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Student Behavior (student + behavior)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences71%

Selected Abstracts

Stopping the Revolving Door: Increasing Teacher Retention

POLITICS & POLICY, Issue 5 2008
Sam Brill
Schools around the nation are facing an alarming phenomenon: beginning teachers are leaving schools at a startling rate. Thirty-three percent of teachers leave their schools in the first three years, 46 percent after five years. These high attrition rates result in inexperienced teachers, high economic costs as teachers must be continually hired and trained, and a lack of continuity that makes institutional development and planning difficult. There is a plethora of causes for teacher attrition, although most involve nonsalary-related dissatisfaction, such as excessive workloads and high-stakes testing, disruptive student behavior, poor leadership and administration within schools, and views of teaching as a temporary profession. Likewise, the most successful remedies to increase teacher retention are not salary-based. Several studies have found that moderate salary increases are only marginally effective; raises of 20 percent would be needed to make a significant impact. Rather, improving teachers' work environment and professional development are more cost effective and influential in convincing teachers to remain. An induction and mentoring program in California, for example, reduced teacher attrition by 26 percent in just two years. We conclude, therefore, that well-operated induction and mentoring programs are the best method for increasing teacher retention. [source]

Use of office discipline referrals in school-wide decision making: A practical example

PSYCHOLOGY IN THE SCHOOLS, Issue 1 2007
Sheila M. Clonan
Problem-solving approaches incorporating interventions at multiple levels have gained in popularity in recent years. One such model, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), was developed to assist schools to more effectively promote positive student behavior through a systematic and recursive approach to developing and assessing school-wide behavioral interventions. The focus of this article is on how data such as office discipline referrals (ODRs) can be used to inform decisions made by school problem-solving teams. Following a brief overview of the PBIS model, specific recommendations are offered for school psychologists related to the collection and use of ODRs for intervention design, revision, and evaluation. In addition, preliminary data from a case-study implementation are reviewed, highlighting the use of a data-based decision-making model for promoting positive student behavior. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 19,27, 2007. [source]

Comparison of ecological validity of learning disabilities diagnostic models

PSYCHOLOGY IN THE SCHOOLS, Issue 2 2006
Vincent J. Dean
The purpose of this article is to examine models designed for the determination of a learning disability and compare them to specific criteria to determine whether the given diagnostic process is ecological in nature. The traditional child-centered deficit model (CCD), Relative Achievement Discrepancy model (RAD), and Responsiveness to Intervention model (RTI) were evaluated against the following three questions: (a) Does the environmental context of the assessment adequately represent the real-life situation? (b) Are the assessment stimuli relevant to the daily classroom activity? (c) Are the student behavior and/or required response natural and representative of the construct being assessed? The results of this examination suggested that the RTI has the most potential for ecological validity, but currently falls short. Suggestions for future research are included. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 157,168, 2006. [source]

Identification of behavioral function in public schools and a clarification of terms

BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS, Issue 1 2007
Kelly Kates-McElrath
The discipline-related component of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that schools conduct a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) when a student's behavior disrupts the educational environment and/or results in suspension from school. Applied behavior analysts often make a distinction between the terms functional assessment/functional behavioral assessment, and functional analysis yet there exists no consensus on how that distinction should be made. A relevant review of the literature was conducted to identify research articles using functional analysis or functional assessment methodology in public school settings in an effort to identify the specific procedures employed by each. Results of the review support the existence of a discrepancy between proposed and actual school-based assessment models, as well as other claims regarding functional assessment research. We address the problem of distinguishing between the terms assessment and analysis as they relate to procedures employed to determine behavioral function of students exhibiting aberrant behavior. A clarification of terms is proposed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Elementary Students' Sleep Habits and Teacher Observations of Sleep-Related Problems

JOURNAL OF SCHOOL HEALTH, Issue 2 2005
Denise H. Amschler PhD Professor
ABSTRACT: Sleep affects the health and well-being of children and plays a key role in preventing disease and injury, stability of mood, and ability to learn. Unfortunately, children often do not get adequate sleep on a regular basis. This study surveyed 199 fifth-grade students regarding their sleep habits using the Sleep Self-Report (SSR) instrument (child's form), the Morningness/Eveningness (M/E) Scale, and additional demographic questions. Students' teachers also were asked to evaluate their students' behavior using the Teacher's Daytime Sleepiness Questionnaire (TDSQ). Results indicated many students experienced problems with sleep-related behavior. However, correlating the TDSQ scale with the SSR Daytime Sleepiness Subscale produced a weak correlation coefficient, indicating teachers may not be able to accurately identify students with sleep problems. Overall findings indicated these students displayed sleep behavior similar to other US children. However, research involving children's sleep behavior is limited, and more research is needed. Parents should monitor their children's sleep times, and teachers need to be aware how sleep deprivation can affect children's mood, reaction time, and concentration. Health education curricula need to include sleep-related instruction at all grade levels to address this concern. [source]

Factors Affecting How Second Language Spanish Students Derive Meaning from Context

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2003
Diana Frantzen
Although first language (L1) and second language (L2) research has indicated that the meanings of unknown words can be derived from the contexts in which they occur, research has also found limitations to the value of context. Using data gathered in a classroom experiment on L2 vocabulary acquisition (Frantzen, 1998), the present study sought to determine some of the reasons why the context in which a word appears does not always lead a language learner to an accurate interpretation of its meaning. It expands the existing research by using a natural, intact, unmanipulated text as the context (an aspect underrepresented in current L2 word inferencing literature). Analysis of the students' answers, their self,reported guessing strategies, the contexts in which the words appeared, and the text's glossing revealed that the "blame" for the incorrect answers may be placed on: (a) the context itself, (b) the students' behavior, and in a minor way (c) the story's glossing. Numerous patterns are presented and discussed in light of other L1 and L2 research and new patterns are reported. [source]

Derivational Morphological Analysis as a Strategy for Vocabulary Acquisition in Spanish

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2003
Regina Morin
Although first language (L1) and second language (L2) research has indicated that the meanings of unknown words can be derived from the contexts in which they occur, research has also found limitations to the value of context. Using data gathered in a classroom experiment on L2 vocabulary acquisition (Frantzen, 1998), the present study sought to determine some of the reasons why the context in which a word appears does not always lead a language learner to an accurate interpretation of its meaning. It expands the existing research by using a natural, intact, unmanipulated text as the context (an aspect underrepresented in current L2 word inferencing literature). Analysis of the students' answers, their self,reported guessing strategies, the contexts in which the words appeared, and the text's glossing revealed that the "blame" for the incorrect answers may be placed on: (a) the context itself, (b) the students' behavior, and in a minor way (c) the story's glossing. Numerous patterns are presented and discussed in light of other L1 and L2 research and new patterns are reported. [source]