Learning to Value Mathematics and Reading: Relations to Mastery and Performance-Oriented Instructional Practices

Changes in students' achievement values in mathematics and reading were examined in a sample of children and early adolescents. Hierarchical linear modeling techniques were used to account for both classroom- and student-level effects. At the student level, positive changes in students' achievement values were associated positively with self-concept of ability and the previous year's achievement values in both reading and math. Measures of teachers' mastery- and performance-oriented instructional practices were included in the full HLM model. Students experienced decrements in achievement values, after controlling for other student and classroom-level variables, in classrooms where performance-oriented instructional practices were used. In the full model, self-concept of ability was related positively to increases in achievement values, whereas gender was unrelated to changes in achievement values. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

A Second Chance in Second Grade: The Independent and Cumulative Impact of First- and Second-Grade Reading Instruction and Students' Letter-Word Reading Skill Growth

This study examines the relation of language arts instruction to students' letter-word reading skill growth from the beginning of 1st grade to the end of 2nd grade using cross-classified random effects models. Amounts of teacher-managed, code-focused instruction in 1st and 2nd grade each uniquely predicted students' letter-word reading skill growth; plus, there were child-by-instruction interactions. Students with weaker fall 1st grade letter-word reading scores demonstrated stronger letter-word reading at the end of 2nd grade when they spent more time in 1st-and 2nd-grade teacher-managed, code-focused instruction. Students with stronger initial reading skills demonstrated higher 2nd-grade reading scores when they spent less time in 1st grade but more time in 2nd-grade teacher-managed, code-focused instruction. Students who participated in optimally effective 1st-grade and 2nd-grade classroom instruction demonstrated greater letter-word reading growth from the beginning of 1st grade to the end of 2nd grade than did students who participated in less effective instruction in either 1st or 2nd grade, or both. Still, for children who entered 1st grade with weaker reading skills, results indicate that effective 2nd-grade instruction might offer a 2nd chance to achieve grade appropriate reading skills.     

Teachers' views of their pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties

This paper explores the perceptions of a small group of teachers of pupils with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) in north‐eastern England. The focus of the paper is their views of their pupils who have PMLD. A total of 14 teachers were interviewed, both individually and in small groups over a four‐year period. This paper stems from the individual interviews, which were validated at the group interview stage. Through the interviews we hear how neurological, developmental and co‐existence issues help shape teachers’ views of their pupils. Thirty years ago this group of pupils received their education from the Department of Health; today they are in schools and we hear the teachers in this project reflect on their students’ learning needs in positive and professional ways. What emerges through this research is the need for teacher educators to support professional development experiences that enable teachers to integrate the distinct perspectives of parents and the more contemporary theories of disability into their understandings of this group of learners. In this way, teachers of pupils with PMLD would build upon their professional knowledge base to include wider parental and societal perspectives.     

Film Reference

Phyllis Rauch Klotman, Frame by Frame -- A Black Filmography (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979 -- $25.00)

G.K. Hall reference film series (both Boston, 1979)

Patricia Peyton'(ed.), Reel Change: A Guide to Social Issue Films ( San Francisco: The Film Fund -- $6.95 paperback plus $1.25 for postage and handling -- write c/o P.O. Box 909, San Francisco, California 94101)

James L. Limbacher, Haven't I Seen You somewhere Before? Remakes, Sequels, and Series in Motion Pictures and Television, 1896 - 1978 ($24.50)

Michael J. Murphy, The Celluloid Vampires: A History and Filmography, 1897 - 1979 ($14.95)

Robert Osborne, 50 Golden Years of Oscar (La Habra, California 90631: ESE California Publishers, 509 N. Harbor Blvd., 1979 -- no price given)

Film Periodicals