Digital Commons Network^™

Educating Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders: Is Teacher Certification Area Associated With Academic Outcomes?, Samantha E. Goldman, Allison F. Gilmour

Education Department Faculty Works

Although typically taught by special educators, few studies have examined if certification area is associated with academic outcomes for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The purpose of this study was to determine whether students with ASD scored better on language arts and mathematics state assessments depending on teacher certification, and whether these associations varied by assessment type. We analyzed 3 years of state administrative data from students with ASD in grades 4–8 receiving special education services. Results showed students taking the regular or alternate assessment had similar academic outcomes regardless of teacher certification. Students who were taught by special …

Classroom Management And Remote Teaching: Tools For Defining And Teaching Expectations, Samantha E. Goldman, Jamie B. Finn, Melissa J. Leslie

Education Department Faculty Works

The remote instruction context presents many challenges for teachers, including managing student behavior. The practice of defining and teaching expectations is considered a high-leverage practice in special education, and should be applied to the remote setting to support the learning of students with and without disabilities. We present four recommended steps for adapting this practice for the remote setting and use a fictional vignette with example materials to demonstrate the process. Additionally, we provide other useful online resources for providing effective online instruction for students with disabilities.

Social Validity Of A School-Home Note Intervention For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders: Independent Stakeholder Perspectives, Samantha E. Goldman, Maria P. Mello

Education Department Faculty Works

High quality communication between school and home is reported to be highly valued by parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, they remain dissatisfied with school-home communication and limited empirical research has addressed this topic. One study that used a school-home note with parent-provided, home-based reinforcement to reduce child off-task behavior showed differential results for some students, but high social validity according to parent and teacher participants. In this study we evaluated the social validity of this school-home note intervention from the perspective of other parents of children with ASD—outside consumers who did participate directly in the intervention. …

Developing Special Education Advocates: What Changes During An Advocacy Training Program?, Samantha E. Goldman, Brittney L. Goscicki, Meghan M. Burke, Robert M. Hodapp

Education Department Faculty Works

Background: Special education advocacy trainings, such as the Volunteer Advocacy Project (VAP), have the goal of training advocates who can eventually support families in accessing needed services for students with disabilities. In addition to the training goal of increasing participants' special education knowledge and advocacy comfort, it is unknown if the VAP improves other participant outcomes related to later advocacy.

Specific Aims: In this study, we asked: (1) Do VAP participants improve from pre‐ to post‐test on knowledge and advocacy comfort, as well as on role identity, involvement in the disability community, and empowerment?; (2) Do participants' roles and levels …

The Perceptions Of School Involvement Of Parents Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Literature Review, Samantha E. Goldman, Meghan M. Burke

Education Department Faculty Works

Several different types of parent involvement with schools have been identified in the special education and general education literature, including (a) advocacy, (b) collaborative partnership, (c) home-school communication, and (d) school-based participation. However, it is unclear which types of involvement are addressed in the literature and how parents of children with autism spectrum disorders perceive these types of school involvement. In this systematic literature review, we synthesized this body of literature, which consisted of 37 studies published from 2001 to 2017. Authors addressed all four types of parent involvement using a range of measures, most frequently addressing home-school communication. Limitations …

The Perceptions And Goals Of Special Education Advocacy Trainees, Samantha E. Goldman, Meghan M. Burke, Maria P. Mello

Education Department Faculty Works

Although the field of special education advocacy is growing, little is known about the perceptions and goals of individuals who participate in advocacy trainings. It is important to understand why individuals want advocacy training to design more effective programs and determine whether training meets participant expectations. In this study, we evaluated the perceptions of 142 participants who completed the Volunteer Advocacy Project (VAP), a special education advocacy training. Using participants’ responses to open-ended questions on the VAP application, we examined the perceptions of caregivers and professionals to understand their motivations for becoming advocates, their plans for using their newfound knowledge …

Developing Future Citizens Of America: Repositioning Social Studies Education In An Era Of Accountability, Lisa D'Souza, Meagan Kullberg

Education Department Faculty Works

As a discipline, social studies develops critical and historical thinking skills while exposing students to democratic values. Such skills remain essential to preparing future leaders of America. Yet, recent research continues to demonstrate the increased marginalization of social studies, especially in light of educational reform movements and accountability measures. This study interviewed eight 3rd grade teachers from diverse central Massachusetts elementary schools to better understand the voices of teachers. In particular, the teachers described factors impacting their instructional opportunities in social studies. Implications from this study include additional collaborative opportunities with other educators at the same grade level to gain …

Effects Of Parent Implemented Visual Schedule Routines For African American Children With Asd In Low-Income Home Settings, Samantha E. Goldman, Carrie A. Glover, Blair P. Lloyd, Erin E. Barton, Maria P. Mello

Education Department Faculty Works

Low-income, minority families are underrepresented in the literature on parent training for school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although the use of visual supports, such as visual schedules, is considered to be an evidence-based practice for children with ASD in school, it is not known whether this strategy is effective for minority, low-income families when implemented by the parent in the home setting. This study used a multiple-baseline across routines design replicated across two African American child-mother dyads to examine the effects of a parent-implemented visual schedule procedure on child independent schedule use and between-activity transitions. Parent participants were …

Predictors Of Participant Perceptions Of Facilitated Individualized Education Program Meeting Success, Samantha E. Goldman, Carolyn Q. Mason

Education Department Faculty Works

Facilitated Individualized Education Program (FIEP) meetings present one option for early, alternative dispute resolution in special education. Although it has been suggested that this process may be useful in resolving disputes and improving relationships, these hypotheses have not been directly addressed. In this study, we used individual participant feedback data collected by a northwestern state over a 2-year period to answer the following research questions: (a) What are the perceived outcomes of FIEP meetings in terms of agreement, reduced future use of procedural safeguards, and improved relationships between school staff and family? and (b) What are the predictors of these …

Facilitated Individualized Education Planning: The State Of Implementation And Evaluation, Carolyn Q. Mason, Samantha E. Goldman

Education Department Faculty Works

Facilitated individualized education planning (FIEP) presents an alternative to formalized dispute resolution procedures, which can have damaging financial and relational consequences for families and schools. Although recommended as an alternative dispute resolution practice, minimal research has examined its implementation and evaluation. In this study, we described where and how FIEP was being implemented and what types of data state educational agencies (SEAs) implementing FIEP were collecting. In two phases, we contacted representatives of each SEA in the United States, asking them to complete a survey on their state’s use of FIEP, and then to share outcome and participant feedback data …

The Effectiveness Of Interventions To Increase Parent Involvement In Special Education: A Systematic Literature Review And Meta-Analysis, Samantha E. Goldman, Meghan M. Burke

Education Department Faculty Works

Although parent involvement is required by special education law and is important for all students, the literature synthesizing studies on parent involvement has focused on the general education parent population, often without addressing students with disabilities. The purpose of this review was to descriptively synthesize the literature on parent training interventions to increase parent involvement for parents of school-age students with disabilities and to evaluate the effects of this intervention using meta-analysis. The literature on parent involvement interventions was minimal, with few recent peer-reviewed studies; all included studies focused on parent involvement in the context of Individualized Education Program (IEP) …

Changes In One Teacher's Proportional Reasoning Instruction After Participating In A Cgi Professional Development Workshop, Jessica A. De La Cruz

Education Department Faculty Works

This study examined how one teacher used research-based knowledge of how adolescents think about proportions. Observations, interviews, document collection, and a workshop intervention were utilized. The design of the workshop was inspired by the cognitively guided instruction studies and its purpose was to explore the research findings on adolescents' thinking about proportions. An individual case study was created to describe the teacher's instruction related to proportion concepts, rationales for instructional decisions, beliefs, and changes in all of these areas after participating in the workshop intervention. The case presented here shows positive changes in the teacher's instruction and beliefs after the …

Expanding Local To Global Through Esri Story Maps, Ann Marie Gleeson, Lisa Andries D'Souza

Education Department Faculty Works

For decades, the “expanding communities” model has dominated the elementary classroom, sustained by notions that young children need to first understand their local communities before they can understand the broader world. As proponents of this approach value how it supports young learners developmentally, critics fault its narrow scope. How will children become global thinkers if they fail to explore the world beyond their home?

Instead of separating local and global perspectives and topics, we set out to integrate them, to teach children about the world through their local communities. We created Community Story Maps as an inquiry-driven project where students …

Prospective Teachers' Considerations During The Lesson Planning Process, Jessica A. De La Cruz

Education Department Faculty Works

This paper presents an action research project completed in a mathematics methods course for prospective elementary school teachers. The goal was to determine if instructional practices were effective at preparing teachers to use students’ thinking to inform instructional decisions. The teachers’ ability to predict students’ strategies and the teachers’ considerations during the planning process were investigated. The teachers selected a task involving the comparison of ratios, anticipated students’ strategies for completing the task, and explained their rationale. The prospective teachers effectively predicted students’ strategies; however, those student strategies were not a consideration during the task selection process for the majority.

Preparing Preservice Secondary Social Studies Teachers For Common Core, Lisa Andries D'Souza, Ann Marie Gleeson

Education Department Faculty Works

For history and social studies educators, the Common Core standards present a new challenge, asking teachers explicitly to integrate literacy skills into their instruction. As K-12 and higher education institutions think about how to support teachers to meet this charge (Gewertz, 2012b; Sawchuk, 2012), this study uses the work of preservice teachers to examine how they address and fail to address Common Core standards. Our findings are based on qualitative analysis of unit plans (105 lessons) from preservice secondary history teachers. Analysis was completed on individual lessons and then on each unit holistically. Finally the units were analyzed collectively in …

Eyewitness To The Mushroom Clouds: A Dorchester Native, The Bomb, And Its Power To Transform An Ordinary Life, Anita C. Danker

Education Department Faculty Works

The nuclear testing program the United States conducted in the Pacific a half-century ago was a national event with life-altering consequences for ordinary citizens who participated in the undertaking. This is the story of Dick Clayton, a Dorchester resident who struggled for years to find meaningful employment before securing his dream job at a local electronics firm with links to the Manhattan Project. Clayton’s career took off during an economic boom fueled by the expansion of defense spending after World War II; on assignment at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands during the height of the atomic age, he engaged in …

Proportional Reasoning Instruction: A Cognitively Guided Approach To Professional Development, Jessica A. De La Cruz

Education Department Faculty Works

Content-specific cognitively guided instruction (CGI) professional development programs have been shown to lead to positive changes in instruction in the elementary grades. This paper presents the results of a study that investigates how teachers use new knowledge gained from a CGI professional development workshop, on proportional reasoning in the middle grades, to inform their instructional decisions. Four teachers’ instruction and their rationales for their instructional decisions were examined before and after the workshop intervention. All four teachers’ instruction changed to become more cognitively guided.

Reflecting On Pupil Learning To Promote Social Justice: A Catholic University's Approach To Assessment, Patrick J. Mcquillan, Lisa A. D'Souza, Aubrey J. Scheopner, Grant R. Miller, Ann Marie Gleeson, Kara Mitchell, Sarah Enterline, Marilyn Cochran-Smith

Education Department Faculty Works

In contrast to current education policies that conceptualize pupil learning largely in terms of standardized exam scores, we offer an alternative view, one that conceives of pupil learning as a source of insight for pupils and teachers alike. Drawing on survey data and a qualitative study of the teacher candidate experience, we explore the following questions: In a teacher education program committed to promoting social justice, embracing an inquiry-into-practice stance, and affirming diversity by meeting the needs of diverse learners, how do teacher candidates assess pupil learning, in particular, how are their assessments influenced by these program themes? Further, how …