Lana J. Smith

Increasing the Academic Success of Disadvantaged Children: An Examination of Alternative Early Intervention Programs

In recent years, two programs have gained national attention for producing significant and sustained effects on the reading performance of at-risk children. One is Reading Recovery which uses highly trained teachers and a systematic set of procedures to tutor first graders who are having difficulty learning to read. The other is Success for All which uses research-based beginning and intermediate reading programs, one-to-one tutoring, family support, and other elements to provide support for all students in the targeted elementary school. The present research examined the processes and outcomes associated with the implementation of these approaches in comparable first grade classes during one school year. Results showed that Reading Recovery strongly benefited tutored students, particularly on passage comprehension. Success for All was more beneficial for special education students and for students who were not tutored, especially on word attack measures. School climate and teacher attitude results also showed advantages of Success for All’s comprehensive approach in integrating the reading curriculum with family support and schoolwide restructuring.

Improving the academic success of disadvantaged children: An examination of success for all

The Success For All (SFA) program, developed at Johns Hopkins University was founded on the basis of the philosophy that, given appropriate resources and support early in their lives, all children can succeed academically. Since its inception, extensive cross-site and longitudinal evaluations of SFAs effects on student achievement have shown consistent positive outcomes. In addition, recent results regarding issues of program implementation quality, teacher attitudes, and program impacts on minority students have provided additional insights regarding program benefits. 1997

Exploring the development of leadership giftedness

This study investigated the impact of a program model for developing talents of leadership gifted adolescents. Results indicated students demonstrated changes in openness (willingness to respond to others), persuasiveness (ability to influence others), and ascendancy (activity level in a group, making individual decisions, and self assurance in relationships with others). A follow‐up of participants three months later indicated that students applied program knowledge and skills in a variety of areas but primarily in academic and extracurricular settings. An important accomplishment was the demonstration of continuing effects of a program designed to enhance talents of students who were judged to be leadership gifted and not just academically‐talented.

Effects of the Success for All Model on Kindergarten Through Second-Grade Reading Achievement, Teachers' Adjustment, and Classroom-School Climate at an Inner-City School

The Success for All (SFA) program is designed to bring every student to grade level in reading by third grade. Key elements include individualized tutoring, regrouping across grades into homogeneous reading classes, smaller reading classes, family support, and a comprehensive reading program incorporating phonics and whole-language methods. In the present study, first-year influences of the program on the reading achievement of 109 students in kindergarten through second grade relative to 111 matched control students in 1 school were evaluated. Individual reading test results for the SFA students indicated significant advantages on 2 out of 3 tests (word identification and word attack) at the kindergarten level. First-grade SFA students in the lowest-achieving 25% surpassed their control counterparts on silent reading tests but not on other tests. No differences were found for second graders, and there were no program effects on standardized achievement test scores. Surveys, interviews, and classroom observations indicated that the implementing of SFA progressed smoothly and was highly accepted by teachers. Program strengths were identified by teachers as cooperative learning, regrouping, tutoring, early reading instruction, writing, and active learning.

A Case Study of Implementing a Cooperative Learning Program in an Inner-City School

Although there is substantial research on the benefits of cooperative learning strategies, little is known about how teachers implement these strategies under typical school conditions. The purpose of the present case study was to exam ine the implementation process for 9 teachers at 1 elementary school during a full year. Qualitative and quantitative measures included systematic classroom observa tion, teacher questionnaires, interviews, and informal contacts with the principal and teachers. The major finding of the study was that most teachers became increas ingly proficient over the year at implementing 1 type of cooperative learning (STAD?Student Teams-Achievement Divisions), but considerable planning and monitoring were needed to ensure their success. Over time, teachers tended to become increasingly satisfied and comfortable in using STAD; associated outcomes were moderately high levels of student collaboration and interdependence during the cooperative learning sessions. However, despite these outcomes, many of the teach ers struggled throughout the year to understand and implement the specific strate gies prescribed by the STAD model. Three emergent themes related to these strug gles?training, administrative support, and peer encouragement?emerged from the study. Each seems critical to the quality of the classroom implementations of STAD that were achieved.

The effects of the sing, spell, read and write program on reading achievement of beginning readers

Abstract “Sing, Spell, Read, and Write” (SSRW) was designed for teaching reading, writing, spelling, and speaking in kindergarten through Grade 3. Throughout the program there is a strong phonics orientation. Given the growth of SSRW in schools across the United States, the present study was designed to evaluate its effectiveness in a large metropolitan school district. Eight randomly selected SSRW schools were divided into three strata (high, middle, and low) on the basis of socioeconomic status and were individually matched at the school and class level with nine comparison schools on the basis of socioeconomic status, racial makeup, and standardized achievement scores. Analysis of reading, writing, and spelling scores indicated that SSRW was somewhat more effective than the traditional (basal) curriculum for teaching word attack and letter‐word identification, especially for students in low‐stratum schools. For more complex language skills, such as writing and oral reading comprehension, SSRW was not m...

Portfolios in First Grade: Four Teachers Learn to Use Alternative Assessment

Educational assessment is experiencing significant changes which affect classroom practices. This article describes an in-depth qualitative study of the implementation of portfolio assessment by four first grade teachers. Creative activities and valuable insights were given by these teachers which allow for successful implementation of portfolios in the classroom. These teachers found three major benefits of portfolios: (1) a means of communicating more effectively with families, (2) a tool to motivate, encourage, and instruct students in the skills of self-assessment, and (3) a mechanism to monitor and improve their own instruction in the classroom.

An Exploration of the Characteristics of Effective Undergraduate Peer-Mentoring Relationships

In this article, we explored the effectiveness of peer mentoring of undergraduate education students enrolled in core curriculum, writing-intensive courses. The context for our study was the use of peer mentors in undergraduate education writing-intensive courses. Peer mentors who had previously taken the courses were selected and trained as undergraduate peer mentors to work to facilitate students’ learning and achievement with required writing assignments. Survey rankings of important characteristics of mentors identified in previous research were examined to determine the commonality of perceptions of mentors and students of the importance of these characteristics in the mentoring relationship. The findings should be useful in the selection of mentors and implementation of other peer mentoring programs.

Utilization of the Microcomputer in the Mathematics Classroom.

Abstract This study investigated the utilization of microcomputers in the secondary mathematics curriculum. A sample of 128 mathematics teachers completed a survey describing their use of the microcomputer for instruction. Results from the study suggested the microcomputer was not utilized as often as expected. Findings that describe the computer-using and non-computer-using teachers, the ways computers are used in the mathematics classroom, and the instructional environment where computers are used are reported. Suggestions are provided for improving the integration of the microcomputer into the mathematics classroom.

Book Review of The Productive High School: Creating Personalized Academic Communities, by Joseph Murphy, Lynn G. Beck, Marilyn Crawford, Amy Hodges, and Charis L. McGaughy

Despite a dominance of the reform theme in American education in the last decade, high schools have been slow to change and to act on a growing body of research that points to innovations that hold great promise for increasing student academic success. High schools that have entered early into the reform movement have been pressured, primarily by falling achievement test scores, to make changes and to operate schools in different ways. However, research consistently supports the argument that lack of achievement, with all of its attendant causes, is too simplistic in some ways and much too complex in others to bring about important and lasting reform of schools. The Productive High School: Creating Personalized Academic Communities demonstrates the necessity for expanding beyond the increased achievement pressures and anchoring the work of change and improvement of high schools to the development of the high school as an institution, linking the school to its environment, and connecting theory to the core technology (learning and teaching). Combining historical and cultural perspective with a solid theoretical and research base, the authors draw from their personal experience and research on school improvement over the last decade to construct a theory of a personalized, academic, and organizational infrastructure they believe can fulfill society’s wish for productive and effective high schools. The authors’ premise in the first of the four sections of the book is that American schools have been shaped by political, economic, and social forces over a period of more than 350 years, and that it is important to know the “lessons” learned over time about high schools and how they function in order to chart new paths into the 21st century. Current and emerging principles and perspectives on learning are JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR STUDENTS PLACED AT RISK, 8(2), 283–285 Copyright