With this expert podcast, consider ways in which high-achieving students may be at risk, even when they seem to be doing fine.
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The authors show how a seminar approach can lead students deeper into a text and improve their speaking, listening, and writing skills, as recommended by the Common Core State Standards. In order for students to develop these skills, teachers must be able to reach all students during a seminar or class discussion. How can teachers encourage their shy students to participate?
The single most common question asked by facilitators who are learning to lead seminars is how to get the dominant to talk less and the reticent to talk more. In some ways, this is the quintessential problem—both because it is so common and also because it serves to introduce the pre- and postseminar process sessions where good facilitators do most of their coaching.
If a given student is naturally a confident speaker and willingly takes the lead in seminar discussion, the goal is not merely to get that student to be quiet; rather, the goal is to help her or him learn to invite others in and to listen with equal intensity. If another student is naturally more withdrawn and tends not to speak out even when interested in the discussion, then the goal is to help that student gain the confidence to voice her or his thoughts openly. In each case, it is about learning new skills to complement existing ones.
We have learned over the years that the best way to do this is to help participants become aware of both their strengths and weaknesses in thoughtful dialogue. We also give them clear strategies for practicing particular skills. Just as beginning readers learn new reading strategies, beginning seminar participants learn new speaking and listening strategies. As a result, we have added pre- and post-seminar process steps to each seminar plan that we develop. During these steps, students assign themselves specific process speaking and listening goals (before the seminar) and then assess their own progress (afterward). Here are four goals that students can set for themselves:
Speak at least three times.
Agree or disagree with someone else in detail.
Ask a question.
Keep an open mind.
The first two options are designed to help less talkative participants speak out and with purpose. The third and fourth are designed to help participants focus on listening with purpose. Our response, therefore, to a teacher who was concerned that her seminars thus far were dominated by the same few participants was to show her how to create both group and personal process goals that speak directly to this dynamic. Having students set personal process goals ahead of time will encourage shy students to speak up during a seminar or class discussion.
Education World®
Copyright © 2012 Education World
(Left to right) C.M. Rubin, Dr. Thomas Power, Dr. George DuPaul, Dr. Gregory Fabiano
and Dr. Charles Basch
I asked experts in the field of ADHD--Dr. Gregory Fabiano, Dr. George DuPaul and Dr. Thomas Power--to share their perspectives on how the ADHD problem is impacting our domestic achievement gap and on the ways in which it is being addressed.
Dr. Thomas Power is the Director for Management of ADHD and Chief Psychologist, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. George DuPaul is Professor of School Psychology and Chair of the Department of Education and Human Services at Lehigh University. Dr. Gregory Fabiano is Associate Professor of Counseling, School and Educational Psychology in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Buffalo.
Have the consequences of ADHD, treated and untreated, been quantified with regard to academic achievement? What is the “gap” betwen children with ADHD and children without ADHD?
George: The gap has been quantified and it is somewhere between .75 to 1.0 standard deviations. This is considered a large difference, and it means that the average student with ADHD would score at about the 16th percentile relative to his or her non-ADHD peers.
Greg: In almost every area of functioning within schools, youth with ADHD fare poorer on achievement. Interestingly, children with ADHD are typically comparable on estimates of IQ and cognitive abilities, suggesting that their disorder is what is getting in the way of learning. For instance, some children with ADHD fail classes, not because they are having trouble learning the material, but because homework assignments are missing or incomplete, careless mistakes are made on quizzes, or they forget to turn in long-term projects.
Thomas: It is clear that the presence of ADHD greatly increases the risk of academic problems including grade retention, placement into special education, and early school dropout. Behavioral and academic interventions for children with ADHD improve academic performance. Also, medication reduces ADHD symptoms in school and related academic problems, such as poor work productivity and disorganization. In general, research supports the use of combined approaches to treatment (i.e., combination of behavioral and academic interventions with medication) to improve academic performance.
Does the multi-media environment that surrounds youth today foster ADHD symptoms?
Greg: Probably not. ADHD can be thought of as a selective attention deficit disorder, and many children do not have difficulty interfacing with multi-media. The problems are apparent in situations where the child needs to sustain and focus mental effort. I would suggest that the current educational system fosters ADHD symptoms--if one wanted to exacerbate the symptoms of ADHD, the best way to do it would be to step up academic demands in an overcrowded classroom with extended academic blocks. It would also be a good idea to remove natural breaks like recess and be sure to expect the child to sit in a seat the whole time.
If the best treatment for ADHD is holistic (pharmacological, behavioral and environmental), it would appear that the disorder is more difficult to treat in low-income urban youth. Have you seen examples of successful efforts of holistic treatment for this demographic group? How should such an effort be organized?
Thomas: Treatment in low-income settings is more challenging for many reasons, including the likelihood of the child being repeatedly exposed to stress and trauma, overstressed caregivers who face challenges in consistently using positive parenting strategies, and under-resourced schools. The most successful models of treatment use integrated approaches based in schools and primary care practices. In these contexts, mental health specialists can consult with teachers, provide education to parents, and promote collaborative care with primary care providers.
Photo courtesy of Healthy Schools Campaign
What progress has been made over the past five years in reducing the educational impact of ADHD? Which data gives an indication of this progress, if any?
George: Substantial progress has been made in addressing at least the short-term academic achievement of students with ADHD.
My colleagues and I recently published a meta-analysis of school-based interventions for students with ADHD that involved combining analyses from 60 studies conducted between 1996 and 2010. Many of these studies examined the impact of various methods designed to address academic difficulties (e.g., computer-assisted instruction, changes to teacher instruction).
On average, the use of an educational intervention strategy led students with ADHD to gain 0.5 standard deviations on academic measures. Stated differently, these strategies made up about half the typical gap in academic achievement between students with and without ADHD. Obviously, students were still behind their peers, and we still have a ways to go in addressing academic difficulties, but the results of recent studies are very promising.
Greg: We did a study that showed a simple intervention, a Daily Report Card, significantly reduced children with ADHD’s disruptive behavior in class, increased academic productivity, and also improved teachers’ ratings of IEP (Individualized Education Program) goal attainment. Interestingly, the comparison group received business as usual and did not improve at all. These results suggest that students with ADHD could substantively benefit from simple approaches like this, and that these interventions can move the needle further than can current approaches.
What have been the most effective tools for treating ADHD and improving educational outcomes?
George: The strategies that are effective for treating ADHD I mentioned previously (i.e., stimulant medication, behavior modification). Unfortunately, these two treatments have only small effects (about 0.2 standard deviation change) on educational outcomes. The most effective way to impact educational outcomes for students with ADHD is the systematic use of academic interventions that have been found effective in other populations for improving performance. Examples include teacher use of systematic direct instruction of specific academic skills, classwide peer tutoring, computer-assisted instruction, and implementation of self-regulation strategies by the students themselves. Again, the use of one or more of these approaches is likely to increase achievement by about 0.5 standard deviations.
Who should take the lead in the process to identify and treat ADHD? What examples of well-organized approaches have you seen?
Thomas: School psychologists, guidance counselors, and school nurses are in a good position to orchestrate the efforts of school-based, integrated approaches to care. Pediatric psychologists and nurses are in a good position to orchestrate efforts in primary care.
What teacher training programs are in place for ADHD education and practices to use at schools? Have you seen any data on the prevalence of these programs?
George: The best example of an organized training program for teachers was developed by the Children and Adults with ADHD (CHADD) organization. I’m not sure if they have any data on the prevalence of use of this program.
What pedagogical approaches have been developed to focus on academic problems of ADHD youth? Are there many online programs that have been developed? Do you believe this will be a significant opportunity for addressing this issue?
George: Some online programs have been developed; however, I have yet to see controlled studies of their impact. That said, I believe that computer-based training and practice of academic skills has enormous potential to improve the educational outcomes of students with ADHD. The reason I believe this is that technology allows instruction to be geared to the unique needs of individual students, information can be provided at the student’s desired pace, and students can be provided with immediate feedback about performance. We know from studying other interventions that these features are especially helpful for students with ADHD.
Education World®
Copyright © 2013 Education World
In a nutshell, PLCs entail whole-staff involvement in a process of intensive reflection upon instructional practices and desired student benchmarks, as well as monitoring of outcomes to ensure success. PLCs enable teachers to continually learn from one another via shared visioning and planning, as well as in-depth critical examination of what does and doesn’t work to enhance student achievement.
For detailed background information, be sure to read the EducationWorld article Best Practices for Professional Learning Communities.
The potential of PLCs is well documented—for example, in a recent survey of Hopkins, MN educators, 81 percent said they agreed that PLCs helped them find the most effective instructional strategies. The problem is that implementation is often easier said than done.
When a school’s PLC isn’t working, common reasons include:
Insufficient access to timely data on which to base instructional decisions;
Poor infrastructure (especially lack of scheduled time for teachers to meet, or inefficient use of the limited time available);
Lack of teacher buy-in for the process (perception that the decision to implement a PLC was imposed upon teachers by administrators);
Lack of teacher ownership of the process (perception that administrators dictate what teachers do during their collaborative time); and
A building culture in which teachers tend to compete rather than collaborate.
Additionally, in this English study, obstacles to successful PLC implementation included staff resistance to change, central and local policies affecting resources and budgets, and staff turnover, especially at the leadership level.
Do’s and Don’ts for School Leaders
So what do administrators need to know before embarking on a PLC journey? Here are 10 helpful tips.
Don’t:
Announce to staff that the school will be implementing the DuFour Model of PLCs, implying that a “recipe” is all it will take to be successful
Assume everyone will be on board with the idea
Assign staff members to groups or roles
Tell staff members what to discuss during meetings
Attend PLC meetings, unless invited for a specific purpose/reason
Do:
Understand what you’re getting yourself into. The book Demystifying Professional Learning Communities: School Leadership at Its Best (2010) offers information, examples and case studies to clarify the concept of a PLC.
Build staff consensus and excitement around the concept of PLCs before beginning the work. Hearing from other schools about their successes and challenges is important during this stage, as is listening—and taking seriously—the thoughts and concerns of your building’s staff.
Facilitate a grassroots organizing effort, whereby staff form the community and decide what’s important to discuss. As teachers and support staff begin to feel true ownership of the process, priorities will emerge organically.
Plan to monitor progress. The Professional Learning Communities Assessment-Revised (PLCA-R) is a survey tool for assessing, analyzing and diagnosing the effectiveness of professional learning communities. Using such a tool can help diagnose trouble spots and allow staff to strategize about ways of overcoming challenges—before they become major obstacles.
The questionnaire consists of statements about practices that can occur in schools, and respondents use a 4-point scale to indicate the degree to which they agree or disagree with each statement. The PLCA-R reports scores along various dimensions, including Shared and Supportive Leadership, Shared Values and Vision, Supportive Conditions-Relationships and Supportive Conditions-Structures.
Learn from the experiences of other schools. Foxdale Middle School’s story offers a great lesson about overcoming common PLC-related challenges, including lack of time for collaboration and the de-stabilizing effect of staff turnover and reconfigured staff roles.
Related resources
Best Practices for Professional Learning CommunitiesBuilding Trust in Collaborative Learning CommunitiesCo-Teaching TipsBetter Book Study Groups
Article by Celine Provini, EducationWorld EditorEducation World®
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