Yan Ping Xin

A Meta-Analysis and Review of Sight Word Research and Its Implications for Teaching Functional Reading to Individuals with Moderate and Severe Disabilities

We conducted a comprehensive review of sight word research with individuals with disabilities since 1980 with the aim of determining the overall effectiveness of sight word research and its specific impact on individuals with moderate and severe disabilities. The review also identified innovations in instructional strategies developed since prior reviews. A total of 48 studies was reviewed. Most studies were conducted with individuals with moderate mental retardation, and the overall mean IQ for research participants was 55; however, other disability groups and levels were represented. Most studies were conducted with elementary school students, but a wide age range was represented, including adults. A meta-analysis using the percentage of nonoverlapping data points (PND) revealed that sight word instruction has been highly effective across individuals for people with moderate and severe disabilities. New strategies have included giving instructive feedback for additional learning, applying constant time delay in group formats, and using more elaborate feedback procedures in a postresponse prompting format. These innovations also included teaching sight words in the context of the community and in general education classes using either heterogeneous groups or peer tutoring. A persistent limitation of sight word research is the failure to measure functional use, which requires both stimulus and response generalization. In the absence of this comprehension measure, sight word research may provide strong demonstrations of teaching students to name words, but falls short of demonstrating that students understand these words or apply them to their daily routines.

Effects of Mathematical Word Problem—Solving Instruction on Middle School Students with Learning Problems

This study investigated the differential effects of two problem-solving instructional approaches— schema-based instruction (SBI) and general strategy instruction (GSI)—on the mathematical word problem—solving performance of 22 middle school students who had learning disabilities or were at risk for mathematics failure. Results indicated that the SBI group significantly outperformed the GSI group on immediate and delayed posttests as well as the transfer test. Implications of the study are discussed within the context of the new IDEA amendment and access to the general education curriculum.

Enhancing Main Idea Comprehension for Students with Learning Problems The Role of a Summarization Strategy and Self-Monitoring Instruction

This study investigated the effectiveness of a main idea strategy and self-monitoring instructional procedure for improving comprehension of textual material in students with high-incidence (e.g., learning and behavioral) disabilities. Thirty-three middle school students with disabilities were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Students in the experimental condition were trained to identify and generate main idea statements using main idea strategy instruction and a self-monitoring procedure. Results indicated that the instructional procedures led to increased reading comprehension of students in the experimental group on the training measure, which was maintained over time. On near and far transfer measures, the experimental group statistically outperformed students in the control group on posttest and delayed posttest items requiring selection responses. Students in the experimental group maintained strategy usage 6 weeks later on selection type responses on the near transfer measure but, not on the far transfer measure. Implications for practice are discussed.

An Analysis of Middle School Geography Textbooks: Implications for Students with Learning Problems.

This study evaluated four middle school geography textbooks to examine readability levels, knowledge forms, intellectual operations, instructional objectives, and activities associated with before-, during-, and after-phases of instruction. Results varied within and across textbooks; however, the texts were found to be generally inconsiderate of poor readers and to be dense with factual information. Implications of findings for practitioners meeting the diverse needs of students with learning problems are discussed .This study evaluated four middle school geography textbooks to examine readability levels, knowledge forms, intellectual operations, instructional objectives, and activities associated with before-, during-, and after-phases of instruction. Results varied within and across textbooks; however, the texts were found to be generally inconsiderate of poor readers and to be dense with factual information. Implications of findings for practitioners meeting the diverse needs of students with learning problems are discussed .

Adherence to Mathematics Professional Standards and Instructional Design Criteria for Problem-Solving in Mathematics

This study investigated the extent to which teaching the recommended methods for problem-solving presented in third-grade mathematics textbooks adhered to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards and instructional design criteria. Results indicated that there were more variations than similarities within and across textbooks in meeting the Standards. In terms of the instructional design criteria, most were satisfied in only two textbooks and few discrepancies were evident across the textbooks that were evaluated. For example, instructional design criteria of clarity of objectives, sufficient teaching examples, and nonexamples were met in less than half of the textbooks. Additional findings and implications for practitioners meeting the diverse needs of students with learning problems are discussed.

A Comparison of Two Mathematics Problem-Solving Strategies: Facilitate Algebra-Readiness

ABSTRACT The authors compared a conceptual model- based problem-solving (COMPS) approach with a general heuristic instructional approach for teaching multiplication–division word-problem solving to elementary students with learning problems (LP). The results indicate that only the COMPS group significantly improved, from pretests to posttests, their performance on the criterion test (that involves equal groups and multiplicative compare problems) and the prealgebra model expression test. The study results suggest that elementary students with LP can be expected to move beyond concrete operations and to algebraically represent mathematical relations in conceptual models that drive the solution plan for accurate problem solving.

A Follow-Up Meta-analysis for Word-Problem-Solving Interventions for Students with Mathematics Difficulties

ABSTRACT Following a meta-analysis study conducted by Y. P. Xin and A. Jitendra (1999), the authors carried out a follow-up meta-analysis of word problem-solving interventions published from 1996 to 2009 for students with learning problems in mathematics. The authors examined the influence of education reforms as moderator variables on intervention effects, including inclusive movement, response to intervention model, standard movement, and mathematics education reform. The researchers analyzed 29 group-design studies and 10 single-subject-design studies that met the criteria for inclusion. Separate analyses were performed for group-design studies and single-subject studies using standardized mean change and percentage of nonoverlapping data (PND), respectively. The overall mean-weighted effect size (d) and PND for word problem-solving instruction were positive across the group-design studies (d = 1.848) and single-subject studies (PND = 95%). Implications for policymakers and researchers were discussed within the contexts of inclusive education, standard based movement, the response to intervention model, and mathematics education reform.

Transition From Intuitive to Advanced Strategies in Multiplicative Reasoning for Students With Math Difficulties

This study explored how a teaching experiment, which taught double counting with a constructive task assignment according to an ongoing assessment, helped students with mathematics difficulties develop their multiplicative reasoning skills. The participants were two fifth graders with math learning disabilities and one at risk. A micro-genetic approach with a single-participant design was used. Investigators coded and analyzed four strategies the children used. Results showed that unitary counting was dominant during the baseline sessions. During the teaching experiment, a great increase in the use of double counting and an obvious decrease in the use of unitary counting was observed. The participants’ improvement in problem-solving accuracy on the posttest validated their strategic development. Implications are discussed in the context of employing strategic changes as a measure for assessing students’ academic achievement and interventions for helping children adopt advanced strategies.

Probabilistic latent class models for predicting student performance

Predicting student performance is an important task for many core problems in intelligent tutoring systems. This paper proposes a set of novel probabilistic latent class models for the task. The most effective probabilistic model utilizes all available information about the educational content and users/students to jointly identify hidden classes of students and educational content that share similar characteristics, and to learn a specialized and fine-grained regression model for each latent educational content and student class. Experiments carried out on large-scale real-world datasets demonstrate the advantages of the proposed probabilistic latent class models.

Teaching Area and Volume to Students With Mild Intellectual Disability

In the current educational climate, teachers are required to find methods to give all students, including students with mild intellectual disability, access to the general education curriculum. The purpose of this study was to investigate the combined effects of the concrete−semiconcrete−abstract instructional sequence and model-based problem solving to teach area and volume to sixth-grade students with mild intellectual disability. The researchers in this study utilized a multiple probe design, a variation of the multiple baseline design, to establish the functional relationship between the intervention and students’ performance on area and volume problems. The participants solved a high percentage of the sixth-grade-level problems addressed on the criterion tests, but success with more complex problems will be necessary for proficiency at grade level with the Common Core Standards for Mathematics.