John Salvia

The Effects of Summarization Instruction on Text Comprehension of Students with Learning Disabilities

This study examined the effectiveness of a summarization strategy for increasing comprehension of expository prose in students with learning disabilities. Thirty students with learning disabilities from Grades 6 through 9 were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. In addition, 15 students without disabilities served as a normal comparison group for comprehension. Students in the experimental condition were trained to criterion on five rules of summarization. Direct instruction in the summarization strategy significantly increased reading comprehension of the students in the experimental group. Strategy usage was maintained over time, and students were reported to generalize its use.

Teacher retention of stereotypes of exceptionality.

Before an experimentally induced stereotype of a child can be passed by a teacher to a child in the form of an expectancy, the teacher must attend to, comprehend, and retain the expectancy (see Barber, Forgione, Chaves, Claverly, McPeake, & Bowen, 1969). In actual classroom settings, the teachers expectancy for the child and the childs performance and characteristics are interactive; the childs behavior can create teacher expectancy or modify existing teacher expectancies. This study sought to determine what happens to stereotypes of exceptionality in the face of normal behavior. When teachers in training are faced with an intellectually normal child who is improperly labeled, do they retain the stereotype by rating the behavior of children labeled gifted more positively than when the same child is labeled normal and by rating the behavior of a child labeled retarded more negatively than when the same child is labeled normal?

Attractiveness and school achievement

Abstract Facial attractiveness has been shown to have powerfully biasing effects in hypothetical investigations of teacher attitudes. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the relationship between rated attractiveness and two measures of school performance. Attractive children received significantly higher report cards and, to some degree, higher achievement test scores than their unattractive peers. The results are discussed and implications for further research are considered.

Use of Deficits to Identify the Learning Disabled.

This article discusses the use of significant deficits as a defining characteristic of learning disability. Reliable measures of achievement and intelligence are used to compute the reliability of mental and achievement age differences, and the difference scores are demonstrated to be considerably less reliable than either the intelligence or achievement scores. Implications for educational planning are discussed.

Facial attractiveness and personal-social development

The relationship between physical attractiveness and personal-social development was examined. The entire third, fourth, and fifth grade school population (N=440)was administered a self-concept and peer acceptance measure. School pictures of these children were then rated into attractive and unattractive groups (N=84).Three separate three-factor (sex × attractiveness × grade) analyses of variance indicated attractive children were more socially accepted than their unattractive peers and had higher self-concepts.

Prevalence of behavioral symptoms in rural elementary school children

Third- and fourth grade children attending rural midwestem elementary schools were assessed for the presence of fiftyfive behavior symptoms. In general, prevalence rates were higher for boys and reflected behavioral patterns commonly associated with conduct problems and immaturity. More neurotic forms of behavior were reported for girls. Additionally, an increase in symptoms per sex across grade level was found with fourth grade girls showing an increase common to the conduct disorder cluster.

A Comparison of WAIS-R Profiles of Nondisabled College Freshmen and College Students with Learning Disabilities

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) profiles of two groups of students at Penn State were examined. One group of students had been classified as learning disabled on criteria other than their performance on the WAIS-R; the second group of students were randomly selected from incoming freshmen. The two groups were compared on several intellectual characteristics: absolute Verbal IQ-Performance IQ (VIQ-PIQ) differences, range and variability of subtests, Bannatynes scheme for recategorizing the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), and ACID cluster (Arithmetic, Coding, Information, and Digit Span). No significant differences were found between college students classified as learning disabled and randomly selected college freshmen on VIQ-PIQ differences. However, when compared to the random sample of freshmen, college students classified as learning disabled had more variable subtest performances. College students who were learning disabled did not demonstrate the characteristic hierarchy of clusters on Bannatynes reorganization of the WAIS-R; the hierarchies were the same in both groups. Finally, the nondisabled freshmen sample had significantly higher means than the sample of students with learning disabilities on the ACID cluster. Although significant mean differences were observed, substantial overlap between the two groups was noted. Thus, the performances of students in the two groups were largely indistinguishable. Implications for the diagnosis of learning disabilities in college populations are discussed.

Chronic Noncorrespondence between Elementary Math Curricula and Arithmetic Tests

The content match of two elementary mathematics curricula (Distar Arithmetic and Scott Foresman Mathematics) and two arithmetic tests (KeyMath and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills) was examined for Grades I through 3. Correspondence was assessed for content (material and operation) as well as the types of learning that were required of the student (i.e., knowledge, computation, comprehension, application). Eighty-one of the 90 comparisons were significant at the .001 level. Thus, a consistent lack of content correspondence was found among curricula and tests at all levels.

Attractiveness as a Biasing Factor in the Judgments of School Psychologists.

Abstract A sample of 324 practicing school psychologists received a fictitious case study to which was attached a photograph of an attractive boy, an attractive girl, an unattractive boy, or an unattractive girl. Otherwise the case studies were identical. Each psychologist was asked to make several decisions based upon the information provided in the case study. Results of a multivariate analysis of variance indicated that a pupils attractiveness had a significant effect on the judgments of school psychologists.

Observer Bias: A Methodological Consideration in Special Education Research:

The authors review the impact of research hypotheses and subject characteristics on the validity of observations. The research published over a 2-year span in 4 special education journals is then reviewed to ascertain the extent to which observer bias is a problem in special education research. It was found that about half of the research articles ran substantial risk of biased observation; in about three-fourths of these articles, no precautions were taken by the researchers to safeguard the validity of their observations.