Paris S. Strom

Cyberbullying by Adolescents: A Preliminary Assessment.

Abstract A new threat has arisen for which teachers, administrators, and parents admit they are poorly prepared. Cyberbullying—electronic forms of peer harassment—is becoming increasingly prevalent and often originates beyond the legal reach of the school. This presentation describes how cyberbullying differs from other forms of mistreatment, cites examples of Internet intimidation, identifies procedures for responding to electronic threats, explores implications for teachers and parents, recommends questions for initial research, and presents a poll for schools to use in assessing student experience with cyberbullying.

Cheating in Middle School and High School

Abstract There is increasing concern about cheating in the secondary schools. This article describes the prevalence of dishonesty in testing, motivation for student cheating, new forms of deception using technology tools, initiatives to protect security of tests, methods students use to obtain papers without crediting the original source, tools for detecting plagiarism, guidelines to minimize cheating, emergence of cyber laws defining offenses and penalties, and rationale for getting parents involved in supporting academic integrity and ethical behavior.

OVERCOMING LIMITATIONS OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING AMONG COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS

Two limitations are commonly associated with cooperative learning. First, community college faculty often express uncertainty about how to evaluate the teamwork skills that their students demonstrate during group work. Faculty would like to be effective judges of what happens during a group project but they are seldom close enough to witness the interaction process and, even when present, cannot tell how the initiatives of some team members affect others. The Interpersonal Intelligence Inventory (III) can be used to assess the interpersonal skills among community college students. The III provides information to faculty about what occurs during team interaction from the students point of view and gives anonymous feedback to students from peers detailing their personal strengths and limitations. A second limitation of cooperative learning involves the provision of tasks that enable students to practice the teamwork skills they are expected to learn. A new model of learning and instruction, Collaboration-Integration Theory (CIT) broadens the base for curriculum by incorporating the cultural, ethnic, and generational resources students rely on outside of school. The method of instruction for implementing CIT is known as Cooperative Learning Exercises and Roles (CLEAR). This approach ensures that students move from a passive to an active role, makes the collaborative process a focus for group work, allows everyone a chance to offer a unique contribution to the thinking of peers, reduces student boredom by differentiating roles, and allows sufficient observation of individual behavior to support fair peer evaluation.

Grandparent Education: Raising Grandchildren

Grandparent-headed households are increasing in the United States. Most caregivers believe their role will be permanent. The responsibilities are more difficult because previous parenting experiences do not apply to some current challenges, and there are no paradigms to provide guidance. Accordingly, caregivers want to know the goals that successful grandparents share to consider them as a source of direction. Identification of grandparent success is based on the separate and combined responses from three generations to 60 Likert-type items in the Grandparent Strengths and Needs Inventory. Results detect assets and knowledge gaps, and they are used to determine content for group interventions. This presentation unites findings drawn from three-generational studies, community program initiatives, and case studies. The purpose is to show how goals of successful grandparents can be used to inform a paradigm for caregivers so that they are able to establish suitable priorities, recognize the necessary adjustments in their thinking and behavior, and discover how to assess progress. Grandparents develop these strengths when they are willing to amend their dreams, get to know grandchildren by spending time together, and adopt a perspective that enables management of stress. Cooperation with a parent who shares an obligation for childcare is essential along with an understanding of family rights and benefits. Success also requires resilience to confront predictable setbacks and provide lessons for grandchildren about overcoming adversity.

Teacher-Parent Communication Reforms.

School practices for contacting parents should be modernized because they lack reliability and are often ineffective. A field-test was conducted with support from Motorola to assess the potential of new communication methods. One method allows teachers, using a common set of codes, to record notable student conduct onto personal digital assistants (PDAs). The second method enables faculty to notify parents by pager quickly so they can assume their priority role for corrective guidance or reinforce reports of good behavior. Fourteen faculty documented the notable behaviors of 108 high school students and reported to parents using pagers during one semester. Over 90% of faculty concluded that PDAs facilitate accurate record keeping and sending pager messages is a more efficient way of contacting parents than by telephone. More than 90% of the parents reported that pagers are easy to operate and messages are simple to interpret by referring to the School Code of Recordable Events (SCORE). Faculty, parents, and students provided recommendations for improving the new communication system.

Parent Competence in Families with Gifted Children.

This study examined parent influence as perceived by gifted junior high school students and their parents. Ninety-three adolescents reported on 171 parents; self-reports were provided by 172 parents. Both generations were administered parallel versions of the Parent Strengths and Needs Inventory which identifies (a) aspects of parenthood that are satisfying, (b) ways in which parents successfully perform their role, (c) the scope of teaching expected of parents, (d) problems with the obligations of parenting, (e) child behaviors which are upsetting to parents, and (f) information parents need to function more effectively. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine the effects of generation of respondent, gender of parent, and child school performance on parent effectiveness, Analyses revealed significant main effects for all three independent variables. Interaction effects emerged for school performance and parent gender. Implications are considered for planning parent education programs.

Teamwork skills assessment for cooperative learning

Teamwork skills are required at work, but teacher efforts in many countries to track achievement within this context have been hindered by lack of assessment tools and input from students. The Teamwork Skills Inventory relies on peer and self-evaluation to establish accountability, identify competencies, and detect learning needs. Twenty-five items state the criteria students refer to in reporting observations about whether individual members of their cooperative learning group attend to teamwork, seek and share information, communicate with teammates, think critically and creatively, and get along with teammates. Ways to prepare students for authentic assessment and to process anonymous feedback from peers are discussed. A field test of 303 high school students and teachers determined validity and reliability. Students were able to recognize team skills as well as deficits of peers, and gender differences in competencies were acknowledged. A portfolio record of team skills enables teachers across subjects to apply united interventions.

PERFORMANCE OF BLACK GRANDMOTHERS: PERCEPTIONS OF THREE GENERATIONS OF FEMALES

The purposes of this study were to (a) identify perceptions of 3 generations about the influence of black grandmothers; (b) describe contributions of black grandmothers and detect obstacles that limit their success; and (c) recommend curricula for programs to enhance success of black grandmothers. The 253 subjects were black grandmothers (n = 76), mothers (n = 65), and granddaughters (n = 112). Each generation completed the Grandparent Strengths and Needs Inventory. A high degree of agreement among generations revealed that teaching is perceived as the greatest strength of grandmothers. Their greatest limitation was the need for information about individual grandchildren.

Parent Success Indicator Cross-Cultural Development and Factorial Validation

This study examined whether the original factor structure of the Parent Success Indicator (PSI) could be replicated with scores from generational views on both the English- and Mandarin-language versions of the instrument. The 60-item PSI was evaluated using responses from 840 Taiwanese parents (n = 429) and their 10- to 14-year-old adolescents (n = 411), along with 1,618 parents ( n = 794) and their 10- to 14-year-old adolescents (n = 824) from the United States. The six-factor solution set resulting from varimax and oblimin rotation accounted for between 46% and 54% of the total variance in the four analyses, confirming the original conceptual intent of the instrument. The pattern of item-to-factor correlation suggests a goodness of fit ranging from 51 to 56 of the 60 items for the four respondent groups.

COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN OLD AGE: INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT

Grandparent education classes have been demonstrated to improve intergenemtional relationships. These classes are offered at public schools, senior centers, community colleges, and religious institutions, but no previous efforts have been made to explore how such programs could be modified to match the needs of great‐grandparents, who represent the fastest growing segment of the population. Twenty white women and men from a long‐term care center were trained to guide classes for their peers on intergenerational relationships. The 77‐ to 91‐year‐olds worked in pairs offering lessons to 45 fellow residents each week during two semesters. Throughout the pilot project, biweekly meetings were held with the indigenous faculty to acquaint them with methods of cooperative learning, implications of lessons, and ways to conduct informal assessment. Reports from participating students and the resident faculty, observations of the university team, and anecdotal evidence showed that the novel methods used to deliver i...