School Approaches, Achievement, and Development

1. 16 A Topical Approach to LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT Schools, Achievement, and Work John W. Santrock

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. Diversity of Children Who Have A Disability Fig. 16.4

12. Schools Learning Disabilities • Learning disabilitycharacteristics: • 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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 Schools Improving relationships among ethnically diverse students

16. Extrinsic Incentives such as rewards and punishments Rewards can undermine motivation Intrinsic Factors such as self-determination, curiosity, challenge, and effort Increased by opportunity for choices Achievement Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation

17. 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 Self-Determination and Choice

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. Careers, Work, and Retirement Retirement • Option to retire late twentieth-century 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

23. 16 The End