Showing papers in "Elementary School Journal in 1986"

Parents' Reactions to Teacher Practices of Parent Involvement

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number S O 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/86/8603-0002$01.00 Teachers have strong opinions about parent involvement. Some believe that they can be effective only if they obtain parental assistance on learning activities at home. Others believe that their professional status is in jeopardy if parents are involved in activities that are typically the teachers' responsibilities. The different philosophies and beliefs of teachers reflect the two main, opposing theories of school and family relations. One perspective emphasizes the inherent incompatibility, competition, and conflict between families and schools and supports the separation of the two institutions (Parsons, 1959; Waller, 1932; Weber, 1947). It assumes that school bureaucracies and family organizations are directed, respectively, by educators and parents, who can best fulfill their different goals, roles, and responsibilities independently. Thus, these distinct goals are achieved most efficiently and effectively when teachers maintain their professional, general standards and judgments about the children in their classrooms and when parents maintain their personal, particularistic standards and judgments about their children at home.

A Developmental Perspective of Formal Spelling Instruction Through Alphabet, Pattern, and Meaning

Abstract: Until recently, educators attributed spelling errors to such things as poor sound discrimination and inadequate visual and sequential memory. These interpretations are faulty, however, because they rest on two erroneous assumptions: (1) The spelling system of English is purely alphabetic and irregular, and (2) Pupils must learn most words by serial memory alone. Research of the past 20 years in linguistics and in cognitive and developmental psychology explains far more adequately how students learn to spell (Henderson & Beers, 1980; Read & Hodges, 1982; Schlagal, 1982). This work demonstrates that English spelling can be taught systematically and that its mastery is not a peripheral skill but is central to literacy. In this article we present information that supports this new perspective of spelling instruction. First, we examine the system of English spelling and note the different levels on which it represents information about the English language. Second, we present five stages of spelling knowledge through which achieving learners pass. For each stage, we outline the implications of developmental knowledge for direct instruction. We conclude with a

How Schools Organize the Teaching Occupation

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number 4

Program Implementation and Student Achievement in a Four-Year Madeline Hunter Follow-Through Project

Abstract: This paper describes findings from a Follow-Through Project in 2 Napa County, California, schools over a 4-year period. The study explored relationships between program implementation and student engaged rate and achievement in reading and mathematics from 1982 to 1985. Madeline Hunter's Instructional Theory into Practice model was the major training component for teachers in grades 1-4. The study consisted of 4 phases. This paper reports findings from the fourth and final (1984-1985) phase, which consisted of program maintenance by principals and teachers at the schools, with minimal assistance from project staff. Teacher implementation of the model was measured using the Instructional Skills Observation Instrument (ISOI). From 1982 through 1984, there were significant increases in teacher ISOI scores for both reading and mathematics. In 1985, 7 of 11 teachers' reading and mathematics ISOI scores decreased. Student engaged rates in reading and mathematics increased significantly from 1982 to 1984 but dro...

A Proposal for Evaluation in the Teaching Profession

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number 4 O 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/86/8604-0010$01.00 Personnel evaluation in an organization reveals what is valued in the organization, how roles are construed, and which goals have de facto priority in the management of organizational affairs. The importance attached to this function says much about the organization's relationship to its clients, as well as the relationships among organizational members. The same can be said

Effective Curriculum Implementation: Some Promising New Insights.

Abstract: nearly a whole school year!" As change researchers, we hear this lament repeatedly from school practitioners-principals, curriculum coordinators, superintendents, and staff developers. It is clear to us and to others that implementation does not equal delivery of an innovation (new curriculum, programs, processes, etc.), as has been widely assumed in the past (Fullan & Pomfret, 1977). In fact, as simple and straightforward as the process of implementing a new curriculum might seem, when it comes to actual practice, recent research shows that at least

The home environment and fifth-grade students' leisure reading.

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number 3 ? 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/86/8603-0007$01.oo The development of reading skills and the nurturance of reading as a lifelong activity continue to be challenging goals for reading professionals. Although there have been recent national gains in functional literacy, educators are currently confronted with a new phenomenon, "aliteracy." Aliterate persons know how to read but choose not to (Maeroff, 1982). In a society with a rich diversity of leisure activities available, the value of reading for pleasure may be increasingly on the decline for both children (Allington, 1977) and adults (U.S. Office of Education, 1975). Research on the amount of leisure time

A Multifaceted Study of Change in Seven Inner-City Schools

Abstract: innovation (often by means of teacher selfreport): "Studies of school change typically considered degree of use of a new program or practice in the classroom as the definition of the dependent variable. These studies did not attempt to link such use to improved student outcomes ..." (p. 315). This situation has begun to change. Good and Grouws (1979) demonstrate how concerted training in an empirically based model of teaching can have a significant impact on both teacher performance and student achievement in mathematics; Anderson, Evertson, and Brophy (1979) and Stallings (1980) found similar effects in reading. All these studies include a comprehensive assessment of implementation and empirical evidence of the relationship between model implementation and student learning. Examining attempts to improve the quality of urban schools over about the past 15 years, Fullan (1983) concludes that successful change requires a thorough under-

Exploring the Concept of "Spelling Instructional Level" Through the Analysis of Error-Types

Abstract: The present study explored the concept of spelling instructional level in the elementary grades. Spelling lists (1 at grade level, 1 below, and 1 above) were administered to 252 students in grades 2-5. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant positive correlation between the number of words a student could spell correctly on a given list and the quality or sophistication of his/her errors on the same list. Results supported this hypothesis. Correlations between spelling accuracy and quality of misspellings ranged from .55 to .79 across the grade levels. Better spellers, 60% + accuracy on a list, not only misspelled fewer words but also demonstrated good orthographic strategies on the words they did misspell (CABBEGE, MEASHURE, EXPRESION). Conversely, poor spellers, below 40% accuracy, misspelled more words and showed a dearth of orthographic or spelling-pattern knowledge in their errors (CABIG, MESHUR, ECSPRESHEN). The results were interpreted as lending support to the idea of an instructiona...

How Teachers' Instructional Talk Influences Students' Understanding of Lesson Content

Abstract: Preliminary research To understand this paper, one must know that it is part of a larger, 4-year program of research that examines the effects of explicit teacher explanations on (1) student reading achievement and (2) student reports of what was taught (Duffy, Roehler, & Wesselman, 1985). Following a pilot study, an experiment was conducted in 1982-83 that resulted in significant relationships between teacher explanations and student awareness of lesson content but no differences in student achievement on standardized tests (Duffy, Roehler, Meloth, et al., in press). The data used for this report were collected the following year as part of a descriptive study of seven experienced fifth-grade teachers who taught in seven urban elementary schools in a large school district in the Midwest. The primary purpose was to field-test researcherdesigned achievement measures that could supplement standardized tests in subsequent experimental studies. Each teacher volunteered to participate in training designed to improve basal reading textbook skill instruction and to be observed while

The Principal and the Profession of Teaching.

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number 4 Q 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/86/8604-0007$01.00 Teaching has become an extraordinarily difficult occupation, one made no easier by the public, who have little confidence in what teachers do and who pare away the resources with which they are expected to do it. Teachers are dejected. Many would not enter the profession if again given a choice. They commonly report a sense of discontent and malaise; they feel unappreciated, overworked, and demeaned as professionals. They feel little trust for or from either school and district administrators or the public. They are even alienated from one another. They feel trapped in their jobs, powerless to effect change, and frustrated at the never-ending nonteaching demands. Increasingly, schools are staffed with veteran, tenured teachers who are afforded little horizontal or vertical professional mobility. For most there is little to do next September except what they did last September: same books, same room, same associates, same curriculum, same subjects, and same grade level-a formula for personal and professional atrophy. Many would agree with what one fourthgrade teacher told me recently: "Excellence is no longer a goal toward which to aspire. Now I'm satisfied if I can do it at all, let alone well." Teachers are encountering times more difficult than any other period in American education. The social value of their work, which has fueled them through past difficulties, no longer provides sufficient compensation and professional invigoration. A bumper sticker appearing in parking lots of many public schools sums it up: I Feel Better Now That I've Given Up Hope.

The Social Enhancement of Ability Differences: Teacher-Student Interactions in First- and Second-Grade Reading Groups.

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 87, Number 1 ? 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 00 13-5984/87/8701-0003$01.00 Students in most elementary school classrooms learn reading in ability-designated groups (Pikulski & Kirsch, 1979). We argue that groups of different levels provide different social and learning environments for their members. The experiences that children have in groups influence their acquisition of academic and social skills needed for future success in school. Thus, for most children in public schools, assignment to an elementary school reading group is a critical first step in an academic sorting process that channels some students toward success, some toward moderate levels of achievement, and some toward failure.

Effects of Instruction Based on the Madeline Hunter Model on Students' Achievement: Findings from a Follow-Through Project

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number 5 ? 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. oo01-5984/86/8605-0001$0o1.00 One of the most popular educational models to emerge from the 1970s is Madeline Hunter's (1980) Instructional Theory into Practice (ITIP). Disciples trained in the model are ardent and rigorous in their commitment. In this model, teachers learn to design lessons using very specific components. Lessons presenting new concepts start with a "set," which involves setting the stage and getting all students involved. The set is followed by a statement of the lesson's purpose and clear, observable objectives. The information delivered to students is given in segments, followed by checks for understanding and guided practice. At the end of the lesson a final check

Students' Conceptions of Reading and Their Reading Experiences in School

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number 5 ? 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 00oo 13-5984/86/8605-0002$01o.00 Teaching children to read is one of the major goals of our nation's elementary schools. In fact, many parents, teachers, and students equate success in the primary grades with success in learning to read. At the same time, some children are more successful at learning to read in school than others. Understanding the reasons for this differential success might help teachers and other educational decision makers design reading programs that will help more students achieve higher levels of reading proficiency than is presently the case. In this paper, we discuss some of the data obtained in an intensive study of the teaching and learning of reading in the four second-grade classrooms of one elementary school. The study was designed to address the question: What makes a difference in children's success at learning to read in school? We focus on the under-

Self-Regulation and Interactive Teaching: The Effects of Teaching Conditions on Teachers' Cognitive Activity

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number 5 ? 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 001 3-5984/86/8605-0003$01.00 What do teachers think about when they are interacting with students? Mostly they think about carrying through preselected activities, monitoring student participation, and managing transitions (Shavelson & Stern, 1981). When problems arise, teachers may consider a few minor revisions in an activity, but if difficulties persist, lessons are terminated. There are no indications that teachers think about principles of child development or pedagogy; nor do they think about ways of tailoring assistance to students as instructional opportunity and need arise. To some observers, the limited nature of teacher cognition is part of a larger problem in American schools. For example, Duffy and his colleagues (Duffy, 1980; Roehler & Duffy, 1982) have argued that teacher thinking is activity driven because of an overemphasis in U.S. schools on preselected activities and a de-emphasis on teaching. By teaching, they mean interacting with and being responsive to students in ways that directly assist learning. American teachers are trained and en-

Teaching Test-Taking Skills to Elementary-Grade Students: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract: s International, 37, 1505A. (University Microfilms No. 76-19, 931) Stephenson, P. C. (1976). Improving the learning disabled child's score on machine-scored tests. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 9, 1719. Suber, J. S. (1980). The effects of a practice test and days for administration on the demonstrated achievement level of low achieving third grade students in South Carolina. Dissertation Abstracts International, 40 (11 -A), 5833. Taylor, C. E., & White, K. R. (1983). The effect of reinforcement and training on group standardized test behavior. Journal of Educational Measurement, 19, 199-209. Thomas, R. J. (1977). The effects of three methods on test anxiety and the achievement test performance of elementary students: Providing test-taking information, test-wiseness training, and systematic desensitization. Dissertation Abstracts International, 37 (9-A), 5717-5718. Tinney, R. E. (1969). The effect of training in test-taking skills on the reading test scores of fifth grade children of high and low socioeconomic levels. Dissertation Abstracts International, 30, 595A. (University Microfilms No. 69-11, 505) Van Hoose, W. (1969). The efficacy of counseling in the elementary school. Columbus: Ohio State University. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 033 394) 82 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL JOURNAL White, K. R., Taylor, C., Friedman, S., Bush, D., & Stewart, K. (1983). An evaluation of training in standardized achievement test taking and administration: Final report of the 198182 Utah State Refinements to the ESEA Title I Evaluation and Reporting System. Logan: Utah State University and Utah State Office of Education. Yearby, M. E. (1976). The effects of instruction in test-taking skills on the standardized reading test scores for white and black thirdgrade children of high and low socioeconomic status. Dissertation Abstracts International, 36, 4426A. (University Microfilms No. 75-23, 438)

Models of Teachers' Interactive Thinking

Abstract: Student teachers and their supervisors have reported to the author general disillusionment with traditional teaching skills as schemata for guiding teachers' interactive information-processing and in-class behaviors. Some reasons for this are discussed, and some emerging alternatives to traditional teaching skills are reviewed briefly. An alternative approach to developing schemata using elementary teachers' self-reports of their interactive thinking is then outlined, and the results of a study based on this approach are reported. Schemata in the form of 3 models of interactive thinking are described. These incorporate patterns of thoughts, purposes for which models were used, details of contexts in which they were used, the types of students involved, and frequency of occurrence. Finally, some issues pertinent to further research of this kind and teacher education are discussed.

Strategies for Correcting Students' Wrong Responses

Abstract: This paper reviews empirical research on teacher feedback to students' wrong responses and, in particular, feedback to miscues and then describes the sustained feedback paradigm that grew from work with the Direct Instruction programs. The general principles from the paradigm are applied to basal readers and content area textbook selections. Procedures and definitions are presented for classifying wrong responses into four categories of mistakes: lack of information; motor; confused information; and rule application. Five correction strategies- modeling, leading, testing, retesting, and mastery units are described. Then correction sequences are provided to illustrate the application of the paradigm. The discussion section addresses teachers' opportunities to use the paradigm and its limitations as well as the criticism that direct instruction is mechanistic.

Career Ladders and Merit Pay: Capricious Fads or Fundamental Reforms?

Abstract: nearly 2 years ago, legislative scrambling to change educational policies is under way in nearly every state. Because these changes come not from the educational community (indeed, points of departure sound loudest from it) but instead from politicians, there is the distinct possibility that for two reasons the changes may not result in improved schooling. First, if they are to be effective, educational reformers must anticipate that schools, like other organizations, can adapt to pressure for change without really changing at all (Sarason, 1982). Second, unless reforms address those aspects of schooling that are most directly related to student learning, they are not likely to succeed. The second point will be clarified throughout my analysis. But it is important here to give clearer meaning to the first point because it is essential to later discussion of two specific structural changes in teaching-merit pay and career ladders.

The Basic Practice Model of Instruction.

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 87, Number 1 ? 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/87/8701-0006$0o1.00 In discussing the findings of the effects of teacher behaviors on student outcomes, Dunkin and Biddle note "that the largest shortcoming concerning these findings is the lack of an integrative theory of teaching to make sense out of them. It is quite impossible to keep findings for seventy-five different variables in one's head" (1974, pp. 409-410). We agree and add that it is even more difficult to train teachers to use

Teaching Reform and Union Reform

Abstract: The first option is to make no explicit changes in the statutes concerning labor relations. Those who would follow this path view labor relations as an inherently developmental activity that responds to changes in the environment or culture of education. Under this conception, the purpose of labor statutes and administrative machinery is to allow the parties to develop and specify their own relationship. Once the basic labor statutes are in place, drastic revision merely disturbs the process of mutual accommodation and ad-

Teacher Compensation and the Supply of Teachers

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number 4 O 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/86/8604-0003$01.00 The status of the teaching profession has been the subject of many studies in recent years. These studies demonstrate that the academic ability of college students choosing teaching as a profession has declined over the past decade. In addition, although teaching has long attracted a disproportionately large number of college graduates with relatively low academic ability, this problem has worsened in recent years (Sykes, 1983). The importance of this problem is emphasized by empirical studies that demonstrate that students' scores

The Napa Evaluation of Madeline Hunter's ITIP: Lessons Learned.

Abstract: This article discusses a 3-year Napa, California, study of Madeline Hunter's Instructional Theory into Practice (ITIP) program. Although teachers in the program changed their behavior and students' engaged rates improved, program effects on student achievement were minimal. Several lessons that can be learned from the Napa project are discussed. For example, it may be that already competent teachers do not benefit much from the training in the Hunter model. Furthermore, merely because a program is based on sound psychological principles and correlational research does not mean that it will translate into an effective program. New programs such as Hunter's need to be carefully evaluated before they are implemented on a wide scale.

Comments on the Napa County, California, Follow-Through Project

Abstract: This article offers interpretations of some results of the Napa County, California, Follow-Through Project that tested the Hunter Teacher Decision-Making Model, also known as the Instructional Theory into Practice model. Although the project only partially implemented the model, time-on-task and student achievement increased in the second and third years of the project when teachers used their newly acquired professional skills. These gains were not maintained in the fourth year, however. Several possible reasons for this regression are discussed: the lack of close supervision by project staff during the fourth year; a lack of principal leadership during the fourth year; rigid implementation of the model; failure of teachers to transfer their new skills to other modes of teaching; the failure of the training to include information about a variety of modes of teaching; the fact that teachers learned difficult skills (task analysis and teaching to an objective) first in the training; and the use of inapprop...

Two Approaches to the Development Phase of Mathematics Instruction

Abstract: tion has been given to the quality of development in our work and in educational research generally" (1983, p. 199). They define this phase of instruction, which occurs after "daily review" and before "seatwork" in their instructional program, as "the process whereby a teacher facilitates the meaningful acquisition of an idea by a learner" (p. 206). In their expanded conception of development, they view development as a "collection of acts controlled by the teacher" (p. 207) that consists of five components: (a) attending to prerequisites, (b) attending to relationships, (c) attending to representation, (d) attending to perceptions, and (e) generality of concepts. Good and Grouws also point out that in their research, development "appears to be the only variable that teachers, as a group, had consistent trouble in implementing" (1979, p. 358). The implementation difficulties that teachers have with

From Research on Teaching to Staff Development: A Difficult Step

Abstract: The Napa County longitudinal study of the Madeline Hunter program showed short-term positive effects (years 2 and 3) but no lasting changes in teachers' behaviors (year 4). The possibilities of inadequacies in either the staff development effort and/or the evaluation are considered and ultimately rejected in favor of the conclusion that long-term change in teacher behavior along the lines called for in the Madeline Hunter program is more difficult to accomplish than had been anticipated. Since teachers implemented the Hunter strategies in the short term, and with positive effects on student achievement, questions concerning costs that teachers associate with continued use of these strategies must be considered. Although speculations are possible, the research base is lacking.

The effects of suggestopedia in teaching English vocabulary to Spanish-dominant Chicano third graders.

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number 3 ? 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/86/8603-0006$01 .00 In 1965, Dr. Georgi Lozanov of the Suggestology Institute of Sofia, Bulgaria, created a learning method that attempted to accelerate learning through suggestion, relaxation, and concentration. Suggestopedia is the product of his attempts to duplicate the unusual memory feats of Indian yogis. One such report claimed that a yogi could repeat 1,000 phrases from memory after hearing them only once (Lozanov, 1978, p. 7). The Lozanov method has gained attention in various parts of the world. Slowly, it is gaining acceptance in the United States, where it has been popularized by Ostrander, Schroeder, and Ostrander's (1979) book Superlearning.

Reading Instruction in the Elementary School: A Proposal for Reform

Abstract: ity to read with comprehension, write and think systematically and logically, and to speak with clarity in a manner that is articulate, precise and reflective of an intelligent, well educated individual. This priority should be number one. [T. H. BELL, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION] A large proportion of students in the United States have difficulty learning to read in school. Although the majority of these poor readers are members of minority and working-class sectors of the population and therefore concentrated in urban schools, the problem occurs in both rural and more affluent suburban schools.

The Portrayal of Older Characters in Five Sets of Basal Readers

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number 5 ? 1986 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/86/8605-0005$01.00 By the year 2000, there will likely be more than ten times as many Americans over 65 as there were in 1900-an increase from three million to 32 million persons. Indeed, the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population is the over-75 age group (Ulin, 1982). One of the problems associated with this phenomenon is the subtle and pervasive stereotyping of the aged and of the aging process that has evolved in our society. Prejudice and negative attitudes directed toward older persons have been propagated (perhaps unintentionally) in literature and other mass media.

Teacher Compensation and Incentive Programs for Large Urban School Districts

Abstract: The above statement, by Judge Paul Egly (1981), presiding judge at the implementation phase of Crauford v. School Board of the City of Los Angeles (1980), succinctly describes the quality of education he found in inner-city classrooms-a situation that is still common to most de facto racially isolated schools in large urban areas in the United States. Court testimony in this case revealed that some inner-city students had as many as 26 different teachers in a single school year, and that over half of the district's 160,000 Spanish-speaking children were not receiving any form of bilingual education. Los Angeles inner-city schools were also found to be generally staffed by young, inexperienced teachers who were frequently absent, and these schools' physical plants were in a terrible state of dis-