Doug Carnine

Bridging the Research-to-Practice Gap

The contribution of research findings to the education of Americas students, including those with disabilities, depends on the quality of and market demand for research findings. This paper presents a rationale and suggestions for increasing the quality of and market demand for research findings as a vital component of any serious effort to improve American education. Responses to the paper are from representatives of the American Federation of Teachers; Learning Disabilities Association; National Alliance of Business; National Association of State Directors of Special Education; and Staff Director, Disability Policy Subcommittee, U.S. Senate. An additional response, which also synthesizes all responses, is provided by The Council for Exceptional Children.

Diagramming a Logic Strategy: Effects on Difficult Problem Types and Transfer

Twenty-five high school learning disabled subjects were randomly assigned to one of two computer-assisted instructional treatments in syllogistic reasoning—one required a deeper level of processing with a diagrammatic response, the other conventional responding. Instructional time was constant across the two groups, yet the subjects who provided diagrammatic responses required fewer trials to reach the mastery criteria. Also, diagramming produced significantly higher posttest and maintenance test scores. Overall, the instruction was effective in (a) producing better-than-chance scores, (b) improving performance on difficult problem types, and (c) teaching learning disabled students to perform complex logical-thinking tasks to a level equivalent to that of high-achieving populations. The deeper level of processing produced differences on more difficult problem types only. Transfer measures showed that students who learned the strategy also creatively modified it to work problems in less formal forms. Variables in the meaningfulness of a strategy to learning disabled students can affect learning.

Instructional Procedures for Teaching Reversible Passive Voice and Clause Constructions to Three Mildly Handicapped Children.

Abstract Previous behavioural research in the language domain has been largely concerned with the effects of consequent events on the comprehension and production of relatively simple language forms. The present study investigated the application of systematic instructional procedures in simplifying complex sentence forms (reversible passives and clause constructions). A multiple baseline was employed to assess treatment effects across three subjects. The conditions were screening, baseline, prepassage and passage training, and passage training only. In addition, two maintenance measures were taken. The findings indicate that applied behavioural analysis focusing on antecedent events of comprehension training can teach subjects to comprehend reversible passive and clause constructions.

Auditory-Perceptual Skills and Reading: A Response to Kavale's Meta-Analysis

In a recent meta-analysis, Kavale (1982) reported reliable significant correlations between auditory-perceptual skills and reading achievement, arguing that auditory skills should be taught to learning disabled children. This paper reviews his work, citing several erroneous interpretations made by the author. Kavale fails to report that the mean correlation between perceptual skills and reading achievement is merely .358, consistently weaker than correlations found between math computation scores and reading scores. Furthermore, the one ITPA subtest with the highest correlation is Sound Blending, the only auditory-perceptual skill taught in many reading programs. We conclude that Kavale fails to provide evidence that the teaching of auditory-perceptual skills is useful to learning disabled children … unless the skills are functional reading skills.

Translating Research on Text Structure into Classroom Practice.

Pattern 2: Sequential Episodic Map The sequential episodic map would be particularly useful in a history class. Figure 2 illustrates a completed map of a history chapter dealing with the events that led Americans to organize the First Continental Congress (labeled a in Figure 1). Arrow boxes (labeled b) illustrate the relevant cause-and-effect relationships. The boxes below the arrow boxes (labeled c) indicate that a sequence of events contributes to a larger category of events.