Sam Minner

Teacher Evaluations of Case Descriptions of LD Gifted Children

One hundred ninety-seven teachers of gifted children read a descriptive vignette of a hypothetical gifted student. Vignettes described a hypothetical gifted student labeled either learning disabled or nonhandicapped and from a low, middle, or high socioeconomic status background. Subjects rated their willingness to refer the described student for possible placement in a gifted program after reading the description. Results indicated that teachers of gifted children were significantly influenced by the presence of the educational label LD and the social class of the student.

College Teachers' Expectations of LD Students

University teachers hold negative academic expectations for LD students and are pessimistic about their ability to teach them.

Informal Assessment of Written Expression.

Written expression is one of the more difficult skills to assess and teach (Polloway & Smith, 1982). Nonetheless, the ability to write sentences and paragraphs that are understandable and syntactically correct is important. For children with disabilities the development of writing skills is critical for success in mainstreamed classes and eventual success as independent adults. As Cohen and Plaskon (1980) stated,

Use of a Self-Recording Procedure to Decrease the Time Taken by Behaviorally Disordered Students to Walk to Special Classes.

A multiple-baseline across subjects design was used to assess the efficacy of a self-recording procedure on the ability of three behaviorally disordered students to walk directly from their regular classes to their special education class. Students were asked to press a button located near the door of their resource class which activated a digital stopwatch in the resource room. Students pressed another button in the resource room which stopped the stopwatch. Students chose from an array of reinforcers dependent upon the number of days per week they had walked from their regular classes to the resource class in a specified time or less. Results indicated that the self-recording procedure in conjunction with the reward system was effective in increasing the number of days the students walked from their regular classes to the resource class in an expeditious manner.

FACTORS INHIBITING THE PERFORMANCE OF LEARNING‐DISABLED STUDENTS IN POSTSECONDARY SETTINGS

Some learning‐disabled (LD) students enroll at colleges, universities, or other institutions of higher education. However, many more LD students could succeed in higher education settings if several inhibiting factors were appropriately addressed by professional educators. We have identified three such factors in this paper — the lack of training that LD students receive in high school for college work, the negative attitudes of college faculty members toward LD students, and the lack of trained support personnel on campuses to assist LD students. These issues as well as suggestions to address these problems are discussed in this paper.

The Occupational Stress of First-Year Urban and Rural Special Educational Teachers.

A variety of behaviors such as cynicism, depression, and lack of interest in work are associated with a condition known as burnout. This condition is thought to be positively correlated with stress. The stress levels of first year male and female special education teachers working in urban and rural schools were measured. Results indicated that rural teachers were experiencing more stress than urban teachers and women reported higher levels of stress than men. Implications of these findings for those involved in the preservice and inservice training of teachers are discussed.

Expectations of Vocational Teachers for Handicapped Students

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Cross-Cultural Workshops and Simulations for Teachers.

Abstract There have been many demands for curricular and pedagogical reform to prepare preservice teachers to teach from a more global and multicultural perspective. One way to begin to address this matter is to include one or more cross‐cultural workshops and/or simulations in teacher preparation programs. In this paper we discuss the advantages of including cross‐cultural experiences in training programs and offer descriptions of several workshops and simulations that those involved in teacher preparation programs may wish to consider.

Lessons Learned from School-Based Teacher Preparation Programs.

Abstract There are many advantages and challenges associated with school‐based teacher preparation programs. Five such programs are briefly described in this paper. The Center for Excellence in Education at Northern Arizona University operates the Flagstaff Partnership Program, the Sedona Partnership Program, the Rural Special Education Program, the Rural Multicultural Training Collaborative, and the Praxis Program. Based upon our experiences with these programs, four important variables have been identified that need to be considered to maximize the likelihood that a school‐based teacher preparation program will succeed. These variables are (a) the importance of the personnel in the program, (b) the importance of administrative support for the program, (c) the importance of flexibility and risk‐taking, and (d) a focus on new conceptions of quality. Each of these variables is briefly described in this paper.

Maintaining Pupil Performance Data: A Guide.

Special educators can take advantage of easy-to-implement data collection methods to assess instructional effectiveness.