangular solids from memory, after viewing them from different positions. The results were correlated with IQ, vocabulary, verbal judgement and reasoning, and a spatial test with assessment in art and crafts. Unexpectedly high and significant correlations were yielded between drawing solids and cognitive tests involving verbal ability, when compared with correlations between solids, the spatial test and craft subjects, especially for the 12 + group. This appeared contrary to received views on the association of aptitude in drawing with spatial ability. Furthermore, as spatial factors are considered to underpin drawing and craft subjects, a closer association between these, rather than between drawing and verbal ability, was expected. This outcome raised certain theoretical questions concerning drawing and its interaction with perception, language, memory and intellectual development.     

The promise of ritual: a lens for understanding persistent practices in mathematics classrooms

In this article, I propose ritual as an analytic lens for understanding the persistence of practices in contemporary mathematics classrooms. By foregrounding the cultural nature of the teaching and learning of mathematics in schools, ritual analysis can provide insight about the causes and effects of practices that persist through rounds of “reform.” I begin by considering the legacy of the notion of culture in mathematics education research. I then provide examples of ritual analysis in education research and in mathematics education research. I draw on the scholarship of Quantz (2011) as I articulate a working definition of ritual for use in mathematics education research, considering how this definition may help raise and answer distinct questions apart from more familiar constructs. I list some well-known problems and dilemmas in mathematics education that may be promising domains for a ritual analysis, and I conclude by positioning ritual alongside other constructs and methods that are in use in mathematics education research today.     

Exploring perceived support of postgraduate medical science research students

There is still much to learn about the support required by postgraduate research students, across academic disciplines, to facilitate successful completion of a research degree. The primary aim of this study was to explore postgraduate medical science research students’ perceptions of academic and mentoring support at different stages during their degree programme. A second aim was to explore the feasibility and acceptability of peer mentoring as a strategy to enhance student support in this population. A mixed method study design was used. Students first completed an online questionnaire, which was then supplemented with focus group discussion to explore emergent findings in greater depth. The main results indicated that the nature and quality of academic supervision support have a significant influence on research student training and development. ‘Functional’ and ‘relationship development’ concepts of supervisory styles were highlighted as important aspects to perceived support in this research population. The main facilitators to enhance academic support were effective communication, project planning and timely feedback. There was a high degree of acceptability for a peer mentoring programme as a complementary approach to enhance student support. Peer mentoring psychosocial functions such as friendship, counselling and career guidance were considered potentially beneficial to enhancing student support. Students also discussed peer coaching as central to their learning and research skill development. This work is a useful starting point to explore perceptions of research student support in the target population. Further work is required to develop strategies to enhance student support in academic practice.     

What a Difference a Label Makes: Positioning and Response in an Afterschool Tutoring Program

In this qualitative case study, we used the framework of positioning to show how college-age tutors and their middle school tutees interact in an afterschool tutoring setting with regard to ability. The authors show how educational tracking and understandings of disability permeated tutoring spaces and influence tutors’ instructional decisions. Even though the tutors’ participation in this program was framed as an act of social justice, the tutors do not feel empowered to use a critical lens when discussing tracking and/or disability because, as the authors posit, the framing of the college students as role models and these middle school students as “needy” prohibits conversations that do not have easy answers.