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This teaching tip describes an intervention used in a third-grade classroom implemented to help students pass an end-of-grade reading comprehension test. Low scores on a practice end-of-grade comprehension test prompted a re-examination of classroom reading instruction and a plan for intervention. This teaching tip describes the phases implemented over an eight-week period to add the Question Answer Relationship (QAR) strategy to students’ reader's toolboxes to increase comprehension and improve test scores. Most student scores on end-of-grade test increased after this intervention, which supports the use of QAR to improve test scores while furthering literacy development.

The current educational climate promotes examination of the effectiveness of educators’ pedagogical practices based on student outcomes. Qualitative and quantitative data from summative evaluations...

This article provides the rationale for effective music assessment that tracks individual progress across time and offers examples to illustrate assessment of a range of music-learning goals. Gauging progress across time helps students become more mastery-oriented, while showing more effort and positive attitudes. As instruction and assessment become more focused on individual students, practices such as private lessons within the group setting and individual performance assessment emerge. Examples based on current strategies used by practicing teachers illustrate these practices.

Music educators can nurture students’ lifelong musical involvement, both as consumers and as participants. Orienting musical instructional practices around classroom elements suggested by achievement goal theory can foster lifelong musical connections. Practices related to using meaningful and challenging tasks, evaluations that decrease emphasis on competition and emphasize effort and enjoyment, and allowing students to participate in decision making are advocated and described.

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Spelling proficiency is crucial to young students' feelings of success and an important part of overall literacy. In fact, poor performance in spelling often reduces motivation for general literacy. Unfortunately, spelling instruction is often inconsistent in elementary schools. Using Achievement Goal Theory, the authors describe how students' efforts are encouraged or discouraged based on instructional approaches and activities used to teach spelling. They outline specific research-based teaching techniques that will help to motivate all students with spelling and improve their motivation for literacy learning.

The current spotlight on assessment in education raises ethical issues as practices evolve. This study documents ethical conflicts faced by teachers in the United States regarding assessment of students. Critical incidents generated by practising teachers revealed a majority of reported conflicts related to score pollution, and conflicts frequently arose between teachers’ perceptions of institutional demands and the needs of students. The most frequently mentioned assessment topics causing conflict included grading, standardised testing, and special populations. These findings suggest that explicit guidelines for defining and avoiding unethical behaviour would be helpful to teachers in developing their assessment practices.

valuating students' performance and measuring growth are ongoing foundational activities in the educational process. This article evolved from conversations between the authors about essential information that preservice teachers need to be able to assess their students fairly and effectively. Although our expertise is in different fields-educational psychology and music education-we both have experience working with future music educators. In our discussions, critical themes emerged that are basic for evaluating musical skills and knowledge. Using our experience and current research, we created six principles for developing effective measurement tools. These principles can remind experienced teachers and provide guidance for novice educators about core issues in music assessment.

The Student Evaluation Standards call for student evaluations to be ethical, fair, useful, feasible, and accurate. However, little is known about educators' perceptions about the ethics of student evaluation practices. This study was designed to examine the degree of agreement among administrators about ethical student evaluation practices. It describes the results from a Web-based survey of principals and principal candidates in which they read a brief scenario and indicated whether the student evaluation practice in the depiction was ethical or unethical. Results show diversity in educators' perceptions about the ethicality of student evaluation practices and indicate a need for continued dialog and professional training of practitioners in ethical conduct.

Student evaluations should “be ethical, fair, useful, feasible, and accurate” [JCSEE (2003). The student evaluation standards. Arlen Gullickson, Chair. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin]. This study focuses on defining ethical behavior and examining educators’ ethical judgments in relation to assessment. It describes the results from a web-based survey of educators in which they read a brief scenario and indicated whether the student evaluation practice in the depiction was ethical or unethical. Results showed strong agreement among the educators on fewer than half of the scenarios presented in this study. These findings suggest that assessment is currently an educational realm without professional consensus.

One elementary school's ongoing process in developing an appropriate action research requirement for teacher candidates during their student teaching experience (internship) is described. The assignment has evolved from a pilot project with one intern and mentor teacher to a requirement for all interns at the school. Several issues that emerged over time are addressed. These include encouragement of a problem-solving or inquiry stance that facilitates a focus on teacher candidates' impact on their students, the role of systematic data collection and analysis, ensuring ownership by the interns, and generalization of the problem-solving process from one project to other situations.

This study examined the effect on at-risk second graders of twice weekly peer-tutoring sessions with repeated readings combined with once per week tutoring by a college student. The college student addressed onsets and rimes appearing in errors made by the second graders during peer tutoring and noted by the peer tutors. The authors monitored reading progress weekly using curriculum-based measurement (CBM) reading probes administered by graduate students from a local school psychology specialist program. Tutored students who completed the program attained a median gain of 30 words read correctly (WRC) over the 10-week period of the study. A comparison group showed a median gain of 20 words read correctly. Peer tutors and tutees consistently reported satisfaction with the experience.

Educators are becoming increasingly sensitive to accommodating the needs of students from diverse backgrounds in their classes while ensuring that learning occurs. Group work often is the vehicle chosen to stimulate participation and positively affect learning. In this paper, we describe the development of parallel case studies related to diversity issues and motivational strategies for use in educational psychology and introductory human resource management courses, the reactions engendered, and issues related to classroom discussion groups. Overall, the cases were effective in stimulating higher-level thinking about real world, diversity-related issues.

This study explored verbal motivational strategies in exemplary teachers’ classrooms. A framework derived from expectancy-value theory, which addresses student motivation for academic tasks, was applied. Audiotaped math and literacy lessons of two exemplary second-grade teachers showed a high number of comments related to expectancies and relatively fewer related to valuing tasks. In addition, teachers made more motivational statements when in the process of instruction than when introducing or concluding instructional episodes. Interviews revealed that some teacher beliefs, such as the importance of rationales or ensuring student success, were related to classroom strategies. Implications for theory, practice, and research are discussed.

Constructivism, a multifaceted philosophical position on the nature of knowledge and educational practice, has recently emerged both in the literature on learning and in school reform efforts, desp...

This study explored the adaptation and impact of curriculum-based measures (CBM) of oral reading in a general education classroom. Using interviews and classroom observations, this study examined one teacher's modification of CBM for use in her fourth-grade general education classroom. The teacher used information from monthly administration of CBM oral reading measures to modify classwide and individual instruction and to inform students and their parents of progress. The interplay of qualitative and quantitative elements of the information was important for the teacher's own use of the assessment, but she appeared to emphasize quantitative elements such as relative standing or progress using numerical scores when interacting with parents and students. Three key elements in this teacher's CBM practice— standardization, reduced time requirements, and qualitative inferences—may provide insight into some of the important assessment needs of general education teachers.

An important application of attribution theory deals with leader explanations for subordinate performance and their effects on future leader–member interactions and performance. In the present study, subjects worked on a 2-trial task in which there was a leader and 2 members. Leaders received performance feedback and an attributional explanation for subordinate performance after Trial 1, and subsequent Trial 2 behavior was videotaped. Results showed that attributions significantly affected the amount of time spent by the leader talking to the group during the second trial, as well as the number of negative leader comments. Level of performance was a significant determinant of subordinate ratings and reward/punishment recommendations. Attributions differentially affected the punishment advocated by leaders, with failure due to internal causes more likely to be punished than failure due to external causes. Implications for an attributional theory of leadership are discussed.

This research demonstrates the experimenting society model using data-based decision making and collaborative consultation to generate and evaluate three classwide behavior management intervention ...

Parents ( N=21) of children receiving special education resource room services in reading were interviewed to learn about their views concerning these services and reintegration decisions. Quantitative and qualitative research strategies were used to scale attitudes and cluster responses. Most parents had strong positive attitudes toward resource room services. The basis for these attitudes was explored, and it was found that parents' satisfaction was derived primarily from subjective perceptions (such as teachers' caring), rather than academic performance data. Most parents were reluctant to have their children reintegrated into general education classes for reading instruction. Findings are discussed in the context of special education reform efforts.

A reconsideration of the scientist-practitioner model is presented, following a brief historical account of its foundations and assumptions. The present reconsideration incorporates viewpoints of s...

The use of Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) in a data-based problemsolving framework is described as an approach to instructional consultation. This approach .emphasizes a clear focus on improving student outcomes as a criterion for consultation success, and it provides procedures for formative evaluation to occur during the consultation process. A case study is described to illustrate the use of CBM data at each stage of the data-based, problem-solving consultation perspective.

Two field studies were conducted to assess the effect of signs describing how to report a shoplifting on bystander intervention to a staged theft. In the first study, signs providing directions and one of three rationales for reporting had a small effect on attitudes toward reporting and no effect on intervention. In the second study, a definition of the situation as a shoplifting by a confederate had a strong influence on subjects reporting, but presence or absence of signs describing how to report had no impact. Differences between interpersonal and nonpersonal influences are described, and implications for informational campaigns to increase crime reporting are discussed.

Ninety subjects read one of eight paragraphs describing an encounter between a same-sex actor and a target person. The Actor's implied evaluation of the target (positive or negative) and whether the subject or another person of the same sex was identified as the target were varied. When subjects allocated attribution points to target, actor, and circumstances, both selfenhancing and self-protective biases were demonstrated; i.e., when subjects themselves were target persons, most attributions to the self and least to circumstances were made in the positive evaluation condition and fewest attributions to the self and most to circumstances were made in the negative evaluation condition. No sex differences were found. Discrepancies with an open-ended measure were discussed. Previous studies have shown that self-serving biases affect attributions about one's own behavior; this study demonstrates that these biases also affect perceptions of another person's behavior.

Two studies on interpersonal attraction were conducted at a commercial video-dating service. Profiles of members were rated on age, physical attractiveness, status, humor and warmth. In the first study, significant differences were found between popular and unpopular males, physically attractive males being more popular. Popular females were found to be younger and more attractive than unpopular females. The second study investigated the dating choices and rejections of twenty new members. Higher status and physical attractiveness were significant predictors of males being chosen by females, whereas the only significant predictor of females being chosen by males was physical attractiveness. Males tended to choose and reject younger women. and females tended to choose and reject older men. There was also a tendency for both sexes to choose targets of higher social desirability and reject targets of lower social desirability. We concluded that the male-older, female-younger norm and physical attractiveness are important factors in dating initiation strategies for both sexes, although females also rely on status.

A general model of attribution is proposed, it is suggested that the attribution process begins with the attention of the perceiver, which is influenced by cognitive, motivational, and stimulus factors. Once attention is directed, a taxonomy of variables determines the attribution, depending on how much information the perceiver has about the actor. For a stranger, where the least information is available, the attribution depends on whether a person schema or normative script is salient, and whether or not the behavior is expected. For the self, where the most information is available, the direction of the attribution depends on set valence (beliefs about the self in this situation) and whether the behavior is positive or negative. Integration of the model with previous research in areas such as the fundamental attribution error, expectancy violation, the self-serving bias, and the actor-observer bias also is discussed.

Processing effort for schema-consistent, inconsistent, and neutral information was assessed by a secondary task technique. Schema-consistent and inconsistent information received similar processing effort, and both of these received greater effort than schema-irrelevant (neutral) information. These results suggest that the amount of cognitive effort in processing a sentence is dependent on the relevance of the sentence to a particular schema, and not on whether or not it fits the schema.

Age as a causal variable is discussed in terms of structure and content. It is suggested that old age is seen as a facilitative cause for behaviors consistent with the negative elderly stereotype and as an inhibitory cause for behaviors that contradict it. Examination of attributions to age suggests a wide range of underlying assumptions that should be explored. Though age may be difficult to classify using Weiner's dimensions of stability and locus, the controllability dimension appears to be very important to the meaning of aging as a causal variable.

Participants reacted to descriptions of initiations of heterosexual relationships in which the sequence of two initiations (starting a conversation and issuing a dinner invitation) and the sex of the two initiators were factorially manipulated. Male first-initiators were perceived more positively than female first-initiators, regardless of type of initiation, and indirect initiations (conversation first) were perceived as more acceptable than direct initiations (dinner invitation first) for both sexes. Male respondents indicated more willingness to engage in both types of initiations than females. There were no other sex differences in perceptions.

A confederate interacted with shoppers in a supermarket in a friendly or rude manner. She then shoplifted an item in full view of each shopper. Subjects' reporting of the crime was not affected by the interaction, suggesting the act of reporting was not one of retribution for the subject. Other factors that may influence crime reporting are discussed, as well as possible reasons why results of this study conflict with previous role-playing findings.

Sociometric and stereotypic ratings were administered after subjects viewed a videotape of either a male or a female homosexual stimulus person. Some subjects were informed that the stimulus person was gay before viewing the tape, some were informed after viewing, and the remainder were never informed. Trait ratings were more stereotypical and sociometric ratings were less favorable for all targets in disclosure conditions (either immediate or delayed). Homosexual targets were judged more stereotypically by subjects of their own sex. Timing did not influence trait ratings, but males rated targets more harshly in delayed than in immediate disclosure conditions. Limitations for the generality of these findings are discussed.

Research on attitudes and perceptions of the aged is critically reviewed. Problems with early survey research methods such as lack of generalizability, susceptibility to demand characteristics, and inattention to psychometric quality are discussed. Recent studies are examined in terms of characteristics of the stimuli and contexts, and characteristics of the perceivers employed in them. Methodological and conceptual issues in these three categories are used to organize the body of research that exists. Suggestions are made for future research in which the use of multiple measures in specific contexts is emphasized.

A study was designed to examine the relationship between students' attitudes, their willingness to work with elderly patients, and the impact of a geriatric rotation on a randomly selected subset of the group. A pretest/post-test design was used in which 148 third-year medical students completed a multidimensional questionnaire on two occasions eight weeks apart. Highly significant correlations were found between the expressed intention of the student to work with the elderly and positive feelings about previous professional contact (r = .26, P less than .001), previous personal contact (r = .17, P less than .002), belief that working with the elderly is rewarding (r = .30, P less than .0001), high degree of comfort in working with the elderly (r = .21, P less than .01), and positive stereotypes about the elderly (r = .14, P less than .05). Despite the students' positive rating of the geriatric rotation, multiple regression analysis indicated that the best predictor of an index of intentions to work with elderly patients on the post-test was this same index of intentions on the pretest (multiple r = .58, P less than .001). These findings, as well as the actual attitudes and stereotypes held by the students, have major implications for the planning and development of medical students' experiences in geriatrics.