George G. Bear

How Can We Improve School Discipline

School discipline addresses schoolwide, classroom, and individual student needs through broad prevention, targeted intervention, and development of self-discipline. Schools often respond to disruptive students with exclusionary and punitive approaches that have limited value. This article surveys three approaches to improving school discipline practices and student behavior: ecological approaches to classroom management; schoolwide positive behavioral supports; and social and emotional learning. The article examines their epistemological and empirical roots and supporting research, suggesting ways to combine approaches.

Teachers' Experiences with Inclusive Classrooms: Implications for Special Education Reform:

Teachers completed a survey of attitudes toward several basic assumptions regarding inclusion of children with mild disabilities; perceptions of self-efficacy, competence, and teaching satisfaction; and judgments of the appropriateness of classroom adaptations. Respondents included 185 regular education teachers in traditional classrooms, and 71 regular education and 64 special education teachers who co-taught children in inclusive classrooms. Special education teachers held the most positive views of inclusion, as well as the highest perceptions of self-efficacy, competency, and satisfaction. Regular education teachers in the inclusive classrooms tended to report views similar to those of their special education counterparts. Regular classroom teachers in traditional classrooms held the least positive perceptions in these areas and viewed classroom adaptations as less feasible and less frequently used than did teachers in those classrooms in which the “protected resource” of two teachers was provided. Teachers in all three groups indicated a need for additional resources in order to appropriately serve children with disabilities.

Delaware School Climate Survey-Student: its factor structure, concurrent validity, and reliability.

The Delaware School Climate Survey-Student (DSCS-S) was developed to provide schools with a brief and psychometrically sound student survey for assessing school climate, particularly the dimensions of social support and structure. Confirmatory factor analyses, conducted on a sample of 11,780 students in 85 schools, showed that a bifactor model consisting of five specific factors and one general factor (School Climate) best represented the data. Those five factors are represented in five subscales of the DSCS-S: Teacher-Student Relations, Student-Student Relations, Fairness of Rules, Liking of School, and School Safety. The factor structure was shown to be stable across grade levels (i.e., elementary, middle, and high school), racial-ethnic groups (i.e., Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic), and gender. As evidence of the surveys concurrent validity, scores for each of the five subscales and the total scale correlated moderately, across groups and at the school level, with academic achievement and suspensions and expulsions.

Attitudes toward Computers: Validation of a Computer Attitudes Scale

A preliminary version of a scale to measure attitudes toward computers, the Bath County Computer Attitudes Scale (BCCAS), was developed and piloted on 398 students in grades 4 through 12 who were attending three rural schools in western Virginia. This instrument consisted of thirty-eight Likert items. The scale was judged to be unidimensional and internally consistent. With the aid of an item analysis, the number of items was reduced to twenty-six. The revised BCCAS was administered to 551 students whose demographic make-up was similar to those who participated in the pilot study. The BCCAS scores were found to be predictably related to computer experience and usage, educational and career plans, choice of favorite school subject, and attitudes toward school subjects. In general, the data supported the validity of the BCCAS as a measure of computer attitudes.

Self-Perceptions Of Nonhandicapped Children And Children With Learning Disabilities In Integrated Classes

Based largely on social comparison theory, it was hypothesized that self-perceptions of scholastic competence, behavioral conduct, and global self-worth are (a) lower among children with learning disabilities (LD) in integrated classes than among nonhandicapped (NH) children in the same classes, and (b) higher among NH children in integrated classes than among NH children in nonintegrated classes. Scores of 341 third graders (52 LD Integrated, 164 NH Integrated, and 125 NH Nonintegrated) on the Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985) provided general support for the first hypothesis, but limited support for the second hypothesis. Sex differences were found, as were Placement Group x Sex interactions. Results also indicated that measures of self-perceptions of scholastic competence, behavioral conduct, and global self-worth provided redundant information in the discrimination between LD Integrated and NH Integrated groups. Findings suggest that integration is unlikely to have a positive effect on the self-perceptions of children with learning disabilities, but may well enhance the self-perceptions of NH children, particularly NH boys.

Positive Bias in Maintenance of Self-Worth among Children with LD

Despite their significant academic deficits, children with learning disabilities (LD) often maintain favorable feelings of general self-worth. This study examined whether a positive bias in the evaluation of academic work is associated with such feelings. The Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPP-C; Harter, 1985b) was administered to a sample of 84 third graders (42 with LD, 42 normally achieving). During individual interviews a subset of these children explained why they felt they were doing well or poorly. Responses to the interview and to the individual items of the SPP-C showed that most children with LD and normally achieving (NA) children perceived themselves as doing well academically, based largely on feedback on their performance in the classroom. Results support Renick and Harters (1988) argument that children with LD recognize their specific skill deficits (e.g., forgetfulness and trouble figuring out problems), but do not perceive themselves as being any less smart than their NA peers. Overall, findings indicate the importance of perceived teacher feedback in maintaining positive feelings of self-worth among children with LD.

Discrepancies Between Competence and Importance in Self-Perceptions of Children in Integrated Classes:

Self-perceptions of specific domains of competence, judgments of the importance of these domains, and perceptions of global self-worth were examined among children with learning disabilities (LD), low achievement (LA), and normal achievement (NA) in a full-time integrated classroom setting. Results showed that children with LD and LA held lower self-perceptions of scholastic competence than children with NA, and children with LD had lower self-perceptions of behavioral conduct than children with LA and NA. Both children with LD and children with LA had significantly larger discrepancies between perceived competence and importance in the scholastic domain than did children with NA. We found little evidence that children with LD employ a discounting mechanism to protect their self-worth. Overall, results offer little support for the use of importance ratings or discrepancy scores in understanding the relation between childrens self-perceptions of competence and global self-worth.

Social Adjustment of Children with and without Learning Disabilities in Integrated Classrooms.

The social adjustment of 46 children with learning disabilities (LD) and 199 children without LD who were integrated full-time in 3rd-grade classrooms was examined. No differences were found in the proportions of children with LD and children without LD across accepted and unpopular sociometric groups. Two thirds of children with LD had at least 1 reciprocal friend, and more than half had a friendship with a classmate without LD. Girls with LD received the highest number of negative nominations and were the least preferred

Impact of a Full-Time Integrated Program on the Achievement of Nonhandicapped and Mildly Handicapped Children.

Abstract We compared achievement gains of mildly handicapped and nonhandicapped third graders in a full‐time integrated program, Team Approach to Mastery (TAM), with gains of similar students in regular classrooms and resource‐room programs. Comparisons of residualized gain scores on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills showed that nonhandicapped students made substantially greater gains in full‐time integrated TAM classrooms than both mildly handicapped students in the same classrooms and nonhandicapped students in regular classrooms. Although mildly handicapped students in integrated TAM classrooms tended to experience greater gains than students in resource rooms, differences were significant only in math. Overall, results indicated the effectiveness of the TAM model, particularly when achievement gains of nonhandicapped and mildly handicapped students are contrasted with those reported in a more popular, and complex, integrated classroom model.

Self-Perceptions and Peer Relations of Boys with and Boys without Learning Disabilities in an Integrated Setting: A Longitudinal Study

This study examined the self-perceptions and peer relations among nonhandicapped boys and boys with learning disabilities (LD) in full-time integrated classes, grades 3–5. Compared to their nonhandicapped peers, boys with LD demonstrated lower self-perceptions of scholastic competence but not lower self-perceptions of social acceptance. Moreover, they did not differ from their peers in the number of reciprocal friendships or positive peer nominations they received. Results were less clear with respect to differences in negative nominations and self-perceptions of global self-worth and behavioral conduct. Correlations among measures of self-perception and social relations varied as a function of group and time. Overall, results suggest that although boys with LD in integrated classrooms often experience peer rejection and negative self-perceptions in several domains, they manage to maintain adequate self-perceptions of social acceptance by having a few close friends.