Jerry B. Hutton

Alternative Teacher Certification: Its Policy Implications for Classroom and Personnel Practice

Alternative certification (AC) of teachers is an issue of interest and discussion within the 1980s education reform movement. Little empirical evaluation is available for formulating policy, however. This research describes an alternative certification program in the Dallas Independent School District. Recruitment programs resulted in 4,000 inquiries and over 1,300 applicants, 691 of whom took the entrance test, 557 who passed, and 110 who were admitted to the program. This research addresses eight topics: (a) characteristics of the program, (b) characteristics of the interns, (c) intern attitudes, (d) comparison of interns and traditionally certified teachers, (e) teaching performance of interns, (f) predictors of AC success, (g) reaction to the program, and (h) consideration of whether AC programs can contribute to the need for teachers. Policy recommendations, based on the above, are formulated.

What Reasons are Given by Teachers Who Refer Problem Behavior Students

Referral information regarding 215 students referred to school psychologists was reviewed. Of this group, 74% were males and approximately one-half were referred while enrolled in the third through sixth grades. The most frequently stated reasons for referral were: (a) poor peer relationships, (b) displays frustration, (c) below academic expectations, (d) shy and withdrawn behavior, (e) disruptive behavior, (f) fighting, (g) refuses to work, and (h) short attention span. Referral reasons presented by classroom teachers correspond to the four major characteristics of behavior disorders: conduct disorders, personality disorders, inadequacy/immaturity, and socialized delinquency. Most referrals corresponded to reported behaviors representing conduct and personality disorders.

Job Satisfaction of Community College Faculty.

Community college faculty (_n = 390) completed the Job Satisfaction Inventory. Areas of greatest satisfaction included relationships with supervisors and colleagues as well as satisfaction with the actual task of teaching. Faculty were least satisfied with opportunities for professional development, time allocation, and somewhat less satisfied with the preparation and motivation of their students. Differences between men and women faculty are noted.

Teacher ratings of problem behaviors: Which student behaviors “concern” and “disturb” teachers?

Fifty elementary teachers rated the problem behaviors of students to indicate both how much the behaviors “disturbed” them and how much they were “concerned” about the behaviors. The results suggest that teachers are more concerned about behaviors than disturbed by them. However, teachers were both disturbed and concerned about aggressive interaction with and between students. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Ratings of Severity of Life Events by Ninth-Grade Students.

Special education, basic, and honors students rated the severity of stress for each of the life events on the Source of Stress Inventory (Chandler, 1981). There was a significant positive relationship between the Chandler rankings and the rankings made by the 60 ninth-grade students. Special education students reported they had experienced more of the events than had honors students, and the special education students reported more intense stress for the experienced events. Life experiences considered more stressful by students when compared to the stress values assigned by the Chandler rankings (teachers and mental health workers) include poor grades in school, loss of job by parent, mother beginning to work, birth of brother or sister, increased arguments with brothers and sisters vision problem requiring glasses.

Teacher ratings of Hispanic, black, and Anglo students' classroom behavior

Teachers rated the behavior of Hispanic (N = 56), black (N = 56), and Anglo (N = 56) elementary students with the Teacher Checklist of School Behavior. The behavior of Hispanic students was rated less favorably than that of either of the other two groups. The Hispanic students were perceived to avoid peer and teacher interaction to a greater extent than Anglo and black students and to exhibit more physical reaction (absenteeism, physical complaints, clinic requests, etc.)

Incidence of Learning Problems Among Children with Middle Ear Pathology

A telephone survey was conducted to describe the incidence of learning disorders as reported by parents of children who had received surgical treatment for serous otitis media. It was expected that the traditional 12 percent enrollment in special education would be exceeded in the sample of six to ten year old children. However, only 13 percent of the 90 children were enrolled in special education.

FACTOR STRUCTURE OF PROBLEM BEHAVIOR FOR MILDLY HANDICAPPED AND NON-HANDICAPPED STUDENTS

Mildly handicapped (n = 521) and non-handicapped students (n = 561) in Grades 1 to 12 were rated by 52 teachers on a checklist of items corresponding to Bowers list of characteristics of emotional disturbance. An unrotated principal component factor analysis identified 8 factors for both groups of students with eigenvalues greater than 1.00. Coefficients of congruence indicated a similar factor structure for the two groups of students on the first three factors. The mildly handicapped students were reported to have significantly more problem behaviors than the non-handicapped students. Those who work with both groups of students should be trained to cope with behaviors that suggest emotional disturbance.

Effect of Middle Ear Pathology on Selected Psychoeducational Measures following Surgical Treatment

24 children surgically treated for pathology of the middle ear and 24 matched control children having histories without problems with ears or school were compared on the Slosson Intelligence Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, the Block Design subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Form R, the Spelling subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test, the Spelling and Reading Recognition subtests of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test, and the Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock Test of Auditory Discrimination. The surgical group scored similarly to the control children on six of the eight tests, but significantly lower on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Block Design subtest of the Wechsler scale. Longitudinal research comparing similar groups of children is recommended.

Relationships of Sociometric Status and Characteristics of Emotional Disturbance.

The relationship between characteristics of emotional disturbance and the sociometric status of elementary school students was studied. The subjects were 70 nonhandicapped middle-class students enrolled in the first, third, and fifth grades. The Teacher Checklist of School Behavior (TCSB), an instrument based on Bowers (1969) characteristics of emotional disturbance, was completed by the teachers and a peer nomination sociometric was administered. The Pearson correlation coefficients were low but suggested a significant relationship between sociometric status and the TCSB. The strongest relationship (r = .718) suggested that the students who were rated by their teachers as exhibiting the most frequent aggressive interactions were rated by their peers as those by whom they would least like to sit. It appears that there is a significant relationship between sociometric status and characteristics of emotional disturbance, even in a sample of non-handicapped students.