Yolanda N. Padron

Motivation and Learning Environment Differences between Resilient and Nonresilient Latino Middle School Students

This study tries to address the problems of Latino students by drawing on two distinct and emerging theoretical frameworks: (a) educationally resilient students and (b) classroom learning environments. The authors compared the motivation and learning environment of 60 resilient and 60 nonresilient Latino middle school students from a multiethnic metropolitan city located in the south central region of the United States. The multivariate analysis and univariate post hoc tests revealed that resilient students had significantly higherperceptions of involvement, satisfaction, academic self-concept, and achievement motivation than nonresilient students. The discriminantfunction analysis revealed that the variables of academic aspirations, involvement, academic self-concept, expectations for high school graduation, not being held back in school, and satisfaction were related most highly to the overall discriminant function. Results are discussed in relation to previous work on educational resilience and to implications for improving the education of students at risk of failure.

The Effect of Strategy Instruction on Bilingual Students' Cognitive Strategy Use in Reading.

Abstract There has been a great deal of emphasis on the teaching of thinking skills. For many second language learners, however, instruction in the use of cognitive strategy is almost nonexistent. Research identifying cognitive reading strategies used by second language learners has revealed a variety of strategies that students use to comprehend text. The identification of cognitive reading strategies has contributed to the development of instructional programs which teach students to use these strategies. The present study investigated the extent to which two instructional approaches (i.e., Question-Answer Relationships and Reciprocal Teaching) enhance Hispanic bilingual students use of cognitive reading strategies. The results indicated differences in the use of cognitive reading strategies by grade and treatment group.

Improving the Quality of Classroom Instruction for Students at Risk of Failure in Urban Schools

One of the major challenges in education today is improving the quality of classroom instruction for students at risk of failure in urban schools. Most of these students come from disadvantaged circumstances that heighten the probability that they will not be successful in schools, but what may be considered their greatest risk factor is that their teachers and schools contribute to their failure and academic underachieve-

Comparing Reading Instruction in Hispanic/Limited-English-Proficient Schools and Other Inner-City Schools

Abstract Hispanic/LEP students are the largest growing minority group. In addition, they have the lowest educational level and the highest dropout rates of any other ethnic group in the U. S. Furthermore, there is also evidence that disadvantaged or lower-achieving students generally attend schools that serve them less well than schools that serve more advantaged students. The present study examined classroom processes taking place during reading instruction in two settings: (a) schools with a large Hispanic limited-English-proficient (LEP) student population and (b) inner-city schools where the student population was much more ethnically diverse. The results of the present study indicated that the type of reading instruction that is taking place in both types of schools in very passive. For examples, students are not given much opportunity to interact with one another or with the teacher. Nonetheless, this situation was observed more often in schools where there was a large number of Hispanic and LEP stu...

Students’ Perceptions of Relationships Between Social Studies Instruction and Cognitive Strategies

AbstractThis study investigated the relationship between elementary students’ use of cognitive strategies during social studies critical thinking tasks and their perceptions of classroom instruction. The subjects were 141 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students. Students were first given a social studies critical thinking task and then were asked to determine what cognitive strategies they used to approach and solve the problem. The students also assessed their teachers’ strategy instruction and generic classroom instruction. Results of the canonical correlation analysis between the set of student strategies and teacher behaviors yielded four significant canonical coefficients. The combination of specific instruction in strategies and generic teacher behaviors influenced the students’ choice of strategies during social studies critical thinking.