School and Achievement

Schools

Achievement

Careers, Work, and Retirement
Schools
Contemporary Approaches to
Student Learning and Assessment

Constructivist Approach:
◦ Emphasizes child’s active construction of knowledge and
understanding
◦ Teacher provides support for students exploring their world and
developing knowledge.
◦ Main theory: Piaget’s theory.
Schools
Contemporary Approaches to
Student Learning and Assessment

Social constructivist approaches:
◦ Focuses on collaboration with others to produce
knowledge and understanding.
◦ Main theory: Vygotsky’s theory

Constructivist approaches:
◦ Learner is center of educational process;
learner-center principles
Schools
Contemporary Approaches to
Student Learning and Assessment

Direct Instruction Approach:
◦ Teacher-centered approach characterized by
 Teacher direction and control
 Mastery of academic material
 High expectations for students’ progress
 Maximum time spent on learning tasks
Schools
Accountability in Schools


State-mandated tests have taken on a more powerful role — No
Child Left Behind
Critics argue that they lead to
◦ Single score being used as sole predictor
◦ Teaching to test; use of memorization
◦ Tests don’t measure important skills like creativity
and social skills
Schools
Schools and Developmental Status

Early childhood education
◦ Many ways young children are educated

The child-centered kindergarten
◦ Emphasizes the whole child
 Physical, cognitive, socioemotional development
 Needs, interests, and learning style
 Emphasizes learning process
Schools
Schools and Developmental Status

Montessori approach:
◦ Teacher is facilitator
◦ Children encouraged to be early
decision makers
◦ Fosters independence and cognitive
development skills
◦ De-emphasizes verbal interactions
◦ Criticisms vary
Schools
Developmentally Appropriate and
Inappropriate Education

Developmentally appropriate practice:
◦ Focuses on typical development of children within age span (age
appropriateness) and uniqueness of each child (individual
appropriateness)

Developmentally inappropriate practice:
◦ Relies on abstract paper-and-pencil activities given to large groups
Schools
Education for Disadvantaged
Children

1965 – Project Head Start
◦ U.S. programs vary for low-income children
◦ Proven positive and quality experiences

Controversies in early childhood education
◦ Include both academic and constructivist approaches
Schools
Elementary School




Change from “home-child’’ to “school-child”
New roles and obligations
Too often, early schooling has more negative feedback;
lowers child’s self-esteem
Teachers often pressured to cover curriculum;
◦ Tight scheduling; may harm children
Schools
Educating Adolescents
Transition to Middle or Junior High School

Benefits
Independent from parents’ monitoring

More opportunities for friends

More subjects to select from

Challenging work

Feel more grown up
Drawbacks

Stressful — many
changes at once

Top-dog
phenomenon
Schools
Effective Schools for Young
Adolescents

Criticisms:
◦ Watered-down versions of high schools
◦ Lack age-appropriate curricular and
extracurricular schedules
◦ Massive, impersonal, and lacking
Schools
High School

Concerns about education and students:
◦ Graduate with inadequate skills
◦ Enter college needing remediation classes
◦ Student drop out rates
 Ethnic and racial differences
 Gender differences
Schools
Effective Schools for Young
Adolescents

Effective programs that
discourage high school
dropping out include
◦ Reading programs
◦ Tutoring
◦ Counseling
◦ Mentoring
• ‘I Have A Dream’
program
– Projects adopt entire
public grade level or
cohorts in housing
projects
– Gives college tuition
to high school grads
Schools
High School

Need for more effective programs

More support needed to enable students to graduate
with knowledge and skills needed to succeed

Need higher expectations for student achievement
Schools
Trends in High School Dropout Rates
Percent of 16- to 24-year-olds who have
dropped out of school
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1972
1976
1980
1984
Year
1988
1992
1996
2000
Schools
College and Adult Education

Transition to College:
◦ Replays the top-dog phenomenon
◦ Many of same benefits found in high school
◦ Movement to a larger, more impersonal school
◦ Interact with peers of more diverse backgrounds
◦ Increased focus on achievement and assessment
Schools
College and Adult Education

Adult education includes
◦ Literacy training
◦ Community development
◦ University credit programs
◦ On-the-job training
◦ Continuing professional education

Women — the majority of adult learners

Reasons for attending adult education and college
vary among individuals
Schools
Educating Children with
Disabilities
Approximately 10 percent of children in the
U.S. receive special education or related
services
 More than 40% have a learning disability

Diversity of Children Who Have A
Disability
Schools
Learning Disabilities

Learning disability characteristics:
◦ A minimum IQ level
◦ A significant difficulty in a school-related area
◦ No other conditions, such as
 severe emotional disorders
 second-language background
 sensory disabilities
 specific neurological deficits
Schools
Learning Disabilities

Dyslexia — severe impairment in ability to
read and spell

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
◦ Inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity
◦ Definitive causes unknown
◦ Higher risk if a sibling already diagnosed
◦ Medications are most common treatment
◦ Other treatment recommendations vary
Schools
Special Educational Law

Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped
Children Act
◦ Individualized education plan (IEP) —
written program tailored to child with
disability
◦ Least restrictive environment (LRE) —
child with disability educated in setting similar
to where other children educated
◦ Inclusion — educating child with special
education needs in regular classroom
Schools
SES and Ethnicity in Schools

Low-income, ethnic minority children face
more difficulties in school

School inequalities
◦ Schools in poor areas
 underfunded
 young inexperienced teachers
 largely segregated
◦ Inadequate opportunities for effective learning
◦ ‘The Shame of a Nation’
◦ Ethnic school experiences vary across groups
Schools
Improving relationships among ethnically
diverse students

Turn class into jigsaw
classroom

Use technology to foster
cooperation

Positive personal contact
with diverse other
students

Engage in perspective
taking

Help students think
critically and be
emotionally intelligent

Reduce bias

View school and
community as team

Be competent cultural
mediator
Achievement
Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic
Intrinsic
•
Incentives such as
rewards and
punishments

Factors such as selfdetermination, curiosity,
challenge, and effort
•
Rewards can undermine
motivation

Increased by opportunity
for choices
Achievement
Self-Determination and Choice

Student internal motivation and intrinsic
interest in school tasks increase when
more opportunities for choice available

Some rewards can undermine learning;
rewards most effective with high interest

Rewards convey mastery information

Developmental shifts
Achievement
Mastery Motivation

Mastery orientation — task-oriented;
concerned with learning strategies

Helpless orientation — one seems
trapped by difficulty and attributes one’s
difficulty to a lack of ability

Performance orientation — achievement
outcomes; winning matters
Achievement
Self-Efficacy

Mindset; cognitive view of oneself
◦ Fixed mindset: ‘carved in stone’
◦ Growth mindset: belief in change
◦ promotes optimistic or pessimistic outlook

Self-Efficacy
◦ Belief that one can master a situation and
produce favorable outcomes
Achievement

Goal-Setting, Planning, and
Self-Monitoring
Self-efficacy and achievement improve
when individuals set goals that are
◦ Specific
◦ Proximal (short-term)
◦ Challenging
Can set both long and short-term goals
 Expectations linked to outcomes/efforts

Achievement
Ethnicity and Culture

Ethnicity and Achievement
◦ Often tangled with Socioeconomic Status
 SES better predictor of achievements

Many minorities challenged by
◦ Negative stereotypes and discrimination
◦ Poverty
◦ Culture and conflicting neighborhood values
Achievement
Cross-Cultural Comparisons of
Educational Achievement

American children perform poorly on
international math and science tests
◦ Korean, Taiwanese score highest
◦ Different attitudes about achievement
◦ Different teaching styles
◦ Differing parental expectations
Achievement
Cross- Cultural Comparisons
of Educational Achievement
Careers, Work, and Retirement
Career Developmental Changes
Young children
High school
College
Early adulthood
Idealistic fantasies about what they
want to be when they grow up
Career decision-making more
serious as they explore different
career possibilities
Choosing major or specialization
designed to lead to work in a field
Start full-time occupation
Careers, Work, and Retirement
Personality Type Theory

John Holland: match personality to career
◦ Realistic: prefer solitude, being outdoors
◦ Investigative: interested in ideas, intellectualist
◦ Artistic: creative, innovative ways for selfexpression
◦ Social: helping orientation, desire to be with people
◦ Enterprising: dominating, good at persuasion
◦ Conventional: detail-oriented, prefer highly
structured situations
Careers, Work, and Retirement
Values and Careers

Important aspect of choosing a career —
match career to one’s values

Monitoring the Occupational Outlook
◦ Service-producing industries will account for most
new jobs
◦ Jobs requiring college degrees will be fastestgrowing and highest-paying
◦ Labor force participation rates of women projected
to increase
Careers, Work, and Retirement
Work in Adolescence

U.S. high school students
◦ 90% receive high school diplomas
◦ 75% work part-time and attend school
◦ Most work 16-20 hours per week
◦ Most work in service jobs

Work more than in other developed
countries; less than developing countries
Careers, Work, and Retirement
Advantages and Disadvantages
of Part-Time Work for Adolescents
Cons
Pros
• Understand how business
world works
• Learn how to get and
keep a job
• Manage money
• Budget time
• Pride in accomplishments
• Evaluate goals





Give up sports
Forego social affairs with
peers
Less sleep
Balance demands of work,
school, family, and peers
Lower grades
Careers, Work, and Retirement
Work

Emerging adulthood

Adulthood
◦ Many variations of work patterns exist in
merging roles of student and worker
◦ Co-op programs, some dropouts, most
graduate
◦ The work landscape
◦ Unemployment
◦ Dual-career couples
 Males assuming more home responsibilities
 Women assuming more ‘breadwinner’ roles
Careers, Work, and Retirement
Changing Percentages of Traditional &
Dual-Career Couples
Careers, Work, and Retirement
Age and Job Satisfaction
Careers, Work, and Retirement
Careers and Work in
Middle Adulthood
Midlife time of evaluation, assessment, and
reflection
 Recognizing limitations in career progress
 Deciding whether to change jobs or
careers
 Rebalance family and work
 Planning for retirement

Careers, Work, and Retirement
Work in Late Adulthood

Percentage of older adults who work
part-time steadily increased since 1960s
◦ Good health
◦ Strong psychological commitment to work
◦ Distaste for retirement
◦ Cognitive ability is best predictor


Many participate in unpaid work
Age affects many aspects of work
Careers, Work, and Retirement
Retirement

Option to retire late twentiethcentury phenomenon in U.S.

Today’s workers will spend 10 to 15
percent of their lives in retirement

Flexibility is key factor in adjustment

Retirement planning includes more
than successful financial planning