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Eric.ed.gov – Research and Issues in Gifted and Talented Education: Implications for Teacher Education.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The papers presented in this monograph address a number of concerns in developing a pedagogical approach for gifted and talented children. In the first paper, it is noted that routine intelligence tests cannot be relied upon to identify the gifted, and that a more stringent case study approach should be adopted to take into account the particular gifts and talents that students may have. In the second paper, educators are encouraged to recognize the inherently complex problem of developing a curriculum adapted to the unique cognitive styles of gifted children. The third paper explores the problem of math avoidance on the part of gifted girls. Research on a counseling program to meet the particular needs of gifted children is described in the fourth paper. The fifth paper… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Alternate Explanations for Learning Disabled, Emotionally Disturbed, and Educable Mentally Retarded Students’ Math Achievement. Research Report No. 11. Instructional Alternatives Project.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The study investigated alternative explanations for differences in mathematics achievement between pairs of handicapped students exhibiting comparable amounts of academic engaged time. Forty-two students in grades 2-4 from urban and suburban districts participated; 14 students were classified as learning disabled, 14 as emotionally or behaviorally disturbed, and 14 as educable mentally retarded. Explanations investigated were student demographics, cognitive functioning, home and family factors, teacher stress, student cognitions (including cognitive style), student motivation, behavior, and conditions in the learning environment. Of all factors investigated, only cognitive ability served as a consistent explanation for differences in math achievement for students matched on academic engaged time. Creating composite variables (specifically attitude modeling by significant others, stress/chaos in the child’s environment, and home-school cooperation) was not helpful in explaining math achievement… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Mainstreaming Learning Disabled Students: The Impact on Regular Education Students and Teachers.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The study examined how adding students with learning disabilities (LD) to regular education classrooms changed the behavior of nonhandicapped students and their teachers. Initial observations were of mainstream classes containing no learning-disabled students. Observations were again conducted after LD students had been mainstreamed for 8 months. Eleven LD students were observed in five classrooms containing 89 nonhandicapped students in grades 1-5. Behaviors were coded in five areas: type of materials, grouping arrangement, person monitoring the activity, student response, and teacher response. Analyses of the observation data revealed no significant changes in teachers’ behaviors after the implementation of the full-time mainstreaming program. Overall, nonhandicapped students spent the same amount of time reading in reading class and doing math in math class. Nonhandicapped students continued to be actively engaged… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – How the Racial and Socioeconomic Composition of Schools and Classrooms Contributes to Literacy, Behavioral Climate, Instructional Organization and High School Graduation Rates. Research Brief No. 2. Updated

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This is the second in a series of briefs summarizing findings from the newest and most rigorous research related to racial and socioeconomic diversity in public schools. The studies on which this brief is based were published recently in three special issues of the peer-reviewed journal, “Teachers College Record,” edited by Professors Roslyn Arlin Mickelson of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Kathryn Borman of the University of South Florida. This brief considers the relationship between the racial and socioeconomic composition of a school and/or classroom and a variety of important educational measures. This research augments an already extensive body of work in this area, which has reached similar conclusions. However, the work published this year in “Teachers College Record” is particularly rigorous. It draws… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Investigations of Stability in Junior High School Math and English Classes: The Texas Junior High School Study. Research and Development Report No. 77-3.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The stability of classroom behavior is examined from several perspectives: (1) the relative consistency of teacher behavior in two different sections of the same course taught concurrently; (2) the relative consistency of student behavior in math and English classes attended concurrently; and (3) differences in student and teacher behavior in math vs. English classes (to determine the effects of subject matter on teacher and student behavior). In general, stability coefficients obtained here were much higher than those expected on the basis of earlier research on stability in courses taught successively rather than concurrently. Even so, high inference ratings were more stable than low inference counts of discrete behaviors, and many behaviors did not occur often enough to allow stable measurement, despite intensive observation. The data are discussed… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Effects of All-Day, and Half-Day Kindergarten Programming on Reading, Writing, Math, and Classroom Social Behaviors.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This study compared the relative effects of three kindergarten schedules on children’s achievement in reading, writing, and mathematics, and on children’s prosocial classroom behaviors. Participating were 47 children attending all-day kindergarten, 56 attending alternate-day kindergarten, and 44 attending half-day kindergarten. Individual achievement tests were administered in a pretest-posttest procedure. Analysis of covariance showed that the all-day kindergarten group scored significantly higher in reading, with no significant differences in mathematics or writing. Multivariate analysis of covariance for the 14 subscales of classroom social behaviors on the Hahnemann Elementary Behavior Rating Scale showed significant differences between groups, with the half-day children exhibiting higher scores on classroom behaviors that facilitate learning and lower scores on negative behaviors. Possible reasons for these differences and implications of developmentally appropriate practices, teachers’ theoretical… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – The Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs: Final Report. NCEE 2009-4077

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The primary purpose of this study is to determine whether providing structured academic instruction in reading or math to students in grades two to five during their afterschool hours–instead of the less formal academic supports offered in regular after-school programs– improves their academic performance in the subject. This is the second and final report from the Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs–a two-year demonstration and random assignment evaluation of structured approaches to teaching math and reading in after-school settings. This report includes two parallel impact studies, a math program study (“Mathletics” developed by Harcourt School Publishers) and a reading program study (“Adventure Island” developed by the Success for All Foundation) in which students attending an afterschool program are assigned by lottery to either receive the… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – The Mechanisms behind the Results: Moderators of “Building Blocks” Curricular Effects

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In intervention research, it is critical to determine not just if an intervention is effective, but for whom it is effective and “under what circumstances” those effects occur. Moderators can be the key to answering those questions. A moderator is a variable that affects either the direction or the strength of the relationship between the predictor (curriculum condition, in this case) and the dependent variable (here, child outcomes) (Baron & Kenny, 1986). Identifying those variables that help specify the conditions under which interventions are most effective is central to social science research (Cohen et al. 2003). Moderators of curricular effects may be particularly important to scale-up studies. There may be no more challenging educational and theoretical issue than scaling up educational programs across a large number of… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – 12th Annual Comparative Analysis of the Racine Unified School District: Demographics, Attendance, Finances, Student Engagement, and Achievement

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This is the 12th annual report on conditions affecting the Racine Unified School District (RUSD). This year, the analysis again focuses on the long-term historical trends in RUSD. The analysis compares RUSD data to data of nine peer school districts as well as statewide data. The peer districts are defined as those Wisconsin districts with enrollments most similar to the enrollment in Racine. In addition to enrollment trends, the findings pertain to three RUSD quality objective measures: operational efficiency, student engagement, and student achievement. Operational efficiency includes finance data, student engagement includes attendance and disciplinary data, while student achievement includes test scores and graduation rates. Major findings include: (1) RUSD enrollment declined for the second year in a row; (2) RUSD jumped up in the peer rankings,… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – The Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs: Findings After the First Year of Implementation. NCEE 2008-4021

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This report presents findings, after one year of program implementation, from the Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs–a two-year intervention and random assignment evaluation of adapted models of regular-school-day math and reading instruction in after-school settings for students in grades 2 through 5. This evaluation seeks to determine whether the enhanced after-school instruction improves math or reading proficiency over what students would achieve in regular after-school programs, as measured by test scores. The evaluation also examines the impacts of the enhanced after-school instruction for subgroups of students based on their prior academic performance and grade level. The evaluation seeks to ascertain whether the enhanced after-school instruction affects other in-school academic behavior outcomes, as measured by reports from regular-school-day teachers of student engagement, behavior, and homework… Continue Reading