Jane E. Prochnow

Does Success in the Reading Recovery Program Depend on Developing Proficiency in Phonological-Processing Skills? A Longitudinal Study in a Whole Language Instructional Context

This longitudinal study examined the relation between the development of phonological-processing skills and the effectiveness of Reading Recovery (RR) in a whole language instructional context. Children independently selected by their schools for RR were compared with groups of poor readers who did not receive RR and with normally developing readers. Results indicated that the RR and poor reader comparison groups had deficiencies in phonological-processing skills during the year preceding their participation in RR, that participation in the program did not eliminate or reduce these deficiencies, and that success in RR and in subsequent reading achievement was closely associated with phonological-processing skills. The RR children showed declines in reading self-concept, in perceptions of ability in reading and spelling, and in general academic self-concept following RR. Teachers of the RR children rated them as having more classroom behavior problems and fewer adaptive functioning behaviors than the normally developing readers.

Male Serial Homicide The Influence of Cultural and Structural Variables

Psychiatric approaches have usually been used to explain male serial homicide. But multifactor explanations of the phenomenon suggest that aspects of culture and social structure may also play important roles. The current study attempts to evaluate the multifactor approach by examining whether cultural and structural variables might contribute to explaining the considerable interstate differences in the incidence of male serial killer activity. Separate analyses were conducted for two different state-level male serial killer rates, one based on the state where male serial killers received their early socialization and the other based on the state where male serial killers murdered their largest number of victims. Consistent with the multifactor approach, the results indicated that aspects of culture and social structure were able to account for much of the male serial killer variation among states.

Why the New Zealand National Literacy Strategy Has Failed and What Can Be Done about It: Evidence from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011 and Reading Recovery Monitoring Reports.

For the past 15 years, the New Zealand government has initiated major efforts to reduce persistently large inequities in achievement outcomes in literacy education, including the development of a national literacy strategy. The aim of this study was to provide an analysis of the factors that have contributed to the failure of this strategy and what can be done to overcome the problem. We began by presenting evidence in support of the claim that the national literacy strategy has failed, drawing on data from the PIRLS 2011 study and the latest annual monitoring report of Reading Recovery (RR) data. We then identified three interrelated factors as contributing to the failure of the national literacy strategy: (1) a constructivist orientation toward literacy education, (2) the failure to respond adequately to differences in literate cultural capital at school entry and (3) restrictive policies regarding the first year of literacy teaching. In the final section of the paper, we reviewed research in support of what we maintain is the most effective strategy for reducing the literacy achievement gap: the use of differentiated instruction from the outset of formal schooling that takes into account interactions between school entry reading-related skills (high versus low literate cultural capital) and method of teaching reading (constructivist versus explicit approaches). We also argued that RR should be replaced with an intervention program that is based on contemporary theory and research on reading and targets those struggling readers who need help the most.

The Contribution of Educational Psychology to Intervention Research and Practice

Advances in psychological theory have made significant contributions to the considerable progress that has been achieved in intervention research and practice, especially in the past two decades. This article presents a discussion of the major conceptual and methodological issues that have arisen in intervention research, with a focus on interventions for children with learning problems, particularly reading problems. Examples from our own research are presented to illustrate how conceptual and methodological factors in intervention research can be taken into consideration in the design of intervention studies.

Moral commitment and the effects of social influences on violent delinquency.

The present article investigates the issue of whether and how moral commitment regarding violence conditions the relationship between a set of social environmental variables and violent delinquency. Three mutually exclusive hypotheses were evaluated using data from the National Youth Survey. The first, emanating from a purely environmental perspective, holds that moral commitment to non-violence does not condition the relationships of social variables to violent delinquency. The second hypothesis predicts that social factors have their greatest effect on violent behavior among those most strongly opposed to violence. The third hypothesis anticipates that social variables have their greatest impact on violent delinquency among those with violent attitudes. The results yielded strong support for the third hypothesis. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Violent cultural factors and serial homicide by males

Explaining the phenomenon of male serial homicide has usually been approached from a psychiatric perspective. However, recent integrative theory suggests that cultural factors may play a role in shaping the psychology of young males with particular psychiatric and possibly neurological vulnerabilities in such ways as to facilitate converting the motivation to kill into actual behavior. Present results indicated that 34–45% of the interstate variation in rates of serial killer activity could be accounted for by three dimensions of local culture. Higher rates of male serial killer activity were associated with a local state culture supportive of game hunting and military training and a local culture supportive of punitive violence. The findings must be viewed with caution since societal variables are complex and the results are based on correlations which cannot be causally interpreted without more direct evidence of validity.

The Impact of Economic and Parental Characteristics on Juvenile Misconduct

Data from a U.S. national survey of 303 parents ages 35 to 54 who had had at least one child were analyzed. The potential relationships of parental characteristics to several measures of childrens misconduct were evaluated with regard to predictions made by the Social Learning, Control, and Strain theories of delinquency. The results provided at least partial support for all three theories. The two characteristics most consistently found to promote delinquency were a Strain variable—extreme economic distress to the point of being unable to provide necessary food, medical care, and shelter—and a Control variable—parental mental illness. Implications for theory, future research, and social policy (such as welfare reform) are discussed.

A Longitudinal Investigation of the Influence of Literacy-related Skills, Reading Self-perceptions, and Inattentive Behaviours on the Development of Literacy Learning Difficulties

Although recent research favours a bidirectional relationship between reading problems and inattentive behaviours, the risk factors that set in motion these reciprocally interacting relations remain unclear. One hundred and fifty-two new school entrants who took part in a seven-year longitudinal study of literacy development were assessed on literacy-related skills, reading self-perceptions, behaviour problems, and literacy achievement. Results revealed highly consistent and relatively robust reciprocal relationships between literacy achievement and both inattentive behaviours and reading self-perceptions, but not between inattentive behaviours and reading self-perceptions. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that early reading problems are predictive of both inattentive behaviours and poor reading self-perceptions which become established and predict further impairments in reading in a reciprocally interacting manner over time.

Pedagogical Constructivism in New Zealand Literacy Education: A Flawed Approach to Teaching Reading

In this chapter, we argue that no progress has been made in reducing the literacy achievement gap in New Zealand because the constructivist, multiple cues model of reading adopted by the MoE is fundamentally flawed. The chapter is divided into three sections. The first section provides an overview of the development of pedagogical constructivism in New Zealand literacy education. The second section summarizes arguments and evidence against the constructivist, multiple cues model of learning to read. The third section argues that explicit instruction in word analysis skills and strategies is helpful for all children and crucial for some, most notably struggling readers and children with limited reading-related knowledge, skills, and experiences at school entry.

Literate Cultural Capital and Matthew Effects in Reading Achievement

In addition to a rigidly constructivist orientation towards literacy education (see Chapter 6 of this volume), two other factors appear to have contributed to the failure of New Zealand’s national literacy strategy: the failure to respond adequately to differences in literate cultural capital at school entry and restrictive policies during the first year of literacy teaching. In this chapter, we argue that both factors trigger Matthew effects in reading achievement, which would explain New Zealand’s comparatively high levels of variability in test scores. The restrictive policies during the first year of literacy teaching that contribute to Matthew effects stem from three sources: RR’s “wait-to-fail” approach to reading intervention, misunderstandings regarding Constrained Skills Theory (CST) (Paris, 2005; Paris & Luo, 2010), and misguided views about culturally responsive instruction. The chapter is divided into two sections. The first section focuses on how the failure to respond adequately to differences in literate cultural capital at school entry contributes to Matthew effects in reading. The second section focuses on how restrictive policies during the first year of literacy teaching contribute to Matthew effects.