bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Schooling Process in First Grade: Two Samples a Decade Apart
Authors: Entwisle Doris R , Alexander Karl L , Cadigan Doris , Pallas Aaron
Published: March 2008

This paper presents parallel estimates of structural equation models to explain children’s educational attainment over first grade. One set of estimates is based on a 3-school sample drawn in 1971–77. The other set of estimates is based on a 20-school sample drawn in 1982–83. The evidence suggests that, within reasonable limits, results are comparable. The models capture some of the social influences that shape children’s academic marks and, to a lesser degree, the influences that shape their conduct marks and self-expectations in both sets of data. The strategies of data collection and modeling used here, which were especially developed for use with young children, have thus stood up to two field trials and to the passage of time.
Family-School Articulations: The Effects of Interaction Rule Mismatch
Authors: Hansen Donald A.
Published: March 2008

This paper explores the schooling effects of discontinuities in the rules of interaction the child experiences in family and classroom. Two fundamental forms of rules are identified: exchange rules of interaction (which define allowed and expected behavior based on relative position, age, sex and/or status differences), and communal rules of interaction (which define desired and appropriate behavior based on interpersonal affinities and attitudes). Data gathered on 196 children in eight elementary school classrooms in suburban New Zealand suggest that families tend to cluster into three general types, similar to those identified by earlier researchers: Cohesive (strong in both types of rules), Coercive (strong in exchange but relatively weak in communal rules), and Laissez-faire (relatively weak in both). When classrooms are similarly classified, analyses of variance yield significant interactive effects between family and classroom interaction rules on children’s academic grades. These findings suggest (a) that the greater the discontinuity in interaction rules between home and school, the more the child’s academic grades decline, and (b) that children from any type of home can be relatively advantaged in some classrooms and relatively disadvantaged in others, Implications for further research and theory development are discussed.
Language Diversity and Classroom Discourse
Authors: Lucas Ceil , Borders Denise
Published: March 2008

A suit filed in 1977 on the behalf of preschool and elementary school children living in Ann Arbor, Michigan alleged that the children’s home and community language impeded their equal participation in instructional programs and that the school had not taken appropriate action to overcome the barrier. The focus of the case was on reading instruction, and the role of dialect in classroom discourse was not at issue. There are few studies, however, that present formal linguistic evidence for communication problems in everyday classroom interaction in classrooms where children are dialect speakers. This paper describes such a study. It is based on extensive videotaped, audiotaped, and observational data collected in a Washington, DC elementary school. A wide variety of events was observed and recorded in a kindergarten, fourth, and sixth grade classroom, including whole group lessons, small groups with and without the teacher (both of an academic and non-academic nature), and one-on-one interaction. This paper briefly examines the issues and problems encountered in coding language functions, and discusses the overall project findings and conclusions, with examples drawn from representative portions of the data base. It is suggested that the development of functional language skills and of situationally appropriate language use precluded the occurrence of interference in the classrooms observed.
Nonverbal and Verbal Behavior of Preschool, Remedial, and Elementary School Teachers
Authors: Babad Elisha , Bernieri Frank , Rosenthal Robert
Published: March 2008

This paper presents a relatively context-free method of assessing teacher behavior. The context is removed through the use of extremely brief (10-second) clips of videotaped teacher behavior, separated into isolated nonverbal and verbal channels. This method makes it possible to trace subtle within-teacher differences in isolated visual and verbal channels, such as the face, the body, speech content, and tone of voice, as well as to compare teachers who work in disparate educational contexts. To examine a commonly held belief about the relatively high quality of Israeli preschool teachers, samples of preschool, remedial, and elementary school teachers were videotaped, and brief clips were rated on 10 scales by 15 judges. Following a principal component analysis, the 10 rating scales were reduced to three interpretable factor-based scores. The groups of teachers did not differ in their “active teaching behavior”—a composite score consisting of task-orientation, clarity, dominance, and activity/energy/ enthusiasm. The groups differed in “nondogmatism” (ratings of teacher as democratic, flexible, and warm) and “negative affect” (ratings of teacher as hostile, condescending, and tense/nervous/anxious) manifested in their behavior. For these composite variables, a clear linear trend was observed, with preschool teachers showing least dogmatism and negative affect, elementary school teachers showing most dogmatism and negative affect, and remedial teachers falling between these two groups. Dogmatic behavior was detected in both the face and the verbal channels, whereas negative affect was detected only in the teachers’ faces.
An Intensive Group Counseling Dropout Prevention Intervention: Some Cautions on Isolating At-Risk Adolescents Within High Schools
Authors: Catterall James S.
Published: March 2008

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effects of an intensive group counseling workshop on low-achieving high school students. Participants and controls were drawn from a pool of youngsters who had failed two or more of their classes in the previous school term. Pre- and post-measures on school performance and participation variables were probed with analyses of covariance (ANCOVA). The treatment effects were generally negative but not significant. In addition to school performances, measures of attitudes and self-perceptions were obtained using the Wisconsin Youth Survey. These scales suggest plausible explanations for the lackluster outcomes of the intervention, chiefly the substantial bonding of group members to each other and their ensuing alienation from regular school activities.
Mnemonic Learning of Artists and Their Paintings
Authors: Carney Russell N. , Levin Joel R. , Morrison Charles R.
Published: March 2008

Three experiments were conducted in which the “face-name” mnemonic (e.g., McCarty, 1980 ) was adapted for use in learning 30 painting/artist associations, the kind of task one faces in an art appreciation class. While control groups used their “own best method” for learning who painted what paintings, subjects in mnemonic conditions were given keywords for the artists’ names and meaningful interactions between corresponding keywords and paintings. In one mnemonic condition, pen-and-ink sketches of the interactions were provided. A second mnemonic condition provided verbal decriptions of the interactions. Undergraduate subjects in mnemonic conditions were better able to match artists and their paintings. Further, subjects using the verbal version of the mnemonic strategy were somewhat superior in an artist-recall task. Similar patterns of results were found on immediate and 2-day delayed performance tasks. Implications of the results, and considerations of the weaker recall effects, are included in the discussion.
Silent Reading Reconsidered: Reinterpreting Reading Instruction and Its Effects
Authors: Wilkinson Ian , Wardrop James L. , Anderson Richard C.
Published: March 2008

Results of Leinhardt, Zigmond, and Cooley (1981) have been interpreted as support for increased silent reading in classroom reading instruction. Leinhardt et al. examined a causal model of classroom processes influencing reading achievement and showed that time spent in silent, rather than oral, reading was positively related to gains in reading achievement. The present study reanalyzed the Leinhardt et al. data using linear structural equation modeling. We show that students’ entry-level reading abilities had a significant direct effect on time spent in silent reading but no such effect on time spent on oral or “indirect” reading. When entry-level abilities were more adequately controlled, silent reading no longer showed a significant effect on posttest reading performance. Under alternative models of the data, there is even the suggestion that time spent in oral reading had more effect on final reading achievement.
A Test of One Learner-Control Strategy With Students of Differing Levels of Task Persistence
Authors: Carrier Carol A. , Williams Michael D.
Published: March 2008

One hundred fourteen sixth graders participated in a study designed to test the effects of a learner-control strategy involving choice of elaborative material in a computer-based tutorial. An Options treatment in which children were allowed to choose a variety of types of elaborative material was contrasted with two program-control treatments, including one in which all the elaborative material from the Options treatment was mandatory (Full treatment) and the other in which students saw only a core presentation but no elaborative material (Lean treatment). A second variable in the study was level of task persistence. Four levels of task persistence were created based on initial task behavior. Students within each of these four task persistence groups were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups. A multivariate repeated measures analysis of covariance (using reading ability as the covariate) was conducted on immediate and retention posttests. Results showed that under both program-control treatments, persistence was curvilinearly related to performance; that is, extremely high and low persistence groups performed more poorly than did medium persistence groups. Under the learner-control treatment, however, the highest task persistence groups performed best. Additionally, when amount of material seen was controlled for, the learner-control treatment group outperformed the program-control groups.
Kindergarten Readiness and Retention: A Qualitative Study of Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices
Authors: Smith Mary Lee , Shepard Lorrie A.
Published: March 2008

The issues concerning teachers’ beliefs about and use of retention were explored in a qualitative study. Clinical interviews with teachers, participant observation in kindergarten classes, analysis of documents, and interviews with parents revealed that teachers’ beliefs about the development of school readiness could be described and ordered along a dimension of nativism, that these beliefs relate to their use of retention as a solution to unreadiness or incompetence, and that elements of the organization of the schools in which they teach may also account for beliefs and practices. Teachers’ endorsement of retention diverges both from extant propositional knowledge and from the perceptions of other interested groups.
Gaining Ground: Values and High School Success
Authors: Hanson Sandra L. , Ginsburg Alan L.
Published: March 2008

In this paper, we use the nationally representative “High School and Beyond” ( National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 1983 ) data to examine the relationship between a wide range of values that stress the notion of responsibility and high school students’ achievement test scores, grades, discipline problems, and dropout status. We also examine the extent to which students’ behaviors outside of school (e.g., watching television, doing homework, reading, and working for pay) mediate the relationship between values and high school outcomes. Two structural equation models—one using attainment levels as outcomes and one using change scores as outcomes—are analyzed. Results from both models show that when students, their parents, and their peers believe in values and accompanying behaviors that stress responsibility, students have a better chance of achieving success in high school. Values are found to have both direct effects on school outcomes and indirect effects through out-of-school behaviors. The effect of values as a whole is consistently larger than the effect of socioeconomic status (SES) when predicting both level of student performance and changes in student performance.
Comparison of Two Peer Interaction Programs: Children With and Without Severe Disabilities
Authors: Cole David A. , Vandercook Terri , Rynders John
Published: March 2008

Two types of school-based programs were implemented to facilitate the social integration of normal children and children with severe mental handicaps. The programs were a Special Friends program ( Voeltz et al., 1983 ) and a Peer Tutoring program ( Kohl, Moses, & Stettner-Eaton, 1984 ; Stainback, Stainback, & Hatcher, 1983 ). The dyadic social interactions that evolved during the course of these programs were compared in three contexts: (a) during the actual program, (b) during a free play session, and (c) during a tutorial session. Reciprocity and complementarity (i.e., the degree to which partners evidenced equal or disparate rates of certain behaviors) between members of each dyad were assessed. Results indicated that interactions occurring during Peer Tutor programs were highly unbalanced, whereas those occurring during Special Friends were balanced for some behaviors and unbalanced for others. Some of these differences were found to generalize to free play probe conditions. Social validation of these differences was obtained through questionnaires completed by teachers, observers, and the nonhandicapped children themselves. Implications for future integration and research are discussed.
Influencing Engagement Through Accommodation: An Ethnographic Study of At-Risk Students
Authors: Miller Sandra E. , Leinhardt Gaea , Zigmond Naomi
Published: March 2008

This study used ethnographic methodology to explore the academic world of regular and learning disabled high school students to determine what aspects of that world might relate to potential dropout behavior. It was conducted in a high school that was discovered to have a lower dropout rate than anticipated in view of national or local trends.

We describe the accommodating nature of this high school that may enhance the ability of students to become and remain academically engaged and hence accounts for the comparatively low dropout rate. This accommodation is described in terms of institutional, classroom, and interpersonal processes that reflect the school’s responsiveness to the needs of students as those needs are perceived by various institutional actors. The effect of these accommodation processes results in a modification of demands made of students and the provision of support for students to enhance their ability to meet those demands.
A New Design for Process-Product Research on the Quality of Discourse in Teaching
Authors: Needels Margaret C.
Published: March 2008

A within-class design was used to study process-product relationships between the quality of classroom discourse and student achievement. Six communicative logic variables based on Grice’s Cooperative Principle were identified. Ten sixth-grade teachers taught a 1-hour lesson on light. Students were classified by level of academic aptitude, and lesson content was classified by level of cognitive complexity. For each of the 10 classes, the teacher discourse that was related to specific items on the posttest was analyzed. Statistically significant results in terms of consistency across classrooms were obtained. These results consisted of negative relationships between violations of communicative logic and high-aptitude students’ percentage-correct responses on the test items. The value of this design for process-product research is discussed.
Enhancing Children’s Prosocial Behavior in the Classroom
Authors: Solomon Daniel , Watson Marilyn S. , Delucchi Kevin L. , Schaps Eric , Battistich Victor
Published: March 2008

A program designed to enhance children’s prosocial development was conducted in three suburban elementary schools for 5 consecutive years, focusing primarily on a single cohort of children as it moved from kindergarten through fourth grade. Repeated observations were conducted each year to assess program implementation and student interpersonal behavior in classrooms in the three “program” schools and in three “comparison” schools. Analyses of these observational data revealed significantly higher scores in the program than the comparison classrooms on each of five indices of program-relevant activities and practices: Cooperative Activities, Developmental Discipline, Activities Promoting Social Understanding, Highlighting Prosocial Values, and Helping Activities. Further analyses indicated that students in program classrooms scored significantly higher on two indices of interpersonal behavior: Supportive and Friendly Behavior and Spontaneous Prosocial Behavior. Corroborative data from a second, 2-year cohort in the same schools is also presented. Implications of these findings for educational practices that emphasize supportive teacher-student relationships and the provision of opportunities for student decision-making, autonomy, and collaborative interaction are discussed.
Teachers’ and School Children’s Stereotypic Perception of “The Child of Divorce”
Authors: Guttmann Joseph , Geva Nehemia , Gefen Shelly
Published: March 2008

The main purpose of the present study was to investigate how teachers’ and schoolmates’ judgments of a child’s academic, emotional, and social functioning are influenced by the knowledge that his or her parents are divorced. One hundred four teachers and 120 seventh- and eighth-grade students were shown the same film of a child engaging in a variety of activities. The target child was introduced as either a boy or a girl and as living either with both parents or with a divorced mother. The results showed a more negative evaluation of the child of divorced parents by both teachers and students on all three judgment dimensions. The results also showed meaningful patterns of selective and inferential memory of the facts, which varied according to the subject’s beliefs as to the marital status of the target child’s parents.
Teacher/Mothers: Effects of a Dual Role
Authors: Claesson Margareta A. , Brice Richard A.
Published: March 2008

A series of in-depth interviews was used to document how 18 kindergarten through 3rd grade teachers who were also mothers of young children (teacher/mothers) perceived the effects of their dual role During Phase I, informants described aspects of the teacher/mother role. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the data and identify recurring themes. In Phase II, a structured 4-part interview schedule was used to investigate in more detail how expectations, the most prevalent theme, affected the participants. Responses to limited-choice questions in Phase II were assigned a rank order on the basis of averages of ratings for individual items. Three major conclusions were reached. First, the informants believed that the roles complemented each other and that the role interactions were mainly beneficial Five specific advantages of the dual role were identified. Second, expectations involving both roles were seen as ambiguous, and in certain circumstances, unrealistically high. Ten specific problem areas were listed in order of importance to the informants. Third, the teacher/mothers believed that they had gained insights and learned strategies for coping with and benefiting from their dual role. Six specific strategies were described. The results were discussed in terms of their support for previous studies, as an impetus for further research and their practical application in the professional development of teachers.
Protocol Analysis of the Social Problem Solving of Teachers
Authors: Cummings Anne L. , Murray Harry G. , Martin Jack
Published: March 2008

This study investigated social problem solving and cognitive style (field independence-dependence) in a sample of 70 teachers taking a summer course in counseling. To examine social problem solving, protocol analysis was utilized to determine how adults solved ill-defined interpersonal, intrapersonal, complex, and simple problems. Problem situations were scored for eight problem-solving elements (e.g., strategy, evaluation), three problem-solving processes (sequential, wholistic, simultaneous), and three problem-solving styles (analytical, affective, behavioral). Results indicated that participants used more analysis and evaluation of self on intrapersonal problems, whereas on interpersonal problems they employed more evaluation of strategies. On simple problems, participants utilized more strategies, elaborations, and problem statements, whereas on complex problems they utilized more analysis, evaluations, and feeling statements. Educational implications of these results are explored.
Citizenship and Scholarship in Japanese and American Fifth Grades
Authors: Hamilton V. Lee , Blumenfeld Phyllis C. , Akoh Hiroshi , Miura Kanae
Published: March 2008

Japanese and American teachers’ attempts to socialize children and their students’ judgments of norms were examined across four domains of classroom life: academic performance, academic procedures, social procedures, and morality. The descriptive framework contrasted a morality of duty with a morality of aspiration. Duty refers to minimal standards that must be met or punishments will ensue; in teachers’ communication it is characterized by after-the-fact negative responses to misbehavior or poor performance. Aspiration refers to encouragement of top performance and is characterized by teachers’ emphasis on positive feedback, stress on persistence toward goals, and attributions to effort. Communication was coded for its reactivity, feedback quality, use of explanations and sanctions, and types of attributions in 10 Japanese and 9 American fifth grade classrooms. Children’s assessments of norms’ importance, their assignments of credit and blame to others, and their feelings about personal adherence to and violation of norms were also obtained. Compared to American teachers, Japanese teachers stressed academic procedures that promote good work habits, and their communication about explanations, attributions, and sanctions more closely resembled a morality of aspiration. Compared to American children, Japanese children stressed the importance of academic procedures; they also appeared more willing to apply standards of duty to their own behavior, feeling bad about violations of norms to a greater extent than they felt good about adherences. This paper concludes by discussing implications of these findings for the quality of citizenship and scholarship in Japanese and American schools.
Effects of Maximizing Time Spent and Minimizing Time Needed for Learning on Pupil Achievement
Authors: Gettinger Maribeth
Published: March 2008

Baseline estimates of time spent in learning and time needed for learning were obtained for 118 third-grade children on tasks that included short reading passages and 10-item criterion tests. Two groups of children were identified on the basis of baseline measures—children who spent less time than needed to learn the task (Group 1; n = 63) and children who spent as much time or more time than needed (Group 2; n = 55). For both groups, time spent and time needed were manipulated through the use of incentives. Maximizing time spent resulted in significantly higher 1-day retention scores for Group 1, but had no effect on retention for Group 2. Minimizing time needed yielded higher retention for both groups. Results are discussed in the context of recent research on instructional time and student achievement.
Nonpromotion in Kindergarten: The Role of Cognitive, Perceptual, Visual-Motor, Behavioral, Achievement, Socioeconomic, and Demographic Characteristics
Authors: Mantzicopoulos Panayota , Morrison Delmont C. , Hinshaw Stephen P. , Carte Estol T.
Published: March 2008

The role of cognitive, perceptual, visual-motor, behavioral, achievement, and demographic factors affecting nonpromotion at kindergarten was examined in a sample of 34 nonpromoted and 34 promoted kindergarten children of a suburban area in Northern California. The major findings of the study, part of a longitudinal follow-up study, indicated that retained students were more likely to be male, of younger age, and of lower socioeconomic status. In addition, retained students had lower IQ and preacademic achievement test scores and demonstrated increased problems in the areas of visual-motor integration, perceptual organization, and behavior. A discriminant analysis indicated that perceptual problems, inattention, age, preacademic reading achievement, and sex were factors that provided the maximum differentiation between retained and promoted students at the end of kindergarten. The findings are suggestive of interventions that may prove beneficial in preparing retained children for entry into first grade.
The Effect of Distant Audiences on Students’ Writing
Authors: Cohen Moshe , Riel Margaret
Published: March 2008

Audience considerations play an important role in the development of text by experienced writers but are often nonexistent in the writing of school-age children. The lack of audience awareness found in school writing may index the slow development of the social-cognitive skills necessary to conceptualize different audiences or it may result from the decontextual approach to writing that is prevalent in classrooms. This study examined the quality of students’ writing in two audience conditions: to their teacher for a term assessment and to a distant peer audience to share ideas. Seventh-grade students wrote two compositions on the same topic, one addressed to peers in other countries via a computer network and the other to their teacher for their semester grade, counterbalanced for order effects. In both conditions, there was significantly higher ratings of the papers written to communicate with peers than those written to demonstrate skill in writing. The findings suggest that the development of functional writing environments to contextualize students’ work can lead to improvements in the quality of students’ classroom writing.
The Impact of Teachers’ Personal Lives on Professional Role Enactment: A Qualitative Analysis
Authors: Pajak Edward , Blase Joseph J.
Published: March 2008

This article reports data that provide insight into teachers’ perspectives regarding the impact of personal-life factors on their work lives. Open-ended questionnaires were used to collect data from 200 teachers. The data were analyzed according to qualitative methods for grounded theory research. Thirteen categories reflecting positive and negative effects were identified in the data. These categories are discussed in terms of three general classifications: interpersonal personal, and socioeconomic. Finally, conclusions and implications are drawn regarding gender as well as personal and professional development issues.
Using Knowledge of Children’s Mathematics Thinking in Classroom Teaching: An Experimental Study
Authors: Carpenter Thomas P. , Fennema Elizabeth , Peterson Penelope L. , Chiang Chi-Pang , Loef Megan
Published: March 2008

This study investigated teachers’ use of knowledge from research on children’s mathematical thinking and how their students’ achievement is influenced as a result. Twenty first grade teachers, assigned randomly to an experimental treatment, participated in a month-long workshop in which they studied a research-based analysis of children’s development of problem-solving skills in addition and subtraction. Other first grade teachers (n = 20) were assigned randomly to a control group. Although instructional practices were not prescribed, experimental teachers taught problem solving significantly more and number facts significantly less than did control teachers. Experimental teachers encouraged students to use a variety of problem-solving strategies, and they listened to processes their students used significantly more than did control teachers. Experimental teachers knew more about individual students’ problem-solving processes, and they believed that instruction should build on students’ existing knowledge more than did control teachers. Students in experimental classes exceeded students in control classes in number fact knowledge, problem solving, reported understanding, and reported confidence in their problem-solving abilities.
Scientific Mnemonomies: Methods for Maximizing More Than Memory
Authors: Levin Mary E. , Levin Joel R
Published: March 2008

College undergraduates were asked to study a hierarchical plant classification system according to one of two provided organizational strategies: (a) afigural taxonomy, which consisted of labeled boxes and connecting lines to represent, respectively, the nodes and links of the hierarchy; (b) a pictorial mnemonomy, in which the unfamiliar plant terms were recoded into more familiar concepts, which were then thematically related to other terms on the same branch of the hierarchy. Mnemonomy students outperformed taxonomy students on (a) both immediate and 5-day delayed measures of classification system construction and use; and (b) a test that required solving analogies involving the plant terms, thereby adding to recent evidence that mnemonic strategies can facilitate performance on tasks that require some degree of higher-order thinking. The locus of mnemonic facilitation was found to reside in the more meaningful links afforded by the mnemonomy. Such performance data, along with favorable student self-reports, support the educational utility of scientific mnemonomies.
Testing a Model of Teacher Satisfaction for Blacks and Whites
Authors: Culver Steven M. , Wolfle Lee M. , Cross Lawrence H
Published: March 2008

The purpose of this study was to construct and test a model of the influences affecting early-career teachers’ job satisfaction. The path model is presented and tested first with a sample of black teachers and then with a sample of white teachers. Although the model provides a plausible explanation for the relationships among the variables for both groups, differences in the structural coefficients indicate the process leading to teacher job satisfaction is different for blacks and whites. The implications of this study suggest it may be critical to take into account factors such as race and sex in teacher induction and training.
Effects of the Clinical Environment on Physicians’ Response to Postgraduate Medical Education
Authors: Mazzuca Steven A. , Vinicor Frank , Einterz Robert M. , Tierney William M. , Norton James A. , Kalasinski Lorrie A.
Published: March 2008

This study examined the effects of a medical education program on diabetes mellitus as a function of the extent to which participants’ clinical environments were made to facilitate recommended practices. One hundred fourteen internal medicine faculty and residents (four clinics) were offered a 3.5-hour diabetes seminar. One clinic served as a seminar-only condition; three clinics received an accumulation of environmental interventions: patient-specific seminar reminders, clinical materials, and easy access to a diabetes patient educator. Relative to control, any degree of environmental support significantly increased prescriptions for home-monitored blood glucose testing. Also, the group of physicians receiving reminders and clinical materials exhibited significantly more frequent utilization of glycosylated hemoglobin as a laboratory measure of metabolic status compared to other groups. No significant differences were obtained for utilization of three other laboratory tests and therapeutic modalities. Developers of postgraduate professional education should consider whether their programs can be strengthened by anticipating how the practice environment facilitates and hinders new professional practices.
Generation of Summaries and Analogies and Analytic and Holistic Abilities
Authors: Wittrock M. C. , Alesandrini Kathryn
Published: March 2008

This study investigates predictions from Wittrock’s model of generative teaching regarding the effects of reader generation of summaries and analogies upon the learning of a block of 50 paragraphs of text. In this study, 59 students were individually assigned at random to three treatments that were predicted and found to rank in the following high to low order on the reading test: (a) Generate Summaries (M = 29.8), (b) Generate Analogies (M = 27.2), and (c) Read Text ( M = 22.4).

We also hypothesized and found that the generation of analogies or summaries during reading differentially stimulates learners’ analytic and holistic (i.e., imagery) abilities. In the Read Text treatment, only holistic ability correlated with learning the high imagery text. In the Generate Analogies treatment, only analytic ability correlated with learning the text. In the Generate Summaries treatment, both holistic and analytic ability correlated with learning.
Teacher Education and the Social Context of Schooling: Issues for Curriculum Development
Authors: Liston Daniel P , Zeichner Kenneth M
Published: March 2008

If one of the central aims of a teacher education program is to enable future teachers to give good reasons for their educational plans, and if these plans must take into account the social realities of schooling, then teacher educators must figure out coherent ways to encourage a reflective examination of these realities. In this paper the authors suggest a set of curricular concerns and issues that would encourage prospective teachers to think about the social, political, and institutional context of schooling.
Enhancing Peer Interaction and Learning in the Classroom Through Reciprocal Questioning
Authors: King Alison
Published: March 2008

A guided reciprocal peer-questioning procedure was used by college students for learning expository material presented in classroom lectures. Students worked individually, using investigator-provided generic questions to guide them in generating their own task-specific questions. Following this self-questioning phase, they worked in small cooperative groups, taking turns posing their questions to each other and answering each other’s questions. This procedure was designed to promote the kind of verbal interaction that has been found to benefit learning in small groups, namely, giving elaborated explanations. Results indicated that students using this guided reciprocal peer-questioning procedure asked more critical thinking (vs. recall) questions, gave more explanations (vs. low-level elaboration responses), and demonstrated higher achievement than students using a discussion approach (Experiment 1) or those using an unguided reciprocal peer-questioning approach (Experiment 2). Guided reciprocal peer-questioning appears to promote peer interaction and learning in cooperative groups by controlling the quality of questioning, which in turn shapes peer responses.
Student Views About Learning Math and Social Studies
Authors: Stodolsky Susan S. , Salk Scott , Glaessner Barbara
Published: March 2008

Math and social studies differ in the usual instructional pattern found in elementary classrooms, in the goals sought, and of course in the actual content. Based on documented differences in the two fields, we expected pupils to hold different ideas about how to learn each subject and to express different reasons for positive and negative experiences in each subject. Sixty fifth grade pupils from 11 classrooms were interviewed to explore their attitudes and conceptions about learning math and social studies. The interviews included pupils’ definitions of each school subject, descriptions of typical classroom activities, probes regarding how each subject was actually learned, and descriptions of times liked and disliked in each subject. Students’ conceptions and attitudes regarding math and social studies were different. Consistent with expectations, pupils characterized positive and negative experiences in math in regard to their success or ability to do the work while social studies experiences were evaluated more in terms of whether they were interesting or boring. Among other differences, more students thought they could learn social studies on their own than math.
Enhancing Writing-Related Metacognitions Through a Computerized Writing Partner
Authors: Zellermayer Michal , Salomon Gavriel , Globerson Tamar , Givon Hanna
Published: March 2008

The main purpose of this study was to test the general hypothesis that ongoing computerized procedural facilitation with strategies and writing-related metacognitions during writing improves learners’ writing while being helped, as well as leaves a cognitive residue in the form of subsequently improved writing, once that help is removed. Three groups of 20 ninth to eleventh graders participated in the study. One group wrote five essays while being guided by unsolicited continuous metacognitive-like guides presented by a specially designed computer tool (the Writing Partner); a second group received the same guidance but only upon the writer’s voluntary solicitation; and the third group received no guidance and wrote with only a word processor (control group). The study’s main hypothesis was confirmed with respect to the unsolicited-guidance group which wrote better training essays, showed evidence of having internalized the explicitly provided guidance, and demonstrated significant subsequent improvement in writing when no computerized tool was available anymore. The solicited-guidance group and the control group showed virtually no improvement, and unlike in the unsolicited-guidance group, initially poorer writers continued to lag behind initially better writers.
Early Schooling of Children at Risk
Authors: Reynolds Arthur J.
Published: March 2008

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a longitudinal early schooling process model of first- and second-year reading achievement, mathematics achievement, and socio-emotional maturity with 1539 low-income minority children. Data were collected from children and teachers over four time periods and included school readiness attributes, intervening kindergarten influences, and intervening first-year social-psychological influences. LISREL estimation of the model yielded an acceptable fit with the data. Major results indicated that cognitive readiness in kindergarten had pervasive indirect effects on first- and second-year outcomes, and that variables directly alterable by families and schools—prekindergarten experience, motivation, mobility, and parent involvement—significantly influenced either directly or indirectly early school outcomes. The influence of sex (in favor of girls), prior achievement, motivation, and school mobility increased over time. Despite some limitations, a major implication is that efforts to improve school success of children at risk are most likely to be successful if they are both timely and multifaceted and if mediating factors in kindergarten and first-grade are in place. Also, research on early schooling must take account of complex processes and effects and reconsider overlooked variables.
What Makes a Successful Black Student on a Predominantly White Campus?
Authors: Kraft Christine L.
Published: March 2008

Traditional ability measures have not been particularly good predictors of the performance or persistence of minority students who attend predominantly white colleges and universities. In order to understand why some minority students fare better than others, it is necessary to attempt to understand how students perceive their academic experience. Perception of academic experience can be assessed in terms of the biographical characteristics of students, students’ social knowledge, measures of campus climate, or in terms of students’ beliefs about academic performance. In this qualitative study, 43 black undergraduate students were asked to describe the bases of academic success and why some black students attending a predominantly white university are more successful than others. Their responses indicate the importance of including beliefs about how one is perceived by others (e.g., faculty and student peers) in taxonomies of achievement-related beliefs. The participants in this study assessed their performance not only in terms of their own personal characteristics but also in terms of the supportiveness of the faculty and students with whom they work.
Meanings of Test Preparation
Authors: Smith Mary Lee
Published: March 2008

From a qualitative study of the role of external testing in elementary schools, a typology of meanings of test preparation was constructed. Based on long-term, intensive observation and interaction with two elementary schools and the analysis of clinical interviews, we found eight types of orientation toward preparing pupils to take mandated, high-stakes achievement tests. These included (a) ordinary curriculum with no special preparation, (b) teaching test-taking skills, (c) exhortation, (d) teaching content known to be covered by the test, (e) teaching to the test in format and content, (f) stress inoculation, (g) practicing test or parallel test items, and (h) cheating. Meanings of teachers are contrasted with meanings of test preparation held by school administrators, testing experts, and school critics. The structure of meanings is analyzed with some concepts of micropolitics.
Students and Voluntarism: Looking Into the Motives of Community Service Participants
Authors: Serow Robert C.
Published: March 2008

Growing involvement by American students in voluntary community service projects has been greeted as a sign of renewed idealism and civic-mindedness among the young. Yet prior research suggests that the motivation may be more complex and variable. Based on combined survey and interview data, this study finds that participants’ identification with relatively altruistic motives appears to be grounded in a norm of personal assistance rather than in broader social or political commitments. For many, direct engagement in the problems of vulnerable individuals and groups provides concrete experience and connectedness with people that are not readily available in other dimensions of the student role. While such motivational patterns may suggest the need for increased reflection during the service experience, they coincide with the increasing emphasis now placed on personal caring and empathy in the process of moral development.
The Relationship Between Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices in Reading Comprehension Instruction
Authors: Richardson Virginia , Anders Patricia , Tidwell Deborah , Lloyd Carol
Published: March 2008

This article presents the findings of a study designed to determine the relationship between teachers’ beliefs about the teaching of reading comprehension and their classroom practices. The study, dealing with teachers from grades 4, 5, and 6, uses a beliefs interview technique borrowed from anthropology. Predictions about teaching practices were made from the belief interviews of 39 teachers and were related to practices observed in their classrooms. The study demonstrates that the beliefs of teachers in this sample relate to their classroom practices in the teaching of reading comprehension. A case study explores a situation in which the teacher’s beliefs did not relate to her practices. This case suggests that the teacher was in the process of changing beliefs and practices, but that the changes in beliefs were preceding changes in practices.
Interest and Learning From Text
Authors: Garner Ruth , Alexander Patricia A. , Gillingham Mark G. , Kulikowich Jonna M. , Brown Rachel
Published: March 2008

Dewey (1913) suggested some time ago that trying to find out what is of interest to students is an important part of schooling; on the other hand, “making things interesting” is artificial and often unsuccessful. Two studies investigating the placement of interesting detail in a text about a physicist and his scientific work are reported here. In both studies, undergraduate students were asked to read the science text under a variety of conditions and then to recall important information on a set of measures. Results indicated that attention of students was diverted from important generalizations in text to interesting, sometimes irrelevant, detail. Placement of the detail did not affect recall, but overall interestingness of the text did, particularly if students knew little about the topic of the text. Implications for instruction are discussed.
Equations in Scientific Proofs: Effects on Comprehension
Authors: Dee-Lucas Diana , Larkin Jill H.
Published: March 2008

Scientific laws are typically presented with corresponding proofs to justify their correctness and illustrate scientific reasoning. The form of these proofs is commonly a series of logically related equations. This research examined how this equation-based format influences proof comprehension. This was done by comparing learners’ ability to solve problems after studying typical equation-based proofs and matching proofs with equations replaced by verbal equivalents (a verbal format). Verbal proofs produced better performance than equation-based proofs on problems relating to both equations and nonequational proof content. These results suggest that equations in proofs cause learners to shift attention away from nonequational content and that learners have more difficulty processing equations than verbal statements containing the same content.
Effects of a Measurement and Planning System on Kindergartners’ Cognitive Development and Educational Programming
Authors: Bergan John R. , Sladeczek Ingrid E. , Schwarz Richard D. , Smith Allen N.
Published: March 2008

This study examined the effects of a measurement and planning system on kindergarten children‘s (N = 838) cognitive development, promotion, and referral to special education. Multivariate tests of significance indicated children in the experimental group, whose teachers implemented the system, achieved significantly higher posttest scores in math, reading, and science than the control group. Two structural-equation models were developed to examine the effects of implementation of the measurement and planning system on referral and placement in special education and on promotion to the first grade. The findings on promotion underscore the importance of early basic skill acquisition in math and reading and suggest that children who are high in basic skills are not likely to be referred or placed in special education.
Self-Monitoring in Teaching
Authors: Kilbourn Brent
Published: March 2008

Self-monitoring is a significant part of being a professional. Professional spirit is maintained to the extent that self-monitoring aims at an occupation ‘s central point. Relating stories of practice is one way of maintaining a collective consciousness within the group about what the point of the group’s activity is and forms a basis for self-monitoring.
Best Practices for Beginners: Developmental Appropriateness in Kindergarten
Authors: Bryant Donna M. , Clifford Richard M. , Peisner Ellen S.
Published: March 2008

National concerns about kindergarten focus on the developmental appropriateness of what is being taught and how it is being taught as well as on the increasing use of transition kindergarten classes and retention. One hundred and three randomly selected kindergarten classrooms across one state were observed to document the extent of developmental appropriate practices, and the teachers and principals of those classes were surveyed to determine predictors of classroom quality. Two observational measures and two questionnaires were used. Only 20% of the classes met or exceeded the criterion of developmental appropriateness. Quality of the classes was predicted by teachers’ and principals’ scores on a measure of knowledge and belief in developmental appropriate practices. Quality was not related to geographic location, school size, per pupil expenditure, or teacher or principal education or experience.