American state boards of education are calling for public schools to follow state educational “standards,” and for students to be tested against these standards periodically. We hear a cry from our political leaders to rewrite school mission statements to include discrete academic skills rather than goals supporting our students in becoming lifelong learners with skills in cooperation and problem solving. It is an important time to provide compelling descriptions of alternative educational models. This study provides one such description. Price Farm School was housed in an eighteenth century farmhouse in rural New Hampshire. With a commitment to “starting from scratch,” emphasizing the homemade, handmade or homegrown, the school's teachers provided an experiential education for up to twenty first through sixth grade students each year. To guide my research I attended to the following set of questions: What was Price Farm School's ethos, culture, climate? What were its guiding beliefs (philosophical foundations)? How did it emerge or evolve? What was its educative value? To address these questions, I analyzed data from a variety of sources including interviews with former students, teachers, interns and parents, student progress reports, students' journals, students' schoolwork, newsletters written by teachers to the school community, teachers' memos, and photographs taken of the children at school. I studied the data systematically to discover emergent themes and analyzed the pedagogical priorities and values implied by the themes. A review of the literature outlining the history of progressive education, constructivist learning theory, and brain-based educational learning principles served as the backdrop for my discussion of the philosophical underpinnings of this model. The themes most strongly represented in the data included a commitment to curriculum which was dependent upon the resources offered naturally by the seasons, and curriculum initiated in response to the interests, needs and development of the students. Information about teachers acting as coaches or facilitators in informal student-teacher relationships which were based on a balance between intimacy and trust, permeated the data. In an atmosphere of relaxed alertness, students at Price Farm School acquired the skills to become both academic and civic leaders in their subsequent schools.

This study examines the issue of educator power in the classroom and suggests a practical mechanism by which educators can reflect on their power use and develop a deeper consciousness of it in their teaching. A review of the literature conducted for this study revealed a gap in the discussion of educator power between the theoretical and practice-oriented literature bases. This study considers whether a comparable gap exists in actual practice and through phenomenological interviews investigates the perceptions of classroom power use for ten faculty in higher education. Through classroom observations, these perceptions are compared to classroom practices for all participants and gaps are seen for all ten participants. The theoretical frame of analysis for this study is drawn from the review of the educational literature including critical and feminist pedagogy, multicultural, social justice, humanistic, and teacher education, as well as faculty development and self awareness literatures. The examination of this literature highlights the areas of educator power presently underinvestigated in both theory and practice. Specifically, this review lead to the development of two models for understanding educator power: the Spheres of Educator Power and the Sites of Educator Power. The Spheres model is an organizational schema that groups educator power into three primary ‘spheres’, Public, Private and Intimate, with the bulk of the literature addressing the Public and the Private leaving the Intimate significantly underinvestigated. The Sites model further explores the Intimate Sphere and identifies seven fundamental sites of educator power in the classroom—social identity, teacher education programs, educational biography, personal history, content mastery, student abdication, and institutional conferrence. These two frames for understanding educator power, combined with the interview and observational results, are the foundation of an action—reflection model, the Power Praxis model, designed to assist educators in becoming more conscious of their use of power in the classroom. Rooted in the aforementioned literatures, it is believed that a deeper awareness of the use of educator power in the classroom as a result of this model will lead to a more empowering educational experience for both students and educators.

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The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has played a critical role in providing educational opportunity to students with disabilities. As the principles of the IDEA are foundational to teaching students with disabilities, it is necessary that both general education and special education teachers have an understanding of special education policy. This study examines teacher candidates’ knowledge of special education policy and their attitudes and perceptions of special education. The survey was distributed to teacher candidates in their final year of their teacher preparation program at a public university in the Southeast. Results indicated that teacher candidates in all teaching areas lacked knowledge of special education law. A difference was seen in the knowledge of special education and general education teacher candidates, as special education candidates had significantly higher knowledge. Teacher candidates who had higher perceived levels of knowledge also had higher actual knowledge, and candidates with lower perception also had lower knowledge. Implications of these results for educator preparation programs and current teachers are discussed.

This research examined two hypotheses involving mentally retarded students. The first hypothesis posited that an Experimental Group of subjects receiving intensive, individua~. short-term supportive counseling will display a higher rating score improvement on the five personality dimensions of confidence, maturity, self-discipline, assertiveness and independence following this counseling than will a Control Group of subjects receiving no such counseling. The second hypothesis posited that this same Experimental Group of subjects, aft~r receiving this counseling, will be distinguished by significantly higher job stability, defined as continuous and successful employment for six months following the end of counseling, than will the Control Group of subjects receiving no such counseling. To test these hypotheses, forty mentally retarded students were drawn at random from the Bobby Dodd Workshop for the Mentally Retarded; twenty were assigned to the Experimental Group, twenty to the Control Group, with members of both groups being matched as similarly as . . ~ Patricia A. Griffin possible regarding sex, age, I.Q. and race. At the beginning of this study, members of both the Experimental and Control Groups were rated by a qualified, independent rater on the five personality dimensions of confidence, maturity, self-discipline, assertiveness and independence. The ratinqs were made on a five point scale: a rating of 1 denoted poor; 2 denoted fair; 3 denoted average; 4 denoted good; and 5 denoted excellent. Following these pre-counseling ratings, subjects of the Control Group continued the normal training regimen of the Bobby Dodd Workshop. Subjects of the Experimental Group also con~inued this training,but in addition, underwent individual counseling twice a week for a six month period with a counseling psychologist who's counseling approach dealt with the conscious affective concerns of the subjects in an understanding, specific and exploratory manner. Following the six month counseling period, members of both the Experimental and Control Groups were rated a second time on the five personality dimensions. Comparison of postcounseling group r~ting score increases over pre-counseling group rating scores on each of the five personality dimensio~s were then made between the two groups. This comparison disclosed that th~ Experimental Group displayed a much higher rating score improvement than the Control Group on each of the five personality dimensions, thereby supporting the first hypothesis tested. Following the second perso1~ality dimension rating, y ' P~tricia A. Griffin efforts were made to place the subjects of both groups in employment. Six months later, a follow-up study was made to discover which subjects were still employed. Each subject was rated a score of 2 if he was employed, 1 if he was not. The rating scores obtained by the subjects in each group were statistically compared using "t"-tests. There was a significant difference in the rating scores of the two groups of subjects in favor of the Experimental Group, thereby supporting the second hypothesis

The purpose of these studies was to examine the effects of reprimands, a mild disciplinary procedure, and work observation and pay loss, a severe disciplinary procedure on the maintenance of high-quality work among mild developmentally disabled individuals employed as housekeepers. In general, participants were more responsive to reprimands after work observation and pay loss was applied. In addition, the increased sensitivity to reprimands appeared to generalize to other work settings for one participant. While participants' work quality varied across conditions, their work rate was relatively stable. These results are discussed in terms of other research that examined the use of reprimands in work settings.

A survey was made of the graduates of an educationally-oriented church-sponsored foster home placement agency. The subjects for the study had been graduated from high schools in Idaho, Arizona, Canada, and throughout Utah. There were 235 students graduated during the period 1954-1967. The survey of these subjects was made by the use of the mailed questionnaire method. Responses were received from 165 (70.21 percent) of the subjects. The investigator was searching for modal patterns of behavior among the graduates. Some significant trends seem to be emerging in their post-high school activities. Implications for future studies of the culturally disadvantaged are evident as a result of the study. The subjects of this study appear to be preparing themselves to become more self-reliant in their own culture and functional in the dominant culture. The accomplishments of the respondents compare favorably with those of their contemporaries of the non-Indian population.

The effects of social stories and script fading were investigated on increasing interactions of students with disabilities with their non-disabled peers. Social stories and script fading are treatments typically used for persons with autism spectrum disorder. This study examined effects on students with intellectual disabilities and multiple disabilities. In sequential treatments, social stories and 'scripts' were read to students just prior to their lunch, so each could be assessed on their effectiveness in increasing initiations and responses in social situations in a lunch line with typical students. Social stories and script fading were analyzed in the context of a multiple baseline design across three participants, all 12- to 14-year-old youth with significant intellectual disabilities. The study was conducted in a cafeteria as participants and other students stood in line, selected lunch items, and sat at tables to eat lunch. Data on social interactions were initially collected on five students without disabilities to serve as a benchmark for study participants. Results indicated that social stories were largely ineffective or minimally effective in increasing social interactions in the cafeteria for three participants. In contrast, the second treatment, scripts and script fading, was immediately and consistently effective in increasing social interactions. Generalization probes were consistent with intervention results. Results are discussed in terms of variables affecting efficacy of the two interventions and directions for future research.

This qualitative action research examines the effects, if any at all, the implementation of an interdisciplinary literacy unit in a fourth-grade classroom had on students' perceived writing self-efficacy. This study aims to inform the teacher-researcher to make actionable changes to current teaching. Additionally, this study continues the research and discussion surrounding how educators and stakeholders approach instruction. This research required participants to complete a pre-writing self-efficacy survey, participate in an interdisciplinary literacy unit and then complete a post writing self-efficacy survey. The interdisciplinary literacy unit took place during the distance learning environment that was a result of the global pandemic, COVID-19. During the interdisciplinary unit, participants used the disciplines of language arts, science, and math to learn about the concept of interdependence as it relates to the Eastern Oysters in Mosquito Lagoon, Florida. This research sought out to explore the Research Question (RQ): Does implementation of an interdisciplinary literacy approach affect students' writing self-efficacy? Findings of this study suggest that the implementation of an interdisciplinary literacy unit in a fourth-grade classroom maintains or increases self-efficacy for most of the research participants. Implications of this study affords educators training in interdisciplinary literacy practices, adequate planning time so that educators can collaborate with colleagues to plan for interdisciplinary literacy lessons and administering writing self-efficacy surveys multiple times a school year to gauge students' perceived writing self-efficacy. Beyond the classroom, this study offers opportunities of collaboration with families to inform them of their child's progress and self-efficacy levels to better support their child's continued learning.