Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2757
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Item An Experimental Evaluation of the Effects of a School-Based, Universal Prevention Program on Parent and Teacher Ratings of Student Behavior(2009) Nebbergall, Allison Joan; Gottfredson, Gary; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Meta-analyses of skills-based prevention interventions show moderate effect sizes for increasing social competencies and decreasing behavior problems. While the literature suggests that prevention programs can be effective, rigorous independent research is lacking regarding the efficacy of many specific programs. The present study is based on a randomized-control experiment evaluating Second Step in 12 Maryland public elementary schools to assess the effects of the program on parent and teacher ratings of student behavior. Ratings using the Social Competency Rating Form had previously been considered as a single global measure of student behavior, and had not been found to be affected by the intervention. Nonetheless, a re-consideration of the psychometric properties of the scale and its sensitivity to skills taught by the Second Step curriculum led to the speculation that separation of the global measure to reflect distinct ratings of social competency and problem behavior might reveal effects on the social competency component. Analyses show no effects on parent or teacher ratings of social competency or on teacher ratings of problem behavior. In some analyses, students in treatment schools had nearly twice the odds of being classified in a "problem" group according to ratings made by their parents than did students in control schools. Results were supported by sensitivity analyses using weights and imputation.Item Multiple Aspects of Children's Perceptions of Classroom Peer Support and Adjustment(2007-11-20) Lanier, Sonya Teresa; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Current conceptual models of social support generally emphasize the importance of the social environment or one's individual perceptions of support as important in well-being. However, social support research has not sufficiently explored whether outcomes are more closely tied to individual perceptions, aspects of the social environment, or the interaction between the individual and the social environment. Within the classroom context, this study investigated whether children's adjustment is linked to their individual perceptions, the supportiveness of the classroom environment, or the congruence between their individual perceptions and those of their peers in a diverse sample of second and third graders. A qualitative measure was used to explore the types of support children give and receive in the classroom. Children's individual perceptions were examined using a self-report measure of self-concept and sociometric nominations of perceived available peer social support. The supportiveness of the classroom was examined using peer acceptance ratings and sociometric nominations of available classroom peer social support. Reciprocal friendship nominations were used to examine the congruence between children's individual perceptions of support and those of their peers. Using standard multiple regression analyses, these constructs were used to predict teacher-rated externalizing problems, teacher-rated internalizing problems, teacher-rated school problems, and children's reports of negative emotion. As a group, the predictors were related to all adjustment outcomes. However, none of the predictors emerged beyond the others when predicting teacher-rated externalizing problems. Peer acceptance and mutual friendship best predicted teacher-rated internalizing problems; self-concept, peer acceptance, and mutual friendship best predicted teacher-rated school problems; and self-concept best predicted self-reported negative emotions. Therefore, individual perceptions, aspects of the social environment, and the congruence between the perspective of the individual and potential providers of support are important depending on the outcome. Within the classroom context, children primarily described support as academic, followed by social-emotional support, and to a lesser extent, material-physical support. These particular findings have implications for constructing context-specific measures of perceived available peer social support. The use of sociometric nominations to measure perceptions of support is discussed along with implications for theory and practice, and directions for future research.Item The Impact of Vocabulary Instruction on the Vocabulary Knowledge and Writing Performance of Third Grade Students(2007-11-16) PAPADOPOULOU, ELENI; SPEECE, DEBORAH; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)I examined the effects of vocabulary instruction in theme-related words on students' knowledge of these words, knowledge about the themes, use of these words in their writing, and quality of their writing. Thirty-one third graders, identified as average and below average writers, based on their pre-intervention scores on the Test of Written Language-3 (Hammill & Larsen, 1996) participated in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to two treatment groups; an experimental that received instruction on adventure and mystery words, and a control, minimal-treatment that did not receive vocabulary instruction on these words. Vocabulary instruction was delivered over two consecutive weeks (six sessions) for each set of words and consisted of activities such as story reading and writing, sentence completion, vocabulary card games, and review sessions. Students in the control condition were introduced to adventure and mystery through reading and writing activities during two instructional sessions for each theme. The effects of vocabulary instruction were assessed using: (a) a multiple-choice vocabulary test used to assess students' vocabulary learning; (b) a story writing task used to determine whether vocabulary instruction resulted in better writing quality ratings and larger number of instructional words included in students' adventures and mysteries, and (c) a knowledge telling task where students were asked to tell everything they knew about adventures and mysteries. Additionally, a social acceptability inventory was administered to all experimental students to assess whether the instruction implemented was perceived as socially acceptable for learning adventure and mystery words. Analysis revealed several statistically significant findings. Vocabulary instruction enhanced students' knowledge of adventure and mystery words taught (eta squared, 0.937 and 0.905), the use of mystery words taught in students' writing (eta squared, 0.293) and the writing quality of students' mystery stories (eta squared, 0.183). Vocabulary instruction was also perceived as socially acceptable for learning new adventure and mystery words and enhancing students' vocabulary and writing performance about both themes. More research is needed to examine the relationship between vocabulary instruction in theme-related words, knowledge about the theme, and writing about the theme. Limitations of the present study and directions for future research are also discussed.Item Teacher and Student Perspectives on the Inclusion and Mainstreaming of Children with Moderate and Severe Cognitive Disabilities(2007-07-31) Weiner, Ricia; Strein, William; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Integrated settings for educating students with moderate and severe disabilities (SWDs) have received great attention since the passage of PL 94-142. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the teacher and student perspectives and interaction patterns of SWDs in two schools and how each of those schools implemented integrated programming. The two schools included a self-described full inclusion school and a mainstream school. The researcher focused on historical information about the two schools philosophies for educating SWDs, regular and special education teachers' and students' perspectives regarding the SWDs in their classes, and observations of target SWDs to paint a picture of the way in which the schools operate. The two schools were then analyzed using qualitative analysis techniques. Several themes emerged from the interviews regarding the teachers' and students' views of the SWDs in their classes. Student themes included: perceived responsibility for students with disabilities, defining and understanding SWDs, interactions between students with and without disabilities, and impact on and outcomes for SWDs. Teacher themes included: terminology used to describe regular education students and SWDs, personal and perceived school philosophy, student and teacher qualities perceived to effect integration, and programming issues. Observations of the SWDs focused on establishing a rate of interactions between SWDs and others in the school, initiators of interactions, and reciprocity of interactions. The SWD at the full inclusion school was found to be more isolated and less incorporated in the regular education setting than the SWDs at the mainstream school despite what was suggested in the articulated school philosophy. The two schools were examined based on archival, interview, and observation data. It was found that there was discordance between the articulated philosophy of the full inclusion school and the implicit philosophy that guided practice in that school. Future directions for research were discussed including the need for more qualitative analysis of the interactions that occur between SWDs and other staff and students in the school.Item Assessment of Social Competence and Problem Behavior: The Psychometric Properties of a Social Competency Rating Form(2007-06-26) Nebbergall, Allison Joan; Gottfredson, Gary D.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Intervention programs commonly target the development of social competencies and the prevention of problem behaviors among children. Practical assessment measures are necessary for evaluating these interventions. Examination of popularly used instruments reveals the need for a brief rating scale that measures both social competencies and problem behaviors. The Social Competency Rating Form (Gottfredson et al., 2002) is a brief 29-item scale designed to be user-friendly and closely aligned with the objectives of cognitive-behavioral social skills training programs for adolescents. It also serves as a research tool in studying social competence and problem behaviors, especially in the context of evaluating intervention programs. This study shows an adaptation of the SCRF to be a reliable and valid measure for use with elementary school children.Item Congruence of Self-Other Perceptions about Competence, Peer Victimization, and Bullying as Predictors of Self-Reported Emotions(2006-12-13) Nuijens, Karen L.; Teglasi-Golubcow, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examined self-, teacher-, and peer-perceptions of competence, peer victimization, and bullying behavior as they relate to self-reported depression, anxiety, anger, and global self-worth. Participants included 99 second- and third-grade students and their teachers from one school located in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The sample of students was ethnically diverse (66.7% African American, 17.2% Hispanic, 11.1% Asian American, 5.1% White). Preliminary analyses were conducted to examine the relationships among self-perceptions. As expected, self-perceptions of competence (social acceptance, behavioral conduct, academic competence) positively correlated with one another, where self-perceived victimization and bullying negatively correlated with self-perceived social acceptance and behavioral conduct. As expected, the aforementioned self-perceptions were significantly related to self-reported emotions. Here, self-perceived victimization uniquely predicted self-reported depression and anxiety scores, self-perceived academic competence uniquely predicted self-reported anger scores, and self-perceived academic competence and behavioral conduct uniquely predicted global self-worth scores. Two sets of hypotheses were tested regarding the congruence of self-, teacher-, and peer-perceptions. First, as predicted, teacher- and peer-perceptions more strongly related with one another than with self-perceptions. Linked to this finding, self-perceived victimization and bullying were more highly predictive of self-reported competence, where teacher- and peer-perceived victimization and bullying were more highly predictive of teacher- and peer-reported competence. Second, the relative impact of self-perceptions and discrepancies between self- and other-perceptions on self-reported emotions was examined. This is a departure from past research, which has typically examined self-other discrepancies independent of self-perceptions. Results showed that self-perceptions were more strongly related to self-reported emotions than were self-other discrepancies. However, interactions between these variables in a subset of the analyses argue for the inclusion of self- and other-perceptions in this line of research. The pattern of interactions suggests that discrepancies between self- and other-perceptions had little impact on self-reported emotions for children who reported low competence or high victimization. These children tended to report more negative emotions compared to peers whether their self-appraisals agreed or disagreed with others' appraisals. Conversely, children who reported high competence or low victimization often reported more negative emotions compared to peers when their appraisals were unfavorable relative to others' appraisals.Item INSTRUCTION PROVIDED TO STUDENTS OF DIFFERENT ABILITIES IN A WITHIN-CLASS SETTING(2004-11-16) Chorzempa, Barbara Lynn; Graham, Steve; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study was designed to examine primary grade teachers' use of within-class ability grouping, including if the operation and dynamics of ability grouping differ for above-average, average, and below-average readers. Characteristics of the teacher, school, and classroom were also examined to determine if these variables predict teachers' use of ability grouping. 600 randomly selected primary (i.e., first, second, and third) grade teachers from throughout the United States were asked to complete a questionnaire; 222 elected to participate, 272 declined participation and 106 were eliminated from the study for a variety of reasons (e.g., retired, maternity leave, no longer a primary grade teacher or employee); thus yielding a response rate of 45%. In addition to demographic information about the teachers, their students, and the schools, participants responded to a series of questions designed to assess teacher efficacy in reading, beliefs about reading instruction, and beliefs about ability grouping. Teachers who use ability grouping were further asked to answer a series of questions about how ability groups operate for above-average, average, and below-average readers in their class. Results showed that 63% of the teachers questioned either reported (55%) or were identified (7%) as using ability grouping through open-ended questions. Statistically significant results were noted when comparing the instruction provided to and materials used with students of varying ability. Furthermore, three variables (i.e., beliefs about ability grouping, years teaching, and location) were also found to contribute to the prediction of teachers' use of ability grouping. Future research and limitations are also addressed.Item Self-Monitoring of Attention Versus Self-Monitoring of Performance with Second-Grade Journal Writing: A Comparison of Two Techniques(2004-12-14) Moran, Susan Anne; Graham, Steven; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Students do not generally self-monitor when they write. This study examined the comparative effectiveness of self-monitoring of performance (SMP) and self-monitoring of attention (SMA) in the area of journal writing. Eight second-grade students with writing problems participated in this study. A multiple-baseline design was implemented to examine the differential effects of SMA and SMP. Observational data were collected by the experimenter and consisted of observing and recording each of the following behaviors during morning writing sessions: on-task behavior, number of words written, and number of minutes spent writing. Writing quality was also assessed. This study took place in two general education inclusive classrooms. Number of words written during both the SMA and SMP conditions exceeded the number of words written during baseline for all students. During SMA, time on-task increased for all 8 students. Although students in the SMP condition demonstrated gains, in time on-task, these were not as large as the gains for students in the time on-task SMA condition. Number of words written during both treatments exceeded the average number of words written during baseline. Generally, students increased the number of minutes spent writing in both SMA and SMP. However, 6 of the 8 students spent more time writing during the SMP condition than the SMA condition. Writing quality was improved over baseline during the SMA condition for 7 out of 8 students. During the SMP condition, 5 out of 8 students improved their writing quality over baseline. No carry over effects were noted.