Ralph Gardner

Using Guided Notes to Improve the Academic Achievement of Incarcerated Adolescents with Learning and Behavior Problems

This investigation examined the effects of guided notes on the academic performance of seven students with learning and behavior problems, who were in a medium-security juvenile detention center. The findings of this study indicate that using guided notes could be an effective strategy for improving the academic performance of incarcerated youths with learning and behavior problems. The results of this study replicate earlier studies in which guided notes were used during whole-class instruction (i.e., Courson, 1989; Lazarus 1991, 1993; Pados, 1989).

Involving Immigrant Parents of Students with Disabilities in the Educational Process.

teacher.” How many times have you heard this platitude, usually at workshops about how to involve parents in their children’s education? The challenge for educators of children from immigrant families is to figure out how to engage parents from ethnic and linguistic backgrounds different from their own (see box, “Overview of Current U.S. Immigration”). What if the parents speak Urdu or Hmong, Somali or Chinese, and the only foreign-language teacher or resource person at the school is the Spanish teacher? This article provides many practical suggestions, tactics, and resources for questing educators who are sincere in their desire to involve all parents. Parental involvement in the education of children with disabilities in the United States is a legal right mandated with the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Public Law 94-142, 1975), further strengthened in P.L. 101-476 (1990), and in the most recent reauthorization of P.L. 105-17 (1997). Unfortunately, despite the 25 years of such mandates, U.S. special education programs still lack active involvement and participation from parents of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds (Thorp, 1997).

Mt. Olivet After-School Program: Peer-Mediated Interventions for At-Risk Students

This article reports the results of peer-mediated instruction and Interventions on the academic performances of urban at-risk students in an after-school program. The students in this project were African-American males who attended an urban elementary school. The after-school program was a partnership between a large predominately African-American church, a public school, and The Ohio State Universitys (OSUs) College of Education. Students from the OSUs elementary education and special education programs worked along with the men of Mt. Olivet Church to provide educational opportunities for urban at-risk students. The improvement in academic performance of urban at-risk students in this study is consistent with the findings of other researchers (Poser & Vandell, 1994).

Middle School Students with Serious Emotional Disturbances Serve as Social Skills Trainers and Reinforcers for Peers with SED

In two related studies middle school students with serious emotional disturbances (SED) served as student trainers to teach social interaction skills to peers with SED. Researchers in both studies taught middle school boys to use a formal social skills curriculum in order to teach more positive peer interactions. Study results indicate the desired effects of the peer-based social skills instruction, with some evidence of behavior maintenance and transfer. The findings point to beneficial effects for both peer trainers and student trainees.

Increasing On-Task Behaviors of High School Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Is it Enough?

This study used audiotaped chimes and a student checklist to improve the on-task behavior of three 10th-grade students with ADHD. The study took place in a high school study hall specifically for students with disabilities. The observers used a 10-second whole interval recording system to record on-task/off-task behavior within an alternating treatment experimental design. The conditions included: Baseline, Self-monitoring, and Self-monitoring with Reinforcement. Results indicate that all three participants improved their on-task behavior. Self-monitoring alone was effective in increasing the on-task behavior of two participants. Self-monitoring with reinforcement was needed to increase the on-task behavior of the third student.

Cultural Sensitivity in the Application of Behavior Principles to Education

Cultural sensitivity is recommended in education, but to our knowledge it has not been defined operationally. We found no research suggesting that behavioral interventions work differently with students differing in ethnicity, gender, or religion, although socialization may play a role in shaping behavior, selecting or responding to particular reinforcers, and judging the acceptability of interventions. Differences in response to behavioral interventions based on cultural identification may exist, but we found no evidence suggesting that behavioral practices are more likely to be effective if they are based on the cultural markers we examined. For behavioral educators, cultural sensitivity requires respect for the individual student based on scientific evidence measuring the effects of scientific interventions in achieving socially valid behavioral objectives for individual students and their parents.

Differentiated Writing Interventions for High-Achieving Urban African American Elementary Students

African American students are overrepresented in special education and underrepresented in gifted education. This is in large part due to students’ poor performance in core academic areas such as reading, math, and writing. Differentiating instruction in early grades could assist in closing the writing performance gap between African American and majority students, with the intended outcome of increasing the likelihood of students achieving their academic potential. Research-based strategies that improve fluency and vocabulary—potentially improving writing quality—include students counting the total number of words they have written and self-monitoring their progress. We examined the effects of self-counting (which included viewing graphs of the word counts students had written) and student use of synonym lists (which provided alternative words for students to use in their writing) on the length and quality of writing of 5 high-achieving urban African American first graders whose instruction took place in a first/second-grade split classroom. All 5 students demonstrated improved writing outcomes. The results of this study support the use of differentiated interventions for high-achieving students in order to better increase the likelihood that they will achieve in written expression at a level commensurate with their abilities.

African American Learners

In this article, the authors describe the unique and complex challenges that educators face when working in low-performing schools in impoverished communities. Further, the authors examine the impact these challenges may have on the academic achievement and special education placement of African American students. The authors also discuss how educational outcomes can be improved for African American learners through collaborative efforts among stakeholders, the use of empirically validated academic and social behavior strategies, and culturally responsive instruction.

Tutoring System Innovations: Past Practice to Future Prototypes.

This article discusses the progression of tutoring system innovations from informal, dyadic, and subjectively evaluated arrangements to more formally arranged configurations that emphasize training, application, and evaluation. Suggestions for future innovations, based on existing prototypes, are discussed.

Preparing Research Leaders for Special Education: A Ph.D. Program with an Emphasis in Applied Behavior Analysis

We describe a doctoral program at The Ohio State University that prepares special education leadership personnel whose research and teaching are guided by the philosophical, scientific, and technological principles of applied behavior analysis. The program has a proven track record of producing graduates who are productive researchers and teacher educators. The program, which began in the mid-1970s and continues to evolve today, entails an intensive curriculum of formal course work, special topic seminars, participation in three research studies prior to the dissertation, a 10-week summer internship, supervised college teaching and advising experiences, and a variety of noncredit requirements designed to develop each students skills across six competency areas: (a) conceptual analysis, (b) research and scholarship, (c) design and application of educational interventions, (d) professional communication, (e) administration and collegial relations, and (f) teaching and advising.