Kathy L. Ruhl

Using the Pause Procedure to Enhance Lecture Recall

To determine the effect of a pausing procedure (three 2-minute pauses spaced at logical breaks during lecture presentations) on two dependent variables (free recall of facts and performance on objective tests), a separate 2 (class) x 2 (procedure) factorial analysis of variance was used. Seventy-two undergraduate students enrolled in either a course on educating the learning disabled or a course on educating the emotionally disturbed. Each semester, one class served as the control group and the second as the experimental group. Students in the experimental condition scored significantly higher on both dependent variables than did the control groups.

Providing Performance Feedback to Teachers: A Review

Teacher preparation programs are under scrutiny for their role in the troubled American educational system. Thus, teacher educators must encourage teachers to use effective teaching practices. One technique for increasing use of effective practices is providing feedback to teachers on both newly acquired and ingrained teaching behaviors. To determine attributes of effective performance feedback, a systematic search for empirical literature was completed. Analysis of the ten identified studies indicates attributes of feedback that have been studied fall into categories of (a) nature of feedback, (b) temporal dimensions of feedback, and (c) who gives feedback. Through this review, attributes of feedback were classified as either promising or effective practice in changing specific teaching behaviors. Only immediate feedback was identified as an effective attribute. Promising practices for feedback to teachers included feedback that was specific, positive, and/or corrective. These findings, recommendations and directions for additional research in feedback and teacher preparation are discussed.

Mild/Moderate Behaviorally Disordered StudentsA Population at Risk for Language Disorders

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the language skills of a group of 38 mildly to moderately behavior-disordered students. At issue was whether such students suffer from language disorders as has been reported for Children with more severe behavior disorders such as autism. The results from the Test of Language Development-Intermediate (TOLD-I) (Hammill & Newcomer, 1982) revealed that 37 of the children (97%) fell a minimum of one standard deviation below the normative mean on one or more of the TOLD-I subtests. These findings are offered in support of the notion that the mildly to moderately behavior-disordered child is at risk for language disorders.

Research on Improving Behaviorally Disordered Students' Academic Performance: A Review of the Literature.

Educational researchers have a responsibility to conduct research that addresses current problems and to share their results in a manner that promotes effective implementation by practitioners. Thus, because children and youth identified as meeting criteria for services as behaviorally disordered exhibit academic problems as well as difficulties with social behavior, researchers should be seeking to address needs of practitioners concerned with educating these students. The purpose of this review is to provide both researchers and practitioners concerned with the education of behaviorally disordered students a systematic survey of investigations in the area of academic skill improvement for these students served in public school settings. Commentary on the technical and functional nature of this research and suggestions for future reports are also presented.

Effects of Corrective Feedback Delivered via Wireless Technology on Preservice Teacher Performance and Student Behavior.

In teacher preparation most supervisory feedback is deferred, allowing learners to perform skills incorrectly and delivery of on-site immediate feedback may interrupt instructional flow. This study used a multiple baseline design to examine effects of immediate, corrective feedback delivered via wireless technology on completion of three-term contingency trials. Participants were five preservice special education teachers working on academic skills with students with special needs in elementary and middle school classrooms. Corrective, immediate feedback was shown to be an effective way to increase completion of three-term contingency trials by teachers. During baseline, percentage of completion ranged from 30-92. With corrective, immediate feedback, all five teachers reached criterion level of 90% completion. Overall, mean percentage of correct student responses increased 3 to 17 percentage points over baseline results for four of the five teachers. All teachers rated the method as beneficial. Implications for practice are discussed.

Algebra Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities: Implications from a Research Review.

A review of six published studies on algebra interventions for students with learning disabilities (LD) revealed that successful interventions included instruction on domain-specific knowledge, as well as general problem-solving and self-regulation strategies. Promising practices include sequential introduction of word problems through concrete, semi-concrete, and abstract phases, and peer feedback. Use of selected computer-assisted programs also may hold promise. These findings are discussed in the context of the requirements of successful algebra performance, developmental problem-solving literature (Mayer, 1989; Schoenfeld, 1992), and characteristics of students with LD.

Effects of Instruction in an Assignment Completion Strategy on the Homework Performance of Students with Learning Disabilities in General Education Classes

Homework is an important activity in the lives of school-aged children, including students with learning disabilities (LD). Characteristics often associated with LD (e.g., poor organizational skills) may adversely impact the rate and quality of homework completion. In this study, a multiple-probe across-students design (Horner & Baer, 1978) was used to evaluate the effects of instruction in a comprehensive, independent assignment completion strategy with regard to homework completion rates and the quality of products completed in response to assignments given in general education classrooms. Eight of nine students mastered use of the strategy, and their homework completion rates and the quality of their homework products improved. Associated with these improvements were increases in quarterly grades and teacher ratings of the quality of the assignments. Thus, direct instruction in a comprehensive strategy comprised of organizational behaviors can result in independent completion of more homework by students with LD. Nevertheless, instruction in organizational skills alone appears insufficient to produce a 100 percent submission rate: student motivation to complete assignments and mastery of the skills required, as well as the appropriateness of assignments for students, need to be addressed.

Analysis of the Expressive and Receptive Language Characteristics of Emotionally Handicapped Students Served in Public School Settings.

Until the past few years, language characteristics of students receiving services for mild/moderate behavior disorders (BD) have been neglected for research on the language of the more severely disturbed population. However, recent investigations of the language characteristics of mild/moderately BD students have produced sufficient evidence to warrant further study. The purpose of the present study was to examine the language skills (i.e., morphology, syntax, and semantics) of a group of 30 mild/moderately BD students served in public school, resource classrooms. Overall results from the Test of Language Development-Intermediate (TOLD-I) (Hammill & Newcomer, 1982), the Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language-Revised (TACL-R) (Carrow-Woolfolk, 1985), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) (Dunn & Dunn, 1982), and the Expressive One Word Vocabulary Test (EOWVT) (Gardner, 1979) revealed that the BD students fell a minimum of one standard deviation below the normative mean on all but one (i.e., Word Classes and Relations subtest of the TACL-R) of the measures. Further within subject analyses indicated the students were having difficulty with both receptive and expressive language. These findings substantiate the fact that mild/moderate BD students should be considered at risk for language disorders.

Test-Taking Strategy Instruction for Adolescents with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Many secondary students with EBD are mainstreamed in regular classes and are required to take tests in those classes to demonstrate their competence with regard to their mastery of the content. Unfortunately, these students often do not use strategies that would help them meet this critical classroom demand. The purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive test-taking strategy that includes many of the test-wiseness strategies cited in the literature and to validate an instructional methodology for teaching this strategy to secondary students with EBD. Through the use of a multiple-probe across-students design, the instruction was shown to be effective in helping students to master the use of the steps of the comprehensive test-taking strategy and to apply them in a generative way to a series of novel tests. Preliminary evidence collected in targeted mainstream classes indicated that the students were applying the strategy to their regular class tests and that their scores on these tests improved. The results of this study are similar to those achieved in a companion study with students with learning disabilities, indicating that EBD and LD students can successfully receive strategic instruction together since they learned the strategy at comparable rates and achieved comparable levels of mastery and generalization.

Dialogic Shared Storybook Reading: An Instructional Technique for Use with Young Students in Inclusive Settings

Research shows that a child’s vocabulary is crucial to academic success (Baker, Simmons, & Kame’enui, 1995). Indeed, early language development relates to later reading performance (Catts, Fey, Zhang, & Tomblin, 1999; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998; Stanovich, 1986) and strongly contributes to academic success (Becker, 1977; Smith & Dixon, 1995). Based on this relationship, methods to increase vocabulary are vital for early literacy instruction in classrooms. Children acquire between 2000 and 3600 words per year (Nagy & Anderson, 1984), yet there is much variation in the rate of acquisition. With only one quarter the vocabulary of their middle-class peers, children from low-income homes are more likely to start school behind, and stay behind (Hart & Risley, 1995) and are ultimately referred to special education, making up over half the population of students served under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (U.S. Department of Education, 2002). The literature is replete with recommendations for a variety of both direct and incidental methods to assist vocabulary development (Beck, Perfetti, & McKeown, 1982; Penno, Wilkinson, & Moore, 2002). Typically, direct vocabulary instruction utilizes an explicit