Education Commons^™

Social Compass Curriculum: Three Descriptive Case Studies Of Social Skills Outcomes For Students With Autism, Louanne E. Boyd, Deborah M. Ward

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

The Social Compass Curriculum (SCC) was investigated for its effectiveness in improving core social skills in three descriptive case studies of students with autism. Treatment fidelity of the SCC was also measured in the school setting. The Social Responsiveness Scale and the Autism Social Skills Profile were completed by parents to measure pre- and postintervention social skills for three students aged 8 to 11 years who participated in the present multisite pilot study. Fidelity of implementation data were collected via a checklist during observations for three educators who implemented the intervention. Results indicate that the SCC improved core social deficits …

From Kids, Through Kids, To Kids: Examining The Social Influence Strategies Used By Adolescents To Promote Prevention Among Peers, Janice L. Krieger, Samantha Coveleski, Michael L. Hecht, Michelle Miller-Day, John W. Graham, Jonathan Pettigrew, Allison Kootsikas

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Recent technological advances have increased the interest and ability of lay audiences to create messages; however, the feasibility of incorporating lay multimedia messages into health campaigns has seldom been examined. Drawing on the principle of cultural grounding and narrative engagement theory, this article seeks to examine what types of messages adolescents believe are most effective in persuading their peers to resist substance use and to provide empirical data on the extent to which audience-generated intervention messages are consistent with the associated campaign philosophy and branding. Data for the current study are prevention messages created by students as part of a …

Narrative Means To Preventative Ends: A Narrative Engagement Framework For Designing Prevention Interventions, Michelle Miller-Day, Michael L. Hecht

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This article describes a Narrative Engagement Framework (NEF) for guiding communication-based prevention efforts. This framework suggests that personal narratives have distinctive capabilities in prevention. The article discusses the concept of narrative, links narrative to prevention, and discusses the central role of youth in developing narrative interventions. As illustration, the authors describe how the NEF is applied in the keepin' it REAL adolescent drug prevention curriculum, pose theoretical directions, and offer suggestions for future work in prevention communication.

Describing Teacher–Student Interactions: A Qualitative Assessment Of Teacher Implementation Of The 7th Grade Keepin’ It Real Substance Use Intervention, Jonathan Pettigrew, Michelle Miller-Day, Young Ju Shin, Michael L. Hecht, Janice L. Krieger, John W. Graham

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Variations in the delivery of school-based substance use prevention curricula affect students' acquisition of the lesson content and program outcomes. Although adaptation is sometimes viewed as a lack of fidelity, it is unclear what types of variations actually occur in the classroom. This observational study investigated teacher and student behaviors during implementation of a middle school-based drug prevention curriculum in 25 schools across two Midwestern states. Trained observers coded videos of 276 lessons, reflecting a total of 31 predominantly Caucasian teachers (10 males and 21 females) in 73 different classes. Employing qualitative coding procedures, the study provides a working typology …

Education As Class Warfare. An Interview With Scholar/Author Peter Mclaren, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

An interview with Peter McLaren about educational reform and how his work is influenced by Marxist theory.

Random Assignment Of Schools To Groups In The Drug Resistance Strategies Rural Project: Some New Methodological Twists, John W. Graham, Jonathan Pettigrew, Michelle Miller-Day, Janice L. Krieger, Jiangxiu Zhou, Michael L. Hecht

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Random assignment to groups is the foundation for scientifically rigorous clinical trials. But assignment is challenging in group randomized trials when only a few units (schools) are assigned to each condition. In the DRSR project, we assigned 39 rural Pennsylvania and Ohio schools to three conditions (rural, classic, control). But even with 13 schools per condition, achieving pretest equivalence on important variables is not guaranteed. We collected data on six important school-level variables: rurality, number of grades in the school, enrollment per grade, percent white, percent receiving free/assisted lunch, and test scores. Key to our procedure was the inclusion of …

Write For Your Life: Developing Digital Literacies And Writing Pedagogy In Teacher Education, Shartriya Collier, Brian Foley, David Moguel, Ian Barnard

English Faculty Articles and Research

The need for the effective development of digital literacies pervades every aspect of instruction in contemporary classrooms. As a result, teacher candidates must be equipped to draw upon a variety of literacies in order to tap into the complex social worlds of their future pupils. The Write for Your Life Project was designed to strengthen teacher candidates’ skills in both traditional and digital writing literacies through the use of social networks, blogging, texting, online modules and other social media. The project, to a large degree, was structured according to Calkins’ (1994) Writing Workshop Approach. This process encourages teacher candidates to …

Using Facebook And Other Snss In K-12 Classrooms: Ethical Considerations For Safe Social Networking, Keith Howard

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The purpose of this article is to examine the potential risks of bringing social networking sites (SNS) into the classroom through the lens of Moor's (1999) just-consequentialist theory. Moor compares the setting of ethical policies in the fast-changing world of technology to a sailor trying to set a course while sailing. His analogy could not be more appropriate for educators' attempts to cope with the question of online social networking in schools. Educators must weigh the potential advantages of using SNSs in educational settings against the risks that such inclusion would entail. If the proper precautions are not taken, student …

Culturally Responsive Methodologies At Work In Education Settings, Mere Berryman, Suzanne Soohoo, Ann Nevin, Te Arani Barrett, Therese Ford, Debora Joy Nodelman, Norma Valenzuela, Anna Wilson

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe culturally responsive methodology as a way to develop researchers. The aim is to illuminate the dimensions of culturally responsive methodology such as cultural and epistemological pluralism, deconstruction of Western colonial traditions of research, and primacy of relationships within culturally responsive dialogic encounters. An overarching question is: “How can we maintain the original integrity of both participants and researchers and their respective cultures and co-construct at the same time something new?”

Design/methodology/approach – Five case study narratives are described in order for readers to understand the range and types of studies …

Family Portraits: Past And Present Representations Of Parents In Special Education Text Books, Dianne L. Ferguson, Philip M. Ferguson, Joanne Kim, Corrine Li

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This paper analyses the descriptions of families of children with disabilities as contained in introductory special education texts over the last 50 years. These text books are typically used in pre-service teacher education courses as surveys of the education of ‘exceptional children’. The textbooks reflect the mainstream professional assumptions of the era about topics such as disability, special education, inclusion, and family/school linkages. However, they also shape the assumptions of the next generation of educators about these same topics. The paper summarises the results of a qualitative document analysis of a sample of these textbooks from two different eras. The …

Cultivating Democracy At One High School Intervention Program For Latinos At Risk Of Dropping Out, Margaret Sauceda Curwen, Keith Howard

Education Faculty Articles and Research

In California, where this study takes place, it is estimated that 85,000 students drop out of high school annually. Consequences are often linked to economic and social issues including long term economic costs to the state and the likelihood of lesser participation in voting and civic engagement (Rumberger, 2012). This account documents one high school’s alternative intervention program that includes online academic credit recovery and socio-emotional guidance leading to graduation for Latino students who are at risk of dropping out. Findings highlight the program’s support for these students in gaining confidence in self, envisioning themselves in the community and, for …

Assessing Intern Impact Factors For Program Evaluation And Improvement, John Brady, Randy T. Busse, Jeanne Anne Carriere, Michael Hass, Kelly S. Kennedy

Education Faculty Articles and Research

We present the results of a program evaluation system for examining school psychology interns' impact on the academic and behavioral functioning of children. Outcome data from a variety of single-case problem-solving interventions conducted from 2008-2012 indicated overall moderate, positive effects. Global supervisor ratings indicated strong perceptions of the interns' positive impact on the children they served.