Showing papers in "Elementary School Journal in 2001"

A Multilevel Examination of the Distribution and Effects of Teacher Trust in Students and Parents in Urban Elementary Schools.

Abstract: In this article we develop the theoretical argument that teacher trust in students and parents is critical to school success. Next, using survey data collected on 452 teachers and data on achievement in reading and mathematics and on socioeconomic status of 2,536 fourth-grade students in 47 urban elementary schools, we show that trust varied greatly among the elementary schools and that this variation was strongly related to differences among schools in socioeconomic status. Finally, results of the study showed that even after accounting for variation among schools in student demographic characteristics, prior achievement, and school socioeconomic status, trust was a significant positive predictor of differences among schools in student achievement. We discuss the implications of these findings for improving academic achievement in elementary schools and for future research.

Promoting Conceptual Thinking in Four Upper-Elementary Mathematics Classrooms

Abstract: Informed by theory and research in inquiry-based mathematics, this study examined how classroom practices create a press for conceptual learning. Using videotapes of a lesson on the addition of fractions in 4 primarily low-income classrooms from 3 schools, we analyzed conversations that create a high or lower press for conceptual thinking. We use examples of interactions from these fourth- and fifth-grade lessons to propose that a high press for conceptual thinking is characterized by the following sociomathematical norms: (a) an explanation consists of a mathematical argument, not simply a procedural description; (b) mathematical thinking involves understanding relations among multiple strategies; (c) errors provide opportunities to reconceptualize a problem, explore contradictions in solutions, and pursue alternative strategies; and (d) collaborative work involves individual accountability and reaching consensus through mathematical argumentation.

Teachers' Communication of Goal Orientations in Four Fifth-Grade Classrooms

Abstract: We investigated the explicit and implicit ways in which 4 fifth-grade teachers communicated an emphasis on mastery and performance goal orientations to their students. We used survey data about perceptions of the classroom mastery and performance goal structures from 223 students in 10 classes to identify 4 classrooms with significantly different motivational profiles. We then used observational data to describe teachers' talk and practices regarding tasks, authority, recognition, grouping, evaluation, time, social interactions, and help-seeking in those classes. We found that teachers perceived as having a high mastery focus spoke about learning as an active process, and this was reflected in their practices. They required involvement from all students, emphasized effort, and encouraged student interaction. Those teachers also exhibited social and affective support for, and concern about, students' learning and progress. These practices were not observed in low mastery-focused classes. The teachers perce...

Teaching Expressive Writing to Students with Learning Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract: We present results of a meta-analysis on writing interventions for students with learning disabilities and draw implications for practice. 13 studies designed to teach students with learning disabilities to write better expository or narrative text were analyzed. Results indicated that the interventions used in the research studies consistently produced strong effects on the quality of students' writing as well as students' sense of efficacy and understanding of the writing process. Findings suggested that 3 components should be part of any comprehensive instructional program. Explicit teaching of (a) the steps of the writing process and (b) the critical dimensions of different writing genres should be provided, as well as (c) structures for giving extensive feedback to students on the quality of their writing from either teachers or peers.

Technology Applications for Students with Literacy Problems: A Critical Review

Abstract: This review covers research published in the past 15 years on the use of technology to teach or support literacy among students with mild disabilities. First, the review addresses research on computer-assisted instruction and on synthesized speech feedback to improve phonemic awareness and decoding skills. Second, it reviews work on the use of electronic texts to enhance comprehension by compensating for reading difficulties. Finally, it considers research on a variety of tools to support writing. The discussion addresses both substantive and methodological issues.

The Role of "Community" in Comprehensive School, Family, and Community Partnership Programs.

Abstract: In this article, I examine the role of "community" in school-based programs of school, family, and community partnerships. I offer a working definition of school-community partnerships, discuss the benefits of school-community collaboration, identify gaps in current knowledge in the field, and analyze survey data collected from over 400 schools across the United States that are members of the National Network of Partnership Schools. Analyses were conducted to learn more about the types of community partners with whom schools collaborate, the foci of school-community partnerships, the challenges schools face in developing community partnerships, strategies to address challenges to community partnership development, and factors that influence schools' satisfaction with their community partnership activities. Steps needed in research and practice to improve community connections within comprehensive school, family, and community partnership programs are discussed.

School-based interventions to enhance the self-concept of students with learning disabilities: A meta-analysis

Abstract: In this meta-analytic review we examined self-concept outcomes of school-based interventions for students with learning disabilities (LD). A comprehensive search of the literature from 1975 to 1997 yielded 64 intervention studies that used a control group of students with LD and measured the effect of the intervention on students' self-concept. Across 82 samples of students with LD, the mean weighted effect size was 0.19. Overall, middle school students benefited more from interventions than did elementary or high school students. The type of intervention that was most effective differed for students at different grade levels. Whereas counseling interventions were more effective than other types of interventions for middle and high school students with LD, the most effective interventions for elementary students with LD were those that focused on improving students' academic skills. Interventions had more of an effect on students' academic self-concept than on other dimensions of self-concept. The finding...

Critical Literacy Finds a "Place": Writing and Social Action in a Low-Income Australian Grade 2/3 Classroom

Abstract: In a study of socioeconomically disadvantaged children's acquisition of school literacies, a university research team investigated how a group of teachers negotiated critical literacies and explored notions of social power with elementary children in a suburban school located in an area of high poverty. Here we focus on a grade 2/3 classroom where the teacher and children became involved in a local urban renewal project and on how in the process the children wrote about place and power. Using the students' concerns about their neighborhood, the teacher engaged her class in a critical literacy project that not only involved a complex set of literate practices but also taught the children about power and the possibilities for local civic action. In particular, we discuss examples of children's drawing and writing about their neighborhoods and their lives. We explore how children's writing and drawing might be key elements in developing "critical literacies" in elementary school settings. We consider how such classroom writing can be a mediator of emotions, intellectual and academic learning, social practice, and political activism.

Effects of Reform-Based Mathematics Instruction on Low Achievers in Five Third-Grade Classrooms

Abstract: In this study we examined the responses of 16 low-achieving students to reform-based mathematics instruction in 5 elementary classrooms for 1 year. We used qualitative methods at 2 schools to identify the needs of low achievers in these classrooms, which were using an innovative curriculum. Through classroom observations and interviews with teachers, we studied the involvement of low achievers in whole-class discussions and pair work. Results suggested that both the organization and task demands of the reform classrooms presented verbal and social challenges to low achievers that need to be addressed if these students are to benefit from reform-based mathematics instruction.

Exploring Biliteracy: Two Student Case Examples of Writing as a Social Practice.

Abstract: This article addresses issues related to biliteracy development in children It presents 2 case examples as illustrations, 1 of "incipient" biliteracy, obtained in a kindergarten classroom, and 1 of "instructed" biliteracy, obtained in a third-grade classroom Both examples highlight how children use the social processes and cultural resources at hand to develop their literate competencies in Spanish and English In addition, special challenges, such as the predominance of reductionist forms of schooling, and special resources, as found in "additive" circumstances for learning, are discussed in relation to the formation of biliteracy in classrooms

Enhancing Kindergartners' Mathematical Development: Effects of Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a dyadic peer-mediated treatment on kindergarten children's mathematics development. Within schools, 20 classrooms were assigned randomly to experimental or control groups. Experimental teachers implemented the peer-mediated treatment twice weekly for 15 weeks. We measured the fidelity of treatment implementation, and teachers completed questionnaires about treatment effectiveness and feasibility. Within classrooms, we pre- and post-tested 168 students (84 per condition) who had been classified into achievement groups based on pretest scores; effects were separated for students identified for or referred to special education and for nondisabled low-, middle-, and high-achieving classmates. Results indicated that treatment implementation was strong for most, but not all, teachers; teachers judged the treatment to be effective and feasible for implementation on their own; and students with and without disabilities, at all points along the achievement c...

Effects of Teacher Efficacy on Computer Skills and Computer Cognitions of Canadian Students in Grades K-3

Abstract: In this study of 387 students aged 6-9, we examined the effects of a change in teacher efficacy when students moved to a new grade. The effects of 4 dimensions of computer teacher efficacy on 3 types of student benefits (improved basic and advanced computer skills and increased computer self-efficacy) were investigated. Students in an upward trajectory (i.e., those who moved from a teacher with low computer confidence to a teacher with high confidence) benefited more from an infusion of technology than students in a downward trajectory (i.e., those who moved from a high- to a low-confidence teacher). Teacher efficacy variables explained 7%-9% of the student outcome variance. The effect of teacher efficacy on student outcomes was stronger when district in-service training was differentiated for individuals, distributed throughout the implementation period, established in-school networks, and was complemented by support focused on instructional rather than hardware issues.

Elementary and Middle School Students' Perceptions of Violence-Prone School Subcontexts.

Abstract: This study examined the views of 377 students (grades 2, 4, 6, and 8) from 5 elementary and 2 middle schools in 2 urban areas regarding violence-prone subcontexts in their schools. We explored context in several ways including contrasts (1) between elementary and middle schools, (2) among grade levels, and (3) among subcontexts within schools (e.g., hallways, cafeterias, playgrounds, classrooms). Variation in student perceptions of school safety between sixth graders in elementary schools and sixth graders in middle schools was examined to better understand the relative influence of development and school organization on student perceptions. Findings suggested that middle school students were far more likely than elementary students to perceive danger in multiple and specific school subcontexts. Sixth graders in elementary schools tended to view dangerous school contexts in a manner similar to second and fourth graders, whereas the views of sixth graders in middle schools were similar to those of eighth g...

The Contexts of Comprehension: The Information Book Read Aloud, Comprehension Acquisition, and Comprehension Instruction in a First-Grade Classroom

Abstract: In this article we embed a case study of 1 teacher and her first graders' interactions around information book read alouds within a discussion of the research on reading comprehension instruction and language acquisition. The case study revealed that the comprehension strategies the teacher modeled within the context of the read alouds reflected the same categories as those suggested by more systematic but decontextualized research. We suggest that there may be a developmentally appropriate time to begin formal comprehension instruction and that prior to that an interactive use of informational texts may support a stage to be thought of as comprehension acquisition, which would foster conceptual development, comprehension strategy formation, and text structure familiarity.

Research on Interventions for Adolescents with Learning Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis of Outcomes Related to Higher-Order Processing

Abstract: The present article provides a meta-analysis of intervention research related to higher-order processing (i.e., problem solving) for adolescents with learning disabilities. The mean effect size (ES) for the 58 intervention studies in this synthesis was .82. 4 important findings emerged from the synthesis: (1) large ESs emerged on measures of metacognition and text understanding; (2) interventions that included instructional components that loaded on factors related to advanced organizers, new content/skills, and extended practice contributed significant variance (approximately 17%) to the magnitude of ES; (3) the magnitude of ESs was significantly higher for studies with samples meeting cutoff criteria (IQ > 85 and reading < 25th percentile) than non-cutoff score criteria; and (4) the magnitude of ES for these cutoff score studies was significantly lower for studies with discrepancies between IQ and reading than those without discrepancies. Implications related to instructional components that optimize th...

Donkey Kong in little bear country: A first grader's composing development in the media spotlight

Abstract: Young children may make extensive use of media texts (e.g., movies, cartoons, songs) in their storytelling and play. Their experience with such texts may become evident as children learn to use and produce written texts. Through their writing, media material, such as the video creature Donkey Kong, may mingle with school material such as the literary creature Little Bear. In this article, I examine how media use informs child composing by drawing on data collected in an ethnographic project in an urban first grade. I focus on the influence of visual media involving animation. By untangling the complexities of 1 child's case history, I illustrate how the media figure into the most basic processes of writing development, processes of differentiation of, translation across, and reframing within symbolic forms and social practices. I conclude with a consideration of the teaching challenges posed, and opportunities offered, by the children's media use.

Three Third-Grade Teachers' Gender-Related Beliefs and Behavior

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the ways in which 3 third-grade teachers diminished or contributed to the gender-differentiated schooling experiences of girls and boys by comparing the teachers' gender beliefs with what actually happened in their classrooms. The teachers, from a midwestern elementary school, were observed and interviewed during the 15-week data collection period. Data were analyzed using the constant-comparison method. Results indicated that the teachers worked from a gender-blind position, meaning they believed they did not take students' gender into account when teaching. However, the teachers' beliefs did not match their practices.

Mentoring as Assisted Performance: A Pair of Chinese Teachers Working Together.

Abstract: In this article, we explore the assisted performance that mentor teachers develop to help novice teachers learn to teach through analysis of the collaboration of a first-grade novice teacher and her mentor teacher in the context of the former's learning to teach mathematics in Shanghai, China. We briefly examine the possibilities and challenges associated with mentoring, describe how the novice's teaching changed over the course of her first year of teaching in the direction mathematics education reformers advocate, and explore the ways in which the mentor contributed to that development. The mentor contributed to the novice teacher's progress for several reasons. First, she developed and implemented a clear and consistent focus throughout different stages of the novice's learning and employed forms of mentoring that aligned with the kind of teaching reformers advocate. Second, the mentor also modeled, analyzed, and reflected on such mathematics teaching. Third, she defined and refined the zones of the no...

Teaching Writing in a Time of Reform

Abstract: In this article we trace the history of reform in writing instruction and place it in the context of current educational reform initiatives. We examine the dilemmas teachers and teacher educators face as they seek to balance their concern for maintaining and fostering what is known about the teaching and learning of writing with the growing focus on achievement on highstakes assessments. We describe our own experiences with the dilemmas. Policies related to standards setting and large-scale assessments are discussed in terms of their potential for positive and negative outcomes. We portray educators as concerned practitioners, not as superheroes or disenchanted workers, and as individuals faced with challenges but confident in themselves as learners and problem solvers.

Writing in an Integrated Curriculum: Prekindergarten English Language Learners as Symbol Makers

Abstract: We describe a collaborative study done by a prekindergarten teacher, staff developer, and college teacher educator. Data were collected over an academic year by means of field notes, audiotapes, and videotapes. The teacher's portfolio was also a data source. In an urban public school classroom where most of the 16 children were initially speakers of a Chinese language, the teacher and children enacted a highly integrated curriculum whose core was multiple symbol systems, woven together from the moment children entered the room. Although literacy was an area of focus, the beginnings of writing and reading were consistently embedded in meaningful social and cultural contexts. Establishing connections between adult and child and child and child mattered as much as connections between words and print. Within the context of "high-stakes" schooling, the teacher managed to balance child choice with curricular needs.

Report in Argument's Clothing: An Ecological Perspective on Writing Instruction in a Seventh-Grade Classroom.

Abstract: As the teaching of argumentative and persuasive writing returns to the classroom, so does the question of how to do so effectively. Process writing reforms over the past 30 years have sought to change the ways writing is taught from drill and practice in grammar exercises to a focus more on continuous writing and revision. Arguing from an ecological perspective on writing development, however, we show that such changes may not be enough. Based on a 9-week observation (videotapes) of a middle-school language arts-social studies block class, and on teacher interviews, writing conferences, and 6 students' writing portfolios, we claim that competing demands in modern classrooms can lead to environments that sabotage the teaching of argument. The students in this class, in a unit that included writing an argumentative research paper, wrote "hybrid" texts-argumentative theses followed but not always supported by lists of facts. In trying to explain these texts, we realized that the epistemology fostered by clas...

Second Graders' Perceptions of What Is Important in Writing.

Abstract: In this teacher-generated study we explored 15 children's perceptions of what constituted good writing to see how those might better inform the teacher's instruction. Transcripts of audiotaped data, including students' responses to interviews early and late in the 5-month study and student and teacher talk during small-group classroom writing sessions, were analyzed for children's perceptions of what was important in writing. Analyses revealed that during interviews children focused on the conventions of writing (i.e., handwriting, spelling, and mechanics) as indicators of "good" writing. However, the children's conversations while writing reflected more emphases on idea generation, planning, and organization of stories and growing awareness of ownership and audience needs. The data indicated that children recognized a need to become proficient in the conventions of writing. However, when provided with scaffolded writing situations, the children talked about expanded indicators of good writing. When suppo...

Notebook Writing in Three Fifth-Grade Science Classrooms

Abstract: In this study we examined the ways in which 3 fifth-grade teachers facilitated notebook writing as a part of an inquiry of electric circuits. Analysis of videotapes of a sample of science lessons showed that teachers promoted notebook writing through explicit instructions and prompts, provided frequent opportunities for students to write, and checked to see that students had documented procedural aspects of investigations. Consistent with these observations, students' science notebooks contained records of teacher-dictated purposes and procedures and student-generated observations for each investigation. Discussions of task-related concepts and references to variations in problem-solving strategies and solutions across student groups were observed in these classrooms but were not documented in student science notebooks. Implications for using notebooks as a tool for monitoring science instruction and assessing student learning are discussed.

Commentary: Pointers for Literacy Instruction from Educational Technology and Research on Writing Instruction

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 101, Number 3 O 2001 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/2001/10103-0008$02.00 The theme of literacy instruction unifies what at first blush may strike readers as two disparate articles in this issue. On the one hand, MacArthur, Ferretti, Okolo, and Cavalier's (2001, in this issue) article, \"Technology Applications for Students with Literacy Problems: A Critical Review,\" addresses how educational technology is used to increase students' literacy skills. The nature of the topic they reviewed entails a broad coverage of literacy skills to which educational technology has been applied: word recognition, text comprehension, writing, and spelling. Gersten and Baker's (2001, in this issue) article, \"Teaching Expressive Writing to Students with Learning Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis,\" on the other hand, addresses the findings from a metaanalysis on studies of writing instruction. The use of a meta-analysis entails a clearly defined and specific scope. Together, these two articles afford researchers, teachers, and graduate students instructive and timely information. I begin my commentary on the article by MacArthur et al., then move to the article by Gersten and Baker, and conclude with an epilogue.

Teacher Management of the Learning Environment during a Social Studies Discussion in a New-Entrant Classroom in New Zealand

Abstract: This collaborative case study is structured both as a research report and a teacher professional development resource. The study focused on a New Zealand new-entrant (U.S. kindergarten) class discussion in social studies and in particular on the participation of 4 case study students. Data were gathered using cameras, wireless microphones worn by a class of 18 students, and ethnographic observations by 4 observers. Indepth interviews were carried out with 15 students before and after the 3-day unit and with the teacher before, during, and after the unit over a 2-year period. Textual transcript and videotape records were triangulated with evidence about students' understandings and are presented using an "interrupted-narrative" format in which readers are invited to use an excerpt of classroom discourse to predict possible teacher actions to facilitate student learning. A critical incident is described in which the teacher responded to a child's reluctance to participate in a class discussion. A discussion...

Introduction... and a Warning

Abstract: The above "warning" appears on the title page of David Macaulay's (1990) picture book Black and White, which contains four simultaneously evolving stories-or does it? The world of this book is anything but simple and straightforward, anything but "black and white," as the saying goes. Rather, boundaries between stories collapse, words and images slip from one story to the next, and "udder chaos" seems the heart of the story matter until plots and characters (and wandering Holsteins) reorganize themselves into their distinct, if forever linked, paths. Macaulay's warning to readers is applicable to this special issue on children's writing. Collectively, its seven articles offer analytic portraits of the teaching and learning of writing from prekindergarten through seventh grade. The path, though, from Genishi, Stires, and Yung-Chan's prekindergartners to Nystrand and Graff's seventh graders is not a straightforward one. Relative to the last special issue on writing published in Elementary School Journal (Doyle, 1983), this issue on writing also may seem to be invaded with misplaced Holsteins (metaphorically speaking). For example, compared to the earlier issue on writing, this one allows prominent space to other symbolic tools, especially drawing and talk. Further, though the is-

The Revolt against Realism: The Attraction of Fiction for Young Writers

Abstract: In this article I explore the implicit boundaries on topic choice established by early proponents of writing process pedagogy and trace these boundaries to a widespread cultural concern about the disappearance of a pretechnological form of childhood. This orientation has resulted in a reluctance to examine (and in some cases even to allow) children to write nonrealistic fiction modeled after the popular visual media (cartoons, movies, television). The study reports on interviews with 77 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students from 4 classes in which they explain the attraction of nonrealistic fiction. Drawing on the work of Dyson and Pratt, I urge a dialogic view of writing that acknowledges the positive contribution that children's media affiliations can make to writing development.

Meta-Analyses in Learning Disabilities: Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 101, Number 3 ? 2001 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved 0013-5984/2001 /10103-0001$0200 A single, well-designed study is the hallmark of research in education It can provide useful and important evidence to assist educators in decision making However, over the past 40 years, a plethora of studies on selected topics (eg, reading disabilities) has accumulated, often with what appear to be conflicting findings, so that many educators and scholars struggle to sort out essential conclusions The individual educator is overwhelmed with scien-

Self-Concept, Higher-Order Thinking, and Teaching: Commentary on the Findings of Two Meta-Analyses

Abstract: riety of learners, with careful experimental design and measurement to test the robustness of an effect. Each replication, particularly if it includes slight changes to test the outcomes, adds to the accumulation of evidence that an educational procedure is or is not effective under particular circumstances or for a particular category of learners. This is the kind of inquiry that guides the practice of medicine and many other interventions in human problems. The accumulation of knowledge about a given problem and its potential solutions obtained by a series of careful investigations, including meta-analyses, should guide the practice of education, as we and the works we cite suggest. "Theories" disconnected from practice and ideas promoted in the face of contrary evidence, better known as ideologies, not only deserve the scorn they receive in fiction (e.g., Roth, 2000) and from scientists (e.g., Feynman, 1998; Wilson, 1998) but lead to the kind of self-absorption, self-aggrandizement, and social horrors described so ably by critics of history, literature, and education (e.g., Conquest, 2000; Shattuck, 1999). This is true whether the matter under consideration is methods of teaching or their social contexts. Shattuck (1999) commented about one well-known chaired professor of education who apparently prefers ideology to practices based on sound evi-