Current Issues in Education (E-Journal, Arizona State University)
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Using Bloom's Revised Taxonomy to Analyze a Reading Comprehension Instrument
Get PDFThough the designers may claim otherwise, the vast majority of reading comprehension instruments measure a students mastery of specific skills, such as decoding or phonological awareness, rather than their ability to extract meaning from text. This article is the third in a series in which the researchers examine two specific Malaysian reading comprehension instruments developed by a team of researchers at the Universiti of Sains Malaysia. These tests were developed for the purpose of evaluating reading comprehension abilities of students in the primary grades (Test I for grade 1-3, Test II for grades 4-6) in Malaysia (NorHashim, 2006). In the previous studies, we established that the English version of the test was comparable to the Malay version, and that Blooms Revised Taxonomy: the Cognitive Dimension (Anderson, et al., 2001), could be used to classify the test items. In this study, we extend our prior work by comparing the Malay classification scheme with Blooms Revised Taxonomy: the Cognitive Dimension (Anderson, et al., 2001). We found that rarely did questions classified by the Malay structure as testing higher-order reading skills, such as evaluation, actually do so. Instead, most questions merely identified students reading skills, rather than comprehension. Thus, more work is needed in order to develop an instrument that actually measures the evaluative abilities of students as they interact with texts
Examining Technology and Teaching Efficacy of Preservice Teacher Candidates: A Deliberate Course Design Model
Get PDFTraining programs that improve technology self-efficacy of teacher candidates will better prepare candidates to overcome technology challenges with greater levels of confidence. The purpose of this study was to examine self-efficacy levels of preservice teacher candidates who participated in scaffolded technology training designed to establish and build upon personal successes and motivations related to technology skill development and use of technology. A purposeful sample of 424 pre-service teacher candidates enrolled in an Instructional Technology course were administered the Technology and Teaching Efficacy Scale at the beginning and end of the semester to assess perceived confidence in his or her abilities to implement technology into classroom lessons/activities to promote students' success through the use of technology. Findings suggest that preservice teacher candidates, who participated in a technology course that was designed to develop confidence in the use and implementation of technology had an impact on use of technology and teaching self-efficacy
Curriculum Disruption: A Vision for New Practices in Teaching and Learning
Get PDF With increased attention to measurable, common student achievement outcomes, the experience of both students and teachers has been overlooked. While measurable outcomes may possess value, they have served to shift the focus of schools, administrators, and teachers to writing curriculum that centers on assessable content learning rather than meaningful educational experiences for teachers and students alike. This study of a recent teacher workshop examines a lesson planning approach that is based on John Deweys notion of the aesthetic experience and places such experiences at the heart of the educational enterprise. Findings include the notion of curriculum disruption, which refers to an alteration of the improvement trajectory of standardized curricula, offering innovation in lesson planning.
Perceptions of Program Quality and Fidelity of an Arts-Based After School Program: A Process Evaluation
Get PDFParticipation in after school programs is associated with increases in academic achievement and improved behavior in students at risk. Process evaluation data from participants and key stakeholders was used to gauge implementation, satisfaction, and program attendance of an after school arts program. Lack of scheduling flexibility resulted in low attendance. Students and community partners reported problems with school staff. Students reported being less likely to react negatively to teachers and peers, and liked being in a safe place. Careful selection of staff members who provide autonomy, perceptions of safety, and varied activities may result in increased program attendance and satisfaction
Education: Misunderstood Purpose and Failed Solutions
Get PDFThere is so much quarrelling surrounding education today it seems people have lost sense of what needs arguing about, where there is a need for more research and where there are grounds for general agreement. Grounds now exist for shared agreement on matters of educational purpose. Moreover, there has in fact been much agreement on such matters over the years. With one flag to salute, people in education should be in a much better position to strategize on those tactics most likely to achieve our common pragmatically issued goals
Literacy Teachers' Interactions with Instructional Leaders: Students Reap the Benefits
Get PDFThis paper examines the interactions between literacy teachers and instructional leaders and their effects on students reading achievement gains. The results of this study have implications for how instructional leaders work with colleagues and how these relationships may impact student achievement.Forty-two suburban elementary and middle school literacy teachers reported the frequency and helpfulness of interactions with their instructional leaders. Findings indicate that curricular and assessment interactions occurred more frequently and were more helpful than instructional interactions. Students of these teachers who reported the most frequent and helpful interactions had significantly higher reading achievement gains than students of teachers who reported the least frequent and least helpful contacts
Functional Behavioral Assessment: The Link between Problem Behavior and Effective Intervention in Schools
Get PDFAn important current issue in education is the mandate in the 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997) that schools must conduct a functional behavioral assessment when a student's behavior disrupts the educational environment. This article reviews the literature on functional analysis and how it relates to the legal mandate for functional behavioral assessment in schools. Functional behavioral assessment is considered an important and frequently missing link between topographical descriptions of behavior and treatment planning. Problems with existing functional behavioral assessment methodologies include the complexity of data synthesis and treatment selection. Also, existing efforts to define functional behavioral assessment have not included sufficiently diverse theoretical models for the causes of behavior or for treatment. In contrast, we provide a definition of functional behavioral assessment that includes proximal, distal, physiological, and intrapsychic causes of problem behavior. Based on this definition, a multimodal, team problem-solving approach to conducting functional behavioral assessments and developing behavior intervention plans in schools is proposed. The proposed approach distributes complex decision making across team members, includes multiple theoretical perspectives, can be readily adopted by existing child study teams, and is in compliance with the 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
A Comparative Study of Symbolic Reading: Salt Peddler and Shinbone
Get PDFThis article investigates the interplay of cultural knowledge, symbolic language, and interpretive reading comprehension, focusing on the role of culture in symbolic understanding of text. Eight graduate students from two different cultural communities read and discussed a Korean folktale. Data were collected in the form of initial written responses and discussion transcripts. Thematic interpretative qualitative analyses are reported on initial reading stances, symbolic understandings, and efforts to identify the moral of the tale. Overall the analyses show that Korean readers focused mostly on discerning the morality being communicated symbolically through the story, whereas the American readers focused on individual values and freedoms to make sense of the story. Our findings indicate that there will be diversity in symbolic reading comprehension both across cultural groups and within cultural groups. We propose that when readers from several cultures come together in classrooms to talk about symbolic texts it is important for them to reflect on how they use their own cultural reference points to form similar and dissimilar understandings and interpretations. Heightening this awareness of diversity within cultural knowledge provides exciting and beneficial experiences for readers in today's multicultural classrooms. (Reading Comprehension, Symbolic Reading, Multicultural, Literacy Research, Cross-Cultural Study
