<p> Parents play an essential role in furthering the development of their children with special needs. They are being trained to be co-therapists for their own children. The goal is to improve the ways they interact with their children in order to create improvements in their children's everyday functioning. If the proper teaching strategies are consistently applied, a learner can significantly improve his/her performance of various life skills, including communication, self-care, social skills, along with other skill sets. Because adults' learning processes differ substantially from children's, it will be critical to utilize the "coaching" method that employs a Model-Lead-Test (MLT) approach to effectively train parents of children with autism. The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of model-lead-test coaching on parents' use of prompting, fading, and reinforcement with their children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The secondary purpose is to assess whether there are improvements in the children's talker, participator, and problem solver repertoires associated with their parents' use of these behavior change processes. </p><p> Using a multiple baseline across behavior design for each parent-child dyad, data are collected on parents' proper use of reinforcement, prompting, and fading as well as their children's talker, participator, and problem solver repertoire development. Research phases include baseline, parent training I (Oral Lecture), parent training II (Model-Lead-Test), and maintenance. </p><p> The resulting data from this study indicate that the Model-Lead-Test approach to parent implementation of core ABA strategies has a greater impact than merely using an Oral Lecture Discussion approach to parent training. To summarize, the data from all three participants showed an increase in the proper implementation of reinforcement, prompting and fading procedures especially through MLT training. The child participants also showed an increase in their talker, participator and problem solver repertoires. And finally, interpretation of the data is presented along with possible future guidelines for research. </p>

<p> This study aims to increase understanding of teacher knowledge about Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). One hundred teachers completed the <i>Knowledge of Attention Deficit Disorders Scale (KADDS)</i> and a demographic questionnaire. Results indicate that teachers knew significantly more about the symptoms of ADHD than its treatment or general facts about the disorder. Special education teachers had significantly higher <i> KADDS</i> scores than general education teachers.</p>

<p> Children and adolescents arrive at schools with more than just academic needs. Unfortunately, accountability is paramount in the minds of legislators, thus making test scores top priority for most public educators. For decades, pet therapy and pet assisted activities have been quite successful in mental health institutions, hospitals, and nursing homes. However, the body of work concerning pet therapy and pet assisted activities in public education is limited. The purpose of this case study was to determine if pet therapy is successful in a southwest Missouri school district and to examine how teachers and administrators employ their pet therapy dog. A mixed methods design was utilized using a qualitative case study approach and quantitative methods to determine the consensus of teachers and administrators involved with pet therapy. The data were collected and then triangulated to procure commonalities with interviews, surveys, and research. Administrators and counselors in the district were interviewed to determine their perceptions on pet therapy. A survey was made available to teachers in the building to assess their opinions of the pet therapy program. The results of the study concluded pet therapy is successful in the participating rural southwest Missouri school district. The district utilizes pet therapy in every possible way from assisting with their special educational program, to applying it to their reading programs, even using their pet therapy dog with PTA fund raising projects. In conclusion, it was determined pet therapy is a positive academic, social, and mental tool in the public school setting.</p>

<p>While low job satisfaction is a reality among Brazilian teachers, studies on this topic have focused almost exclusively on environmental factors such as salary as predictors of job satisfaction. No studies have combined environmental and personal factors to explain job satisfaction among Brazilian teachers. This study aimed to identify the demographic and professional characteristics of Brazilian teachers that are associated with teachers&rsquo; job satisfaction and its predictors. This study also tested two models comprised of environmental and personal predictors of teachers&rsquo; job satisfaction. Participants were 1,194 Brazilian teachers (830 women, 351 men, 13 non-identified) working in public (<i>n</i> = 906, 75.9%) or private schools (<i>n </i> = 153, 12.8%) or both (<i>n</i> = 129, 10.8%). The grade levels taught were kindergarten (<i>n</i> = 137, 11.5%), fundamental (<i>n</i> = 373, 31.2%), high school (<i>n</i> = 239, 20%), or more than one level (<i>n</i> = 433, 36.3%). Using a snowball sampling strategy, participants answered an online survey questionnaire. A series of <i>t</i>-tests, ANOVAs, and correlational analyses were performed to identity the demographic and professional characteristics associated with teachers&rsquo; job satisfaction and its predictors. The type of college attended, the type of school in which teachers work, geographical region and grade level taught were associated with teachers&rsquo; job satisfaction. Path analysis was used to determine the best fit for the hypothesized models. Loneliness was not found to be a direct or indirect predictor of teachers&rsquo; job satisfaction. Positive affect, goal progress, and teachers&rsquo; self-efficacy were respectively the strongest predictors of teachers&rsquo; job satisfaction. Work conditions and goal progress mediated the effect of goal support in predicting teachers&rsquo; job satisfaction. Future research is required to identify other factors that may predict teachers&rsquo; job satisfaction among Brazilian teachers. </p>

<p> Unlike their private school counterparts, charter schools receive public funding but are relieved of some of the bureaucratic and regulatory constraints of public schools in exchange for being held accountable for student performance. Studies provide mixed results with regard to charter school performance. Charter schools are, by definition, schools of choice, and this means that observational data methods are required for comparing such schools with others. In observational data contexts, simple comparisons of two groups such as traditional public and charter schools typically ignore the inherent and systematic differences between the two groups. However, given well-designed observational studies and appropriate analysis methods, the effects of the selection bias can be reduced, if not eliminated. The result is that the usual simple comparisons of two independent groups are replaced by comparisons that make adjustments for covariate differences. This study includes development of new methods, largely graphic in form, designed for observational data to compare two groups. These methods are then used to investigate the question of whether students who attend charter schools perform differently than their traditional public school counterparts on two key academic domains: reading and mathematics. The new methods represent extensions of propensity score analysis (Rosenbaum &amp; Rubin, 1983) by aiding descriptions and aim in reducing selection bias in the context of clustered data. </p><p> Using data from the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for mathematics and reading at grades four and eight, estimates of the differences between charter and traditional public schools were calculated at the state and national levels. This study finds that there is wide variability in math and reading performance for charter schools. But in aggregate, charter schools do not perform any differently than their traditional public school counterparts. </p><p> The new methods were used to examine potential relationships between the "quality" of state charter laws as determined by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS; 2010a) and aggregate differences in charter and traditional public school student NAEP scores produced by the new methods are explored. Analyses suggested that these relationships were either absent or modest across the two grades and subjects.</p>

This thesis reports on an ethnographic study of communicative interaction between young Inuit children and their caregivers. Data were derived from three sources: 80 hours of videotape of four children (aged 1,0-1,8 years at the outset) and their families, 20 ethnographic interviews of mothers, and participant observation notes. Themes emerged about the specific accommodations that Inuit caregivers made in their communication with young children. Child-centered accommodations included: (a) two special registers of affectionate talk, (b) specialized vocabulary, (c) making language more understandable to children, and (d) excluding children from adult conversations. Situation-centered accommodations instructed children through teasing and repetition routines. Finally, silence played an important role in communicative interaction. Inuit children were socialized to learn by listening and to communicate without talk. Stated cultural values, the status and role of the Inuit child, and the structure of caregiving influenced these patterns of communicative interaction.

<p>The purpose of the study was to explore what parents expect of schools regarding citizenship and moral education. It was argued that it is important that parents' views are taken into accouint when exploring citizenship and moral education in the schools in order to enhance congruence between values and associated virtues promoted at school and at home.</p>

The current study explored whether there are more pervasive teacher-centred expectations than the typical studies that find specific teacher-student expectation effects. Groups of teachers who had uniformly high or low expectations for their students were identified, and their instructional practices, beliefs and effects on the academic and social outcomes for their students were explored in four studies. Study One explored the academic outcomes for students in the high and low expectation teachers' classrooms over a year. Students in the classes of teachers with uniformly high expectations for their students made significantly greater progress in reading than their counterparts in the classes of teachers who had low expectations for their students. Study Two involved observations of the instructional and interactional practices of the different groups of teachers. Those with high expectations for all their students spent more time instructing their students, more frequently provided their students with a framework for their learning, questioned their students more and provided them with more feedback on their learning than the teachers who had uniformly low expectations. It also appeared from the observational data that the teachers who had uniformly high expectations for their students' learning provided a more positive socioemotional climate in which instruction took place. In Study Three the different groups of teachers were interviewed regarding their beliefs about how learning should be provided to students with high or low ability. It was found that the high expectation teachers believed there should be less differentiation in the learning opportunities provided to their low and high ability students than did the low expectation teachers. The former group of teachers also reported providing their students with more choice in their learning than did the latter group of teachers. Study Four focused on the academic and social self-perceptions of the students. The academic self-perceptions of the students who were in the classes with teachers who had high iii expectations for their learning increased across the school year while those in classrooms with teachers who had low expectations for their learning decreased. A model is built whereby it is suggested that teachers' expectations for their classes can have major effects on opportunities to learn, instructional practices, interactional patterns, student self-perceptions and academic outcomes.

The current study explored whether there are more pervasive teacher-centred expectations than the typical studies that find specific teacher-student expectation effects. Groups of teachers who had uniformly high or low expectations for their students were identified, and their instructional practices, beliefs and effects on the academic and social outcomes for their students were explored in four studies. Study One explored the academic outcomes for students in the high and low expectation teachers' classrooms over a year. Students in the classes of teachers with uniformly high expectations for their students made significantly greater progress in reading than their counterparts in the classes of teachers who had low expectations for their students. Study Two involved observations of the instructional and interactional practices of the different groups of teachers. Those with high expectations for all their students spent more time instructing their students, more frequently provided their students with a framework for their learning, questioned their students more and provided them with more feedback on their learning than the teachers who had uniformly low expectations. It also appeared from the observational data that the teachers who had uniformly high expectations for their students' learning provided a more positive socioemotional climate in which instruction took place. In Study Three the different groups of teachers were interviewed regarding their beliefs about how learning should be provided to students with high or low ability. It was found that the high expectation teachers believed there should be less differentiation in the learning opportunities provided to their low and high ability students than did the low expectation teachers. The former group of teachers also reported providing their students with more choice in their learning than did the latter group of teachers. Study Four focused on the academic and social self-perceptions of the students. The academic self-perceptions of the students who were in the classes with teachers who had high iii expectations for their learning increased across the school year while those in classrooms with teachers who had low expectations for their learning decreased. A model is built whereby it is suggested that teachers' expectations for their classes can have major effects on opportunities to learn, instructional practices, interactional patterns, student self-perceptions and academic outcomes.

The current study explored whether there are more pervasive teacher-centred expectations than the typical studies that find specific teacher-student expectation effects. Groups of teachers who had uniformly high or low expectations for their students were identified, and their instructional practices, beliefs and effects on the academic and social outcomes for their students were explored in four studies. Study One explored the academic outcomes for students in the high and low expectation teachers' classrooms over a year. Students in the classes of teachers with uniformly high expectations for their students made significantly greater progress in reading than their counterparts in the classes of teachers who had low expectations for their students. Study Two involved observations of the instructional and interactional practices of the different groups of teachers. Those with high expectations for all their students spent more time instructing their students, more frequently provided their students with a framework for their learning, questioned their students more and provided them with more feedback on their learning than the teachers who had uniformly low expectations. It also appeared from the observational data that the teachers who had uniformly high expectations for their students' learning provided a more positive socioemotional climate in which instruction took place. In Study Three the different groups of teachers were interviewed regarding their beliefs about how learning should be provided to students with high or low ability. It was found that the high expectation teachers believed there should be less differentiation in the learning opportunities provided to their low and high ability students than did the low expectation teachers. The former group of teachers also reported providing their students with more choice in their learning than did the latter group of teachers. Study Four focused on the academic and social self-perceptions of the students. The academic self-perceptions of the students who were in the classes with teachers who had high iii expectations for their learning increased across the school year while those in classrooms with teachers who had low expectations for their learning decreased. A model is built whereby it is suggested that teachers' expectations for their classes can have major effects on opportunities to learn, instructional practices, interactional patterns, student self-perceptions and academic outcomes.