Showing papers on "Primary education published in 1992"

Teachers' Sense of Efficacy and Commitment to Teaching

Abstract: The present study examined the degree to which teachers' sense of efficacy, as well as other hypothesized influences on commitment to teaching, predicted 170 teachers' responses to the question, “Suppose you had it to do all over again: In view of your present knowledge, would you become a teacher?” General and personal efficacy emerged as the two strongest predictors of teaching commitment, along with teacher-student ratio, school climate, and sex. In short, greater teaching commitment tended to be expressed by those teachers who were higher in both general and personal efficacy; who taught in schools with fewer students per teacher; and who worked under a principal regarded positively in the areas of instructional leadership, school advocacy, decision making, and relations with students and staff. Teaching commitment also was higher for female teachers.

The reading crisis : why poor children fall behind

Abstract: How severe is the literacy gap in our schools? Why does the nine-year-old child from a culturally disadvantaged background so often fall victim to the fourth-grade slump? Although the cognitive abilities of these "children at risk" may be consistent with the norm, their literacy development lags far behind that of other children. In "The Reading Crisis," the renowned reading specialist Jeanne Chall and her colleagues examine the causes of this disparity and suggest some remedies.Using Chall's widely applied model of reading development, the authors examine the strengths and weaknesses in the reading, writing, and language development of children from low-income families in an attempt to identify the onset of their difficulties. They show how, in the transition from learning the medium to understanding the message, the demands on children's reading skills become significantly more complex. The crucial point is fourth grade, when students confront texts containing unfamiliar words and ideas that are beyond the range of their own experience. According to Chall's findings, the lack of specific literacy skills--not cognitive factors--explains the deceleration in the reading and writing development of low-income children. The authors outline an active role for the schools in remedying weaknesses in literacy development, and give suggestions for the home and the community. Their recommendations address both practical issues in instruction and the teacher-student dynamic that fosters literacy development.

Beyond Direct Explanation: Transactional Instruction of Reading Comprehension Strategies.

Abstract: Comprehension strategies are being taught in schools, with important similarities across some schools that are teaching them well. Strategy teaching typically occurs daily in these schools as part of group instruction. It is long term and complex since students are taught to coordinate traditional memory and comprehension strategies with interpretive processes. Consistent with both reader response theories and psychological theories, we refer to this approach as transactional strategies instruction: Student and teacher transactions with text are the heart of this form of instruction, with classroom discourse consisting of teachers providing support and guidance to students as they attempt to use strategies to learn regular elementary content. The limited evidence available suggests that this approach is effective and deserves research. Longitudinal experiments and quasi experiments are required, as are detailed descriptive analyses. There are many potential effects of transactional strategies instruction ...

Summer Setback: Race, Poverty, School Composition, and Mathematics Achievement in the First Two Years of School.

Abstract: In a longitudinal study of a random sample of Baltimore youngsters starting first grade, the mathematics achievement level of African-Americans and whites was almost identical. Two years later, African-American students hadfallen behind by about half a standard deviation. We use mathematics test score changes over the summer when school is closed to estimate "home" influences, and we investigate three major hypotheses that might accountfor lower mathematics achievement among African-Americans. The most important source of variation in mathematics achievement is differences in family economic status, followed by school segregation. Two-parent (father-present) vs. one-parent (father-absent) family configurations are probably negligible as a cause when economic status is controlled. Poor children of both races consistently lose ground in the summer but do as well or better than better-off children in winter when school is in session. We discuss the theoretical and policy implications of these findings.

School Matters in the Mexican-American Home: Socializing Children to Education

Abstract: This study describes family interaction, depicting home socialization around education issues in six families in a California community. Departing from the deficit hypothesis applied to Mexican-American families, I assert that the strengths of the family, as portrayed in the tradition of social science theory, have important relevance to education. A close-range examination of the home interactional environment revealed three significant components leading to an understanding of the strengths of the family. These components were physical resources, emotional climate, and interpersonal interactions. Physical resources available to the parents extended beyond space, time, and disciplinary boundaries in the home. The parents’ social linkages outside the home served to facilitate an exchange of information about children’s schooling issues. Parents provided children with the emotional support that encouraged them to value education. The common thread with all parents was that they cared about their children’s...

Teacher-child relationships and the process of adjusting to school

Abstract: Child-teacher relationships show wide-ranging patterns based on affective valence and engagement and are a unique part of school adjustment.

Educational Performance of the Poor: Lessons from Rural Northeast Brazil

Abstract: Education policy in developing countries is often expressed as a tradeoff between quality of schools and equity of access by students. The analysis behind this book demonstrates that such a distinction may be artificial. The research, which emerged from an effort to improve educational performance in rural northeast Brazil, shows that improving the quality of schools could lead to gains in efficiency that more than offset the direct costs of the improvements. Through the cost savings they generate, quality improvements can also increase equity of access. This quantitative assessment of eduational performance and school promotion in primary schools is unique in its ability to address directly a range of important policy concerns facing developing countries. The study relies on longitudinal data collected over seven years to evaluate the EDURURAL project, an educational intervention by the Brazilian government supported by the World Bank. The extensive data base permits more precise analysis of the underlying determinants of student achievement and promotion than was previously possible. The study includes a standard investigation of teachers and resources. In addition it examines the relationships between both achievement and promotion and student health and promotion and considers the likely effects of differences in teachers' skills and knowledge of subject matter.

Explorations in Parent-School Relations.

Abstract: Grounded in Bandura's (1976, 1986) work, parent efficacy was defined as a parent's belief that he or she is capable of exerting a positive influence on children's school outcomes. Parents' sense of efficacy and its relationship to parent involvement were examined in this study. Parents (n = 390) of children in kindergarten through fourth grade in a metropolitan public school district responded to questionnaires assessing parent efficacy and parent involvement in five types of activities: help with homework, educational activities, classroom volunteering, conference participation, and telephone calls with teachers. Teachers (n = 50) from the same schools also participated, responding to questionnaires assessing teacher efficacy, perceptions of parent efficacy, and estimates of parent involvement. Findings revealed small but significant relationships between self-reported parent efficacy and three of the five indicators of parent involvement. Results for teachers revealed significant relationships ...

Teacher Mentoring and Teacher Retention.

Abstract: Four years after their initial, mentored teaching year, two cohorts of beginning teachers (N= 160) were surveyed to determine whether they had remained in teaching and their retrospective attitudes about mentoring. Approximately 96% of those located were still teaching. Of the different types of support they received from their mentors, they most valued emotional support. It is suggested that teacher mentoring may reduce the early attrition of beginning teachers.

A Proposed Framework for Examining Basic Number Sense.

Abstract: A boy in a classroom was being observed by a visitor. After writing the problem 37 + 25 in vertical form, and drawing a horizontal line, he recorded the answer of 62. \"Fine,\" said the visitor, \"tell me how you did that.\" \"All right\" answered the boy hesitantly, \"but don't tell my teacher I said 37 and 20 is 57 and 5 makes 62.\" nThat's a very good way,\" commented the visitm \"Why can't I tell your teacher?\" \"Because I wouldn't get a mark then. I can't understand the way she tells us to do it on paper, so I do it this way in my head and then write down the answer and I get a mark.\" A clerk was serving in a newsagent's shop in England A customer wanted to purchase two identical diaries, each originally costing 2.50 pounds, but now, in February, marked \"half marked price .. \" The customer picked up the two diaries and took them to the counter \"How much please?\" asked the customer. The clerk picked up the first diary and a pencil, wrote the original price, divided by two using the standard written algorithm for long division, and obtained the new price 1.25 pounds. She then picked up the second identical diary, wrote the original price, used the standard written algorithm again, and obtained the new price 125 pounds She then wrote 1.25, underneath it wrote I 25, added them correctly using the standard written algorithm, turned to the customer and, without a shadow of a smile, said, ''That will be two pounds fifty, please.\" The boy could not follow the formal written algorithm but understood enough about numbers to invent his own efficient mental method The clerk showed impeccable performance in the formal written algorithm and yet revealed an alarming lack of awareness of fundamental arithmetic relationships. One might say that the boy, but not the clerk, exhibited number sense

The Variable Effects of High School Tracking.

Abstract: The effects of tracking in high schools depend in part on the way tracking is organized: To the extent that the structure of tracking varies across schools, tracking's impact on achievement also varies. I examine four structural characteristics of tracking systems: selectivity, electivity, inclusiveness, and scope. I predict that differences in these characteristics lead to variation in between-track inequality (the achievement gap between tracks) and school productivity (average achievement of students in the school), net of the composition of the student body. In addition, I hypothesize that Catholic schools have less inequality between tracks and higher productivity overall than public schools. I test the hypotheses using data from High School and Beyond, a national survey of high schools and their students. The results show that schools vary significantly in the magnitude of track effects on math achievement, and they differ in net average achievement on both math and verbal tests. Schools with more mobility in their tracking systems produce higher math achievement overall. They also have smaller gaps between tracks in both math and verbal achievement when compared to schools with more rigid tracking systems. Moderately inclusive systems also have less between-track inequality in math; and overall school achievement tends to rise in both subjects as inclusiveness increases. The hypotheses about Catholic schools are also supported, especially for math achievement. The way Catholic schools implement tracking partially accounts for their advantages.

Reconstructing Mathematics Education: Stories of Teachers Meeting the Challenge of Reform

Abstract: In recent years, a consensus has emerged around a constructivist vision for mathematics education, but few have seriously considered how to realise this vision. Employing case studies, the authors provide images of what is possible with this new mathematics pedagogy. "Reconstructing Mathematics Education" contains the experiences of teachers who, guided by evolving constructivist understandings of mathematics learning, work to bring the vision to life in their day-to-day practice. The reader is frequently brought into classrooms to observe students engaged in mathematical activity: second graders hypothesising about even and odd numbers; third graders demonstrating the commutative property of multiplication; sixth graders puzzling over the mysteries of fractions. In each situation, the authors consider the teacher's intentions in designing the activity, the instructional decisions she makes as the children engage in it, and her reflections afterwards.

Curriculum-Based Oral Reading Fluency Norms for Students in Grades 2 through 5.

Abstract: Theteachercol/ects a I-minute timedsampling ofa student's oral reading. Three th ird-grade students are seated across a table from their tea cher, ready to read aloud. Lizzey goes fir st, reading the first paragraph of the story slowly, deliberately, and accurately. Isaac reads the next two paragraphs rapidly but makes several errors, which the teacher corrects. Leah reads the rest of the page smoothly and quickly. She makes one error but immediately corrects herself. As the students read, the teacher monitors their performance. Among the things sh e watch es for is the accuracy with which the children read, as well as their rate. Thi s combination of accuracy and rate is kn own as oral reading fluency (ORF). It is expressed as \"words correct per minute.\" Fluency is an important skill to measure because it is considered a mark of a skilled reader. In general, less fluent readers have poorer comprehension (Carn ine, Silbert, & Kameenui, 1990). Teachers know that it is important to observe both accuracy and rate. When rate alone is considered, a student reading 100words per minute with no errors appears to have the same proficiency as a student reading 100 words per minute with many errors. When only accuracy is considered, two students, both making five errors on a passage, may appear to have the sa1J1e skill level, whereas one may have taken more than 3 minutes to complete the pa ssage while the other read it in less than 1 minute. ORF is superior to both rate and accuracy alone, because it differentiates both kinds of students. Assessments of oral read ing fluency are used by teachers and specialists to make important classroom decisions includ ing the following: • Screening and determining eligibility of studen ts for special programs (Marston, Mirkin, & Deno, 1984). • Setting instructional goals and objectives (Deno, 1986; Deno & Fuchs, 1987). • Plac ing students into instructional group s (Wes son , Vierthaler, & Haubr ich, 1989). • Monitoring academic progress toward achievement of goals and objectives (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1986). • Making ne cessary adjustments to or changes in instruct ion (Fuchs, Deno, & Mirkin, 1984). Placement and monitoring decisions require individually referenced information in which a studen t's performance of a skill is measured over time and the results of prior efforts are compared to current performance (Tindal & Marston, 1990). Other decisions such as screening, determining program eligibility, and setting instructional goals and objectives requ ire peer-referenced in formation involving comparisons with comparable peers (Dena, 1985). In these cases, performance standards are necessary so that teachers will know what is an \"average\" or \"typical\" performance to guide their decision making.

School effectiveness : research, policy, and practice

Abstract: School effectiveness and improvement evaluating the effectiveness of schools school effects at A level the effects of school membership differences between comprehensive schools changing a disruptive school innovation and change in six secondary schools.

Magical Hopes: Manipulatives and the Reform of Math Education.

Abstract: T HIS ARTICLE begins wi th a s tory f rom my o w n teaching of third-grade mathematics. ' It centers on an unusual idea about odd and even numbers that one of my students proposed. 2 The crux of the story, however, is the response I've received whenever I 've shown a segment of videotape from that particular lesson to groups of educators. First, wha t h a p p e n e d in the class: One day, as we began class, SPan announced, seemingly out of the blue, that he had been thinking that six could be both odd a n d even because it was made of "three twos." He drew the following on the board to demonstrate his point:

Policy and practice in primary education

Abstract: Between 1985 and 1989 the city of Leeds spent #14 million on its primary schools, especially those in the deprived inner-city areas. At the end of this period, there were noticeable improvements in the conditions in which children were taught and often in the quality of the teaching they received, but the reading scores were marginally lower than they had been at the beginning and the gap in achievement between children in the inner city and those in the affluent suburbs was as great as it had ever been. Robin Alexander, head of the team which evaluated the Leeds project, here uses the Leeds example to consider the aims and direction of primary education today. In particular he examines the notion of "good practice" which has dominated the debate since the publication of the Plowden report in 1967. He argues that unquestioning acceptance of its basic tenets has led to a dangerous separation of rhetoric and practice and a failure of the very children it was intended to serve. Primary education will only improve, he concludes, when teachers themselves are allowed to define good practice according to what is possible in their own classrooms. This book should be of interest to primary education, educational policy and curriculum studies.

Grade Retention and School Adjustment: An Explanatory Analysis:

Abstract: Although grade retention remains a controversial educational practice, the accumulated research indicates that retention has negative and often harmful effects on academic achievement and other edu...

Autonomy and Competence as Motivational Factors in Students with Learning Disabilities and Emotional Handicaps

Abstract: Over 450 students (136 elementary, 321 junior and senior high school) with primary handicapping codes of learning disability (LD) or emotional handicap (EH) completed several questionnaires. All participants were from self-contained classrooms of a state-operated special education system. Questionnaires assessed students' self-perceptions and perceptions of home and classroom contexts, with all variables theoretically reflecting either the competence or the autonomy aspects of internal motivation or students' personal adjustment. Math and reading standardized achievement test scores were obtained from school records. Using multiple regression analyses, students' achievement and adjustment were predicted from the motivationally relevant self-perception and perception-of-context variables. Interestingly, different patterns of relations emerged for the students with LD and EH.

Gender Inequality in Urban China: Education and Employment

Abstract: The results of the 1987 1% Sample Survey in China revealed that 88% of older women were illiterate but that only 15% of rural females aged 15-19 years were illiterate. In urban areas illiteracy was 29% and 67% among older men and women respectively and 2.3% and 6% among younger men and women. Female primary school enrollment increased from about 30% in the early 1950s to 40-45% in the late 1980s and thereafter. Female high school enrollment increased from 25% to 40%. By the 1980s female university enrollment was about 33%. Attainment of a primary education for females increased from 30% in 1955 to 94% by 1983. Secondary school attainment increased until about 1966-72. During 1973-76 attainment rates increased but after 1978 many junior high school students went on to technical schools. In the 1980s 9% of males and 5% of females continued with a university education compared to 33% before 1964. The determinants of enrollment by sex were examined in a logit analysis. The results showed that having a brother reduced the likelihood of enrollment but the impact was diminished by fathers occupation. The higher educational status of the father increased the chances of high school enrollment. Enrollment for boys increased from 56% for sons of secondary school graduates (fathers) to 79% for sons of university graduates (fathers). Gender differences were apparent. Only 35% of daughters compared to 42% of sons were likely to be enrolled in secondary schools when fathers had only a primary education. Higher enrollment rates for sons and daughters were found among those with fathers engaged in government administration or professional positions. The impact of fathers occupation was strongest on female enrollment in secondary school. The chances of females being in the labor force were affected most by female educational attainment. A junior high graduate was more likely to be employed and a high school graduate was even more likely to be employed. Older women were less likely to be employed but more likely to be employed if they had higher educational attainment. 44% of women worked in industry transport and construction in low priority industries such as paper textiles printing and communications. The chances of being a female enterprise head increased with increasing female age. Education and age had different effects on occupational attainment for men as compared to women.

The rise of popular literacy in Victorian England : the influence of private choice and public policy

Abstract: In early Victorian England, there was an intense debate about whether government involvement in the provision of popular elementary education was appropriate. Government did in the end become actively involved, first in the administration of schools and in the supervision of instruction, then in establishing and administering compulsory schooling laws. After a century of stagnation, literacy rates rose markedly. While increasing government involvement would seem to provide the most obvious explanation for this rise, David F. Mitch seeks to demonstrate that, in fact, popular demand was also an important force behind the growth in literacy. Although previous studies have looked at public policy in detail, and although a few have considered popular demand. The Rise of Popular Literacy in Victorian England is the first book to bring together a detailed examination of the two sets of factors. Mitch compares the relative importance of the rise of popular demand for literacy and the development of educational policy measures by the church and state as contributing factors that led to the rise of working class literacy during the Victorian period. He uses an economic-historical approach based on an examination of changes in the costs and benefits of acquiring literacy. Mitch considers the initial demand of the working classes for literacy and how much that demand grew. He also examines how literacy rates were influenced by the development of a national system of elementary school provision and by the establishment of compulsory schooling laws. Mitch uses quantitative methods and evidence as well as more traditional historical sources such as government reports, employment ads, and contemporary literature. An important reference is a national sample of over 8,000 marriage certificates from the mid-Victorian period that provides information on the ability of brides and grooms to sign their names. The Rise of Popular Literacy in Victorian England is a valuable text for students and scholars of British, economic, and labor history, history of literacy and education, and popular culture.

The Schoolhome: Rethinking Schools for Changing Families

Abstract: A century ago, John Dewey remarked that when home changes radically, school must change as well. With home, family, and gender roles dramatically altered in recent years, we are faced with a difficult problem; in the lives of more and more American children, no one is home. "The Schoolhome" proposes a solution. Drawing selectively from reform movements of the past and relating them to the unique needs of today's parents and children, Jane Martin aims to present a philosophy of education that is responsive to America's changed and changing realities. As more and more parents enter the workforce, the historic role of the domestic sphere in the education and development of children is drastically reduced. Consequently, Martin advocates removing the barriers between the school and the home making school a metaphorical "home", a safe and nurturant environment that provides children with the experience of affection and connection otherwise missing, or inconsistent in their lives. In this proposition, the traditional schoolhouse where children are drilled in the three Rs is transformed into a "schoolhome" where learning is animated by an ethic of social awareness. At a time when many school reformers are calling for a return to basics and lobbying for skills education and quick-fix initiatives, Martin urges us to reconsider the distinctive legacies of Dewey and Montessori and to conceive of a school that integrates the values of the home with those of social responsibility. With cultural diversity and gender equality among its explicit goals, the schoolhome expands upon Dewey's edict to educate the "whole child", seeking instead to educate all children in the culture's whole heritage. Martin challenges reformers to reclaim the founding father's vision of the nation as a domestic realm, and to imagine a learning environment whose curriculum and classroom practice reflect not merely an economic but a moral investment in the future of our children. More than a summons to action, this book is a call to rethink the assumptions we bring to the educational enterprise, and so, to act wisely.

The Cooperating Teacher: An Ambivalent Participant in Student Teaching

Abstract: Although the cooperating teacher is vital to student teaching, little has appeared in the professional literature about being a cooperating teacher. Journals of eight experienced elementary teacher...

Postmodern Youth Culture and the Crisis in Australian Secondary School Physical Education

Abstract: In this paper we claim that there is a crisis in Australian secondary school physical education. The crisis is evident in, among other things, the fact that school physical education is irrelevant or boring for many adolescents. The curriculum does not excite or stimulate adolescents who outside of school live in what might be called a postmodern youth culture, inextricably shaped by television and the information society. A contradictory, and ironic, aspect of the crisis is that many of the adolescents bored with school physical education see physical activity as significant to their lifestyles outside the school context. We provide a tentative analysis of this trend and draw on our experiences in a curriculum development project to discuss the need to consider a curriculum that is relevant and engaging for postmodern youth. We argue that this requires more than providing entertaining classes or better teaching: It requires a rethinking of the nature of school physical education.

Time and Teachers' Work: An Analysis of the Intensification Thesis.

Abstract: Whatever else might be said about teaching, few would disagree that the nature and demands of the job have changed profoundly over the years. For better or worse, teaching is not what it was. There are the needs of specialeducation students in ordinary classes to be met. Curriculum programs are constantly changing as innovations multiply and the pressures for reform increase. Assessment strategies are more diverse. There is increasing consultation with parents and more communication with colleagues. Teachers’ responsibilities are more extensive. Their roles are more diffuse. What do these changes mean? How do we understand them? For those who perform the work of teaching, is the job getting better, or is it getting worse? While there is wide agreement about the extent of change in teachers’ work, there are differences regarding the meaning and significance of this change. Two contending explanations are professionalization and intensification. Arguments organized around the principle of professionalization have emphasized the struggle for and, in some cases, the realization of greater teacher professionalism through extensions of the teacher’s role. Teachers, especially those in elementary schools, are portrayed as having more experience of whole school curriculum development, involvement in collaborative cultures of mutual support and professional growth, experience of teacher leadership, commitment to continuous improvement, and engagement with processes of extensive schoolwide change.’ In these accounts, teaching is becoming more complex and more skilled. What Hoyle calls extended teacher professionalism, and Nias more cautiously terms bounded professionality, is, in this perspective, both an emerging reality and a point of aspiration.’ A second line of argument is broadly derived from Marxist theories of the labor process. This highlights major trends toward deterioration and deprofessionalization in teachers’ work. In these accounts, teachers’ work is portrayed as becoming more routinized and deskilled, more and more like the degraded work of manual workers and less and less like that of autonomous professionals trusted to exercise the power and expertise of discretion-

Preparing high school students with learning disabilities for the transition to postsecondary education : training for self-determination

Abstract: Increasing numbers of students with learning disabilities (LD) are looking to postsecondary education and training to help them achieve success in career development and eventual job placement. Unfortunately, research suggests that many of these students are having difficulty staying in and completing postsecondary programs. A number of self-determination skills have been identified that are related to students' making a successful transition to post-secondary education. These include stating one's disability and its impact on school performance, and identifying instructional accommodations and strategies for arranging those accommodations with their regular classroom teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine whether these self-determination skills could be acquired through direct instruction, and subsequently generalized to general education classrooms. The results of the effectiveness of this self-determination training are reported and their implications for teachers, parents, and students discussed.

Effects of Literacy Materials from School on Latino Children's Home Experiences and Early Reading Achievement.

Abstract: Yearlong case studies of 10 Hispanic kindergartners were conducted. Findings indicated that (1) the school had a large impact on children's home literacy experiences, (2) photocopied storybooks and work sheets sent home by children's teachers stimulated literacy experiences that were unique to each in some ways but similar in others, (3) although children in classrooms using photocopied storybooks had higher literacy test scores, the use of booklets in the home was not related to literacy achievement, whereas work sheet use at home was strongly and positively related to achievement. The study's implications for home-school literacy connections to support children's academic achievement are discussed.

Instructional Adaptation for Students at Risk

Abstract: The focus of this study was instructional adaptation for low-achieving students who receive instruction within general education settings. Two types of adaptation were explored: (a) routine adaptation, or the extent to which teachers establish initial routines to facilitate ongoing adaptation, and (b) specialized adaptation, or how teachers modify instructional plans in light of student difficulty. Participants were 110 general educators, each of whom taught reading or mathematics to at least one student with a learning disability. Measures of school achievement were obtained for learning-disabled students, low-achieving nonhandicapped students, and average-achieving students from each class. In addition, teachers reported information about their routines and specialized adaptation and about the characteristics of themselves, their students, and their schools. Results indicated greater routine and specialized adaptation in reading than in mathematics. A regression analysis indicated that students...