CHAPTER 9
Adolescents in the Schools: moving into high school
Secondary Schools Today
Academic Tracking
School Size
School Climate
Teachers’ Attitudes
School Violence
Bullies and Victims
Teaching Peace
Adolescents at School
Preparing for High School: Junior High or Middle School
Academic Achievement
Patterns of Achievement
Gender Differences and Achievement
High School Dropouts
Adolescents at the Edge
- Research Focus: Case Studies: Educating the Gifted Adolescent
Gifted Adolescents
Adolescents with Learning Disabilities
Culture and Gender in the Classroom: Education for All
- Research Focus: Within-Subjects Design and Attention Deficit Disorder: “Can’t I Stay Home? I Think I Don’t Feel Well.”
Gender Stereotypes in Teaching Materials
Multicultural Education
Overcoming the Differences
KEY TERMS
academic tracking
gifted
learning disability
male generic language
jigsaw classroom
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading the chapter, you should be able to:
- Discuss the practice of academic tracking.
- Summarize the attributes of schools contributing to their success.
- Compare junior high schools with middle schools.
- Summarize the differences between task orientation and performance orientation achievement patterns.
- Discuss the factors related to dropping out of high school.
- Describe gifted adolescents.
- Discuss learning disabilities.
- Discuss multicultural education and jigsaw classrooms.
- Characterize differences among ethnic groups in terms of four dimensions of personal interaction.
- Discuss bullying.
- Discuss some characteristics of successful programs to prevent students from dropping out of high school.
Discussion Questions
- How did secondary schools come to have such importance in our society? Is it possible for an individual to succeed in life without a high school education? What purposes do the secondary schools serve for the individual and society?
- Should all students take the same courses in high school? If not, who should determine which students take which courses? What happens if a student starts off on one track (e.g., trade courses rather than college preparatory courses) and wants to switch? What are the advantages of tracking? What are the disadvantages? How might tracking contribute to the problems it was designed to eliminate? Do slower students hold a class back? Is it harmful or beneficial for slower students to be placed in classes with students who learn more quickly? What effect might it have, positive or negative, on a student with learning disabilities to be assigned to a lower track, both emotionally and educationally? What alternatives exist for maximizing the education of students with learning disabilities? How could these apply to students without learning disabilities? Discuss James Comer’s program design for educating all students.
- What effect does school size have on students’ performance, both academically and socially? How would it be possible to create smaller “communities for learning” within large schools? What other characteristics of schools and school personnel may be important for the academic and social development of students? How do task-mastery goals and performance-ability goals differ, and what effect do they have on students’ intellectual development? What effect do they have on a student’s achievement and attitudes toward self, school, and community?
- Is there really more violence in the schools than in previous generations, or is it media “hype”? What might account for this shift? Were there metal or other weapons detectors in your high school when you attended? How does violence, or the concern for violence, affect a student’s ability to learn? What are the effects on students in their personal lives? What is the best way to handle violence in schools? How can schools encourage values and provide experiences that promote constructive, rather than destructive, means of resolving conflict?
- In educators’ debates about whether middle schools or junior high schools provide better preparation for high school, what are their major concerns? Which option better eases the stresses of puberty? Which best facilitates the transition to high school? What cognitive and emotional issues should be considered?
- What factors affect academic achievement? What role do family structure and parental involvement play in academic achievement? What ethnic or gender differences might be at play? How common are ethnic and gender stereotypes in terms of achievement, and how realistic are they? What effect do these stereotypes have on students who belong to particular groups (e.g., Asian Americans, Hispanics, females)? What patterns of achievement have been described among adolescents, and what role do they play in a student’s educational endeavors? Why would performance-oriented adolescents tend to avoid challenging situations? How do students use self-handicapping strategies? What effect does this have on their education and their lives generally? Why would females of high ability be most likely to show maladaptive achievement behavior?
- What trends have been seen nationally in terms of the number of high school dropouts? Who is more likely to drop out of high school? For what reasons do students drop out? What are the predictors of whether a student will stay in school or drop out? How could schools target those students who are at risk for dropping out? What can the schools, families, communities, and the government do to reduce drop out rates? What alternative programs might be available for students who for economic, familial, or other reasons decide to drop out of high school?
- Describe the different notions of giftedness. Is Gardner right to include creativity or spatial skills in his definition? Do gifted adolescents apply their intelligence to advantage in areas of their lives other than academic ones? Is it really an advantage for an adolescent to be gifted? Is it beneficial for gifted children to be placed on a special track? How might this be a disadvantage?
- What are learning disabilities? What problems do adolescents who are diagnosed with learning disabilities face? What problems do schools and parents face with respect to adolescents with learning disabilities? How might it be possible for a student with a learning disability to “slip through the cracks” and not get diagnosed, and how might that be beneficial and/or harmful for that student? What educational programs are available for the learning disabled? Are these programs adequate? Is it beneficial or harmful to mainstream students with learning disabilities into the regular classroom (for those students, the other students, the teachers)? What are the advantages and disadvantages of special education classes for students with learning disabilities? Describe the best possible program you can design to enhance the educational development of students with learning disabilities. How would you go about getting that funded?
- From Dick and Jane to Tom Sawyer, reading materials in the schools have typically presented males in the active, dominant roles and females in the passive, submissive roles. How much has this changed over the years? Describe the numerous ways this affects both males and females. Should it be changed? If so, how would one go about equalizing the balance? What role does language play in perpetuating gender stereotypes? How would the use of male nouns and pronouns to represent both males and females affect the way we think?
- Elliot Aronson and his colleagues in Austin, Texas, devised the notion of the jigsaw classroom as a way to overcome racial and ethnic conflict and to enhance all students’ learning. How does this work? Some parents (of Anglo children) were concerned that it would have a negative impact on their children’s education; in fact, it had a positive effect on all the children’s education. How would it do that? How else could cooperative and friendly relations be fostered among students of different ethnic and racial backgrounds? What particular issues would minority students encounter that White students do not? Although Brown v. Board of Education desegregated the schools, some minority groups are now choosing to separate themselves, particularly in colleges and universities. What effect might this have on minority students? On White students? On funding for education? Similarly, male schools have traditionally been forced to admit females, but some females (or their parents) opt for an “all-girls” school. Discuss this apparent paradox.
- What are the four dimensions of personal interaction that have been found in the research on ethnic groups? How can this information be used to overcome differences among members of the various groups? How does the “social mobility system” affect a minority student’s ability to succeed in the academic setting? What factors other than ability and skill determine the system in which individuals participate? How can Bronfenbrenner’s theory be applied in practice to address social ills such as prejudice and discrimination?
- What are the characteristics of programs to prevent students from dropping out of high school?
- What makes someone become a bully? A victim? What can be done to reduce bullying behavior?
Lecture Organizers
Issues in Secondary Schools
•Academic Tracking
•School Size
•School Climate
•Teachers’ Attitudes
•School Violence
Adolescents and High School
•Preparation: Junior High or Middle School
•Academic Achievement
•High School Dropouts
Patterns of Achievement
•Task-Mastery Orientation
•Performance-Ability Orientation
•Gender Differences
Adolescents at the Edge
•Gifted Adolescents
•Adolescents with Learning Disabilities
Culture and Gender in the Classroom
•Gender Stereotypes in Teaching Materials
•Multicultural Education
•Overcoming Differences
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Activity 9-1_Visiting a High School
Have students visit a high school and get permission to sit in on several classes to identify procedures used to facilitate multicultural education, for example, by presenting material from a multicultural perspective or arranging students in jigsaw classrooms. Have students interview the teachers and ask them what procedures, if any, they use to reach students from different ethnic and racial backgrounds.
Activity 9-2_Survey of Homework and Television
Have several students get permission from a local grade school, junior high, and high school to distribute a survey (Worksheet 9-2) during homeroom or a free period concerning the number of hours per week students spend watching television and doing homework. Have students work in small groups collating data for presentation to the class.
Activity 9-3_Comparing Educational Settings
Ask a person who is being educated at home to come to the class and talk about his or her experiences. Have the class prepare questions for this person, such as “What are the advantages of home schooling?” or “What do you miss by not attending public school?”
Activity 9-4_Completing a Degree: 20 Years Later
Invite to class someone who is finishing high school or college 20 years after their age-mates have, such as a 40-year-old person graduating from college. Have this person talk about what it is like being “out of step,” that is, what the advantages and disadvantages are.
Activity 9-5_Unscrambling Key Terms
This activity can be done either in small groups (two to four members) or individually. Offering some incentive (e.g., a “free” quiz, bonus points, a small bag of candy) will motivate many students who may not otherwise be motivated. Have the students (or groups of students) unscramble the terms according to the clues provided in Worksheet 9-5.
Activity 9-6_Designing an Ideal Educational Setting
In groups, have students consider the different problems faced by high school students, as presented in this chapter and through a review of the literature, and consider the factors that have been helpful for keeping students in school. Each group should design what they believe to be the ideal educational setting that will provide the maximum educational opportunities for all students and will eliminate the problem of students dropping out. While designing their programs, the groups should also consider the cost of their programs and how money could be raised to fund them. Finally, they should consider a cost–benefit analysis of developing and funding the programs vis-à-vis their long-range benefit to individuals and society.
Activity 9-7_Using the Jigsaw Classroom
Have students read about Aronson’s jigsaw classroom and use that model for learning an assignment. Discuss how it works, how each student motivates the others, the potential for education, and why it has not been widely used throughout the school systems of the United States.
Activity 9-8_Who Are the Learning Disabled?
The chapter states three different ideas about who are the learning disabled. Have the students go to different schools to talk with school counselors, school psychologists, special education teachers, classroom teachers, and students. Have them learn about the federal laws that affect students with learning disabilities, how those students are identified, how they do (or do not) receive the funding and education to which the laws say they are entitled. Have the students observe in the classroom (mainstream and special education) and describe the educational and interpersonal experiences that are occurring.
WORKSHEET 9-2
Survey of Homework and Television
Name ______Class Time ______Date ______
Grade ______Age ______Sex ______
1. How many hours a day do you spend watching television?
1 or less2–33–44–56 or more
2. How many hours a day do you spend on homework?
1 or less2–33–44–56 or more
3. In how many classes do your teachers assign homework four or more times a week?
1–22–33–44–56 or more
4. In how many classes do your teachers assign homework one or two times a week?
1–22–33–44–56 or more
- In how many classes do your teachers almost never assign homework during the week?
1–22–33–44–56 or more
WORKSHEET 9-5
Unscrambling Key Terms
Name ______Class Time ______Date ______
1. The assignment of students to one of several courses of study in high school on the basis of criteria such as academic interests and goals, past achievement, and ability.
DMCAIEAC KTGNRICA
2. Goals that emphasize individual improvement, mastery of the material, and intellectual development.
KTSA-YMSATRE
3. Goals that emphasize comparisons among students, defining achievement in terms of one student’s ability relative to that of others.
PCENRMROFEA-BLAITIY
4. Characteristic of individuals who place above a predetermined cut-off point on intelligence scales or who demonstrate special talents in diverse areas.
FDGIET
5. Difficulty with academic tasks that is not due to emotional or sensory problems and presumably reflects neurological dysfunction.
NNRGILAE BYLIDSIAIT
6. The type of language that uses the pronoun he to refer to an individual of either sex and words such as man or mankind to refer to all people.
LAME RICGNEE
7. A classroom organized into small, ethnically balanced working groups in which each student contributes a different part of the lesson.
WISAJG
8. Placing students with learning disabilities in regular classes.
MTAEGMINSARIN
9. A consultant who meets with regular teachers to discuss ways of managing the needs of students with learning disabilities.
CSLIAPE ACNEODTIU
answerS to WORKSHEET 9-5
Unscrambling Key Terms
1.academic tracking
2.task-mastery
3.performance-ability
4.gifted
5.learning disability
6.male generic
7.jigsaw
8.mainstreaming
9.special education
CHAPTER 9
Supplemental Activities
Activity 1
Explanations for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Nature or Nurture?
Understanding the origins of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has implications for treatment and educational practices for such children. However, the scientific community is somewhat divided about the origins of this disorder. This activity involves students in an informed debate about the origins of ADHD.
Demonstration:
Students will be divided into two groups to debate the origins of ADHD after considering recently published articles about the disorder.
Time:
Fifteen minutes of one class period and approximately 30 minutes of another class period.
Materials:
All students will be assigned to go to the library and read the following two articles about the origins of ADHD placed on reserve by the instructor:
Joseph, J. (2000). Not in their genes: A critical view of the genetics of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Developmental Review, 20(4), 539–567.
Farone, S. & Biederman, J. (2000). Nature, nurture and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Developmental Review, 20(4), 568–581.
Procedures:
1)Two weeks preceding this activity, announce to the students that during the next week they are assigned to go to the library and read the above two articles on ADHD that have been placed on reserve. Explain that one article refutes genetic origins of the disorder in favor of psychosocial explanations, whereas the other article (Farone and Biederman) rejects the arguments of the first article in favor of a more interactive view of genetics and environment in explaining ADHD. Inform students that they are to read both articles and that at a class meeting in the next week they will be arbitrarily divided into two groups and given some time to meet as groups for the purpose of preparing a sort of debate to take place at a class meeting at the end of the second week from which they are assigned to read the articles.
2)After a week, divide the class into two groups. This activity can accommodate larger classes by asking about five students to volunteer for each of the two groups. Explain to students that they will debate each other and assign each of the groups one of the articles to support in the debate. Allow students about 15 minutes of class time to meet and discuss how to present the main tenets of the article they are assigned to support.
3)At the end of the second week from the original announcement to read the articles hold the informal brief debate in class and have each group present the main points of their article. Then ask the students to try and convince one another that either a genetic explanation for ADHD makes the most sense or that an interaction of genetics and environment is more critical to understanding ADHD. The following questions may be asked of the groups (and the class as a whole) by the instructor to stimulate discussion: