This study follows the progress of 11 elementary students who exhibited similar language-arts deficiencies and were treated with traditional and non-traditional language-arts remediation methods. Non-traditional methods were exclusively Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) lessons that required students to observe, talk about, and write about art images using a DBAE framework. Portfolios maintained by the students during one complete school year included writings and art production. Writings were marked using a color-coding system developed for the research project and designed to track growth in art cognition. Interviews for affective measure and the Test of Non-Verbal Intelligence, Edition II were administered as pre- and post-tests. Evidence indicated art understanding improved as cognition in language arts improved. Change in attitudes toward art and artists demonstrated a slight positive change. No significant difference was detected in non-verbal intelligence.

Photocopy of typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

An experimental comparison was made of two mediations of spelling instruction with sight words: a traditional paper and pencil presentation and a computer-assisted presentation. Five students identified as learning disabled participated in the investigation over the course of five to six weeks in an elementary mainstreamed setting. The microcomputer presentation consisted of a commercially available spelling program incorporating visual and auditory error verification procedures. A counterbalanced ABAC/ACAB intrasubject replication design was used to evaluate the spelling performances (percent correct, correct spelling sequences, and rates of responses).Findings1. The results indicated that the microcomputer presentation of the spelling words did not effectively enhance achievement over that of paper and pencil.2. The use of error verification procedures with the microcomputer format did not result in more efficient learning. Rather, these subjects learned more quickly without the verification procedures. Informal observations further indicated that the students ignored the cues provided for verification.3. The intrasubject replication format of this investigation indicated that there were no order effects of the treatment conditions or of the error verification conditions.4. The students in this experiment required a longer session each day and took more time to respond when working on the microcomputer than with the paper and pencil presentation. These students, however, lacked typing skills which increased their response times on the microcomputer.5. Informal observations indicated that attention-to-task behavior was enhanced by the microcomputer. Although the subjects worked for a longer period of time in this mode, their attention was focused on the task.6. Because of the questionable instructional value of much of the software, the use of microcomputers in comparison with traditional and less costly modes of instruction should be carefully evaluated.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Notre Dame, 2009. / Thesis directed by Sean Kelly for the Department of Sociology. "December 2009." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-62).

This three-part study explores an application of the dynamic assessment of narratives in a bilingual Spanish and English-speaking early elementary population as a preliminary study of bilingual children’s response to a short-term intervention. Dynamic assessment has been used successfully to differentiate culturally diverse monolingual children with language impairment from their typically developing peers. In order to extend this assessment measure to bilinguals, specifically Spanish and English-speaking children, the effects of the language of intervention and the language of production was explored. Profiles of bilingual children’s narratives with and without impairment and their differential responses has not been well documented in both languages. Thus, narrative profiles and from pre to post intervention changes were compared for typically developing and language-impaired children. The first study examined whether parallel stories were elicited within languages using two books. The second study explored the effects of the language of intervention and the language of story production on narrative performance, and the transfer of narratives skills across languages using the dynamic assessment paradigm. The third study examined children’s performance with and without language impairment pre and post mediated learning experience in comparison to a non-intervention control group. Results from study one indicated that children told parallel stories for the two books within each language. Findings from study two indicated that children’s stories in Spanish were stronger overall, and children’s performance did not differ as a function of intervention in Spanish vs. English. Children demonstrated transfer of narrative macrostructure across both languages. Finally, study three indicated that the children who were typically developing demonstrated a greater amount of pretest to posttest gain as compared to children in the language impaired and control groups. The typically developing children were rated as more modifiable in comparison to those with language impairment. / text

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Richmond School District successfully implemented in 1978-1984 an innovative approach to the teaching of writing--the writing process. This study sought to determine why teachers participated in developing a new writing curriculum in their schools, what characteristics of the setting promoted these curriculum development practices, and what curriculum leaders did to promote teacher participation in curriculum decision making. Historical evidence for this thes is included interviews with eleven participants in reform, including the curriculum leader with greatest responsibility for its implementation. In addition, various print and manuscript documents provided a basis for interpretation of pertinent events. As policy study this thesis described and analyzed the practices and experiences of the school district that embodied the implementers' values. A single teacher-leader in the district accounted for much of the change in teacher practice. A district-wide emphasis on writing process praxis was further supported by the school board and the district's senior staff. Specific social characteristics of the curriculum development setting, Richmond School District, help account for the adoption of the reform. The study argues for the importance of; (a) selecting the most appropriate innovation for implementation, (b) empowering participants in educational reform, and (c) an effective change agent to inspire participants. Implications for educators and recommendations for further research came from these insights.

This thesis is a qualitative case study of a mathematics unit and a literature unit taught concurrently to a class of grades five and six students, the majority of who were English as a Second Language (ESL) students. The units were collaboratively planned with an ESL Resource Teacher. The study aims to illuminate the processes and products of student engagement with the two units. At the same time, it documents the teacher/ researcher's process of reflection. The study makes reference to the teacher/researcher's growing understanding of the role that prior knowledge plays in the classroom. For the teacher/ researcher, this study acted as a "voyage of discovery" as he made observations regarding the student's experiences and the role of prior knowledge. Students experienced considerable success with the literature unit, but had persistent difficulties with the mathematics unit. To investigate the reasons for this difference, concerning this difference in success, the researcher explored two matters of prior knowledge: prior classroom experience and the link between everyday language and technical language in student discourse. With respect to prior classroom experience, the students reported little prior teaching of relevant mathematical material whereas the literature material had regularly been taught. With respect to the link between everyday and technical language, the findings suggested that the students were able to draw on everyday language for describing persons in the literature unit, but were not able to draw on everyday language for describing patterns in the mathematics unit. More broadly, this suggests that students were able to draw on familiar social practices for describing persons but not for describing mathematical patterns. Implications are drawn for further research and for educational practice.

The school library resource centre and the collection of trade books that classroom teachers gather in their classrooms were the focus of an exploratory, descriptive study designed around the first stages of an action research model. Little research had been done on how effective classroom teachers have been at acquiring trade books for their classroom collections, and on how teacher-librarians, working in partially or fully integrated school library resource centre programs, helped make trade books accessible to elementary teachers and students. One instrument, The Survey of Elementary Classroom Collections. was designed to examine four descriptive areas: the contents and size of classroom collections, the source of trade books for these collection, the organization and management of classroom collections, and the use classroom teachers make of these trade books. The 205 elementary English language classroom teachers in one school district were sent a Survey and 80% responded. The series of interviews that followed were conducted with a stratified random sample of 30 classroom teachers, nine principals and seven teacher-librarians. The stratification was organized by Phases 1, 2 or 3 of school library program development, which were determined by the score on a second instrument. The Profile of School Library Resource Centre Programs. and from information on staffing, resources and teacher-librarian experience. Results were analyzed under the four areas explored in the Survey, by grade level and by Phase. A detailed description of the classroom collections led to the development of the Independent, Interactive and Integrated models for classroom collections. Each reflected a different concept of the classroom collection, its role in the literacy program and its relationship with the school library resource centre program. Indications were that a collaborative approach to trade book provisioning emerged in schools where the school library resource centre program was more fully integrated into the school curriculum. Details on a school-based/district-wide strategy to build a collaborative approach were given, as well as suggestions for a plan of action for individual schools and for further research to explore questions raised by this study.