3. Adolescents with and without ld make the transition to middle school
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The document summarizes research on how Hispanic students with and without learning disabilities fare academically and socially during the transition from elementary to middle school. It found that the 14 Hispanic students who were studied and had received instruction in an inclusive 6th grade classroom experienced the transition similarly, whether they had learning disabilities or not, and generally fared well in the transition to middle school. It also reviews literature showing that the transition often leads to declines for general education students in areas like academic performance and self-perceptions.
![their NLD peers' (e.g., see Chapman, 1988, for a review).
As a group, the mean academic selfconcept scores of both groups of students increased the most in their
sixthgrade inclusive classroom. Students' mean academic self-concept scores were higher at the end of sixth
grade than they were at the end of seventh grade. An increase on the academic self-concept measure during
sixth grade is similar to students' mean score increases on the global selfconcept and Friendship Survey
measures.
Friendship Quality. Students' scores from the Friendship Survey were examined by comparing group mean
scores for each data point. As presented in Table 2, one interesting finding from the Friendship Survey results
was that the mean raw score of both groups of students increased more in sixth than in seventh grade.
Students' mean raw scores at the end of sixth grade were higher than their scores at the end of seventh grade.
Most of the gains in students' mean friendship quality scores occurred in the sixthgrade inclusive classroom and
were relatively flat during seventh grade. When the scores are examined across 2 years, the students'
Friendship Survey scores remained relatively stable.
In summary, on the measures of selfconcept and friendship quality, the mean raw scores of both groups of
students were relatively stable, with slightly higher scores found at the end of sixth grade. Furthermore, the
global and academic self-concept mean raw scores of both groups of students decreased from the end of sixth
to the end of seventh grade but were in the average range when compared to same-age students from the
normative sample in the Piers-Harris test manual.
Intraindividual Results
In addition to conducting a group analysis of academic and social performance, we examined individual
students' raw scores on all measures, from the end of sixth to the end of seventh grade, to identify patterns of
change. Students' scores were also visually examined to identify scoring responses that clustered into common
groups. The visual examination of students' scores provided an overall indication of how students fared on all
measures when making the transition from sixth to seventh grade. Based on students' raw scores, there was
not a clear pattern that distinguished the performance of the students with LD from that of the NLD students.
Overall, the raw scores of 11 of the 14 students decreased from the end of sixth to the end of seventh grade.
That slight decrease is consistent with the findings of other researchers studying adolescents as they make the
transition from elementary to middle school (Eccles et al., 1991; Wigfield &Eccles, 1994).
Students' Perceptions of Inclusion and School Transition
Five factors emerged from the qualitative data analysis of the student interviews: (a) inclusion as a positive
experience; (b) inclusion as a less positive experience; (c) positive changes associated with middle school; (d)
less positive changes associated with middle school; and (e) friendships. (See Table 3 for a summary of
students' interview responses.)
Inclusion As a Positive Experience.
Most of the students interviewed reported that the sixth-grade inclusive class was a positive experience, for
three main reasons. The first was related to the amount, and degree of difficulty@ of the academic content in
the inclusive class. Most students with LD felt they learned more material in the inclusive classroom than in the
middle school resource room. As one student with LD stated, "In LD [resource, the work] is always the same
thing. Every year the teachers keep teaching the same thing over and over. That's why people barely learn
anything." This student and several other students with LD viewed the academics in the sixth-grade inclusive
classroom as more challenging than the academics in the seventh-grade resource room.
Second, many students favored the inclusive classroom because they felt they received extra help by having
two teachers in the classroom at the same time. When students were asked why the special education teacher
came into the general education classroom, one NLD student said, "She would help the students that needed it
because the teacher could not take care of us all." Students with LD also enjoyed the support of two teachers in
the classroom: "We had two teachers to teach us. It wasn't an LD class, it was just like having an extra teacher,"
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3. Adolescents with and without ld make the transition to middle school
- 1. _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ Report Information from ProQuest April 28 2014 08:25 _______________________________________________________________ 28 April 2014 ProQuest
- 2. Table of contents 1. Adolescents with and without LD make the transition to middle school....................................................... 1 28 April 2014 ii ProQuest
- 3. Document 1 of 1 Adolescents with and without LD make the transition to middle school Author: Forgan, James W; Vaughn, Sharon ProQuest document link Abstract: The purpose of this 2-year study was to describe how Hispanic students with and without learning disabilities fared academically and socially during the transition from elementary school to middle school. Participants were 14 Hispanic students who were instructed in a sixth-grade consultation/collaboration, inclusive elementary classroom before making the transition to middle school. Examination of social, academic, and student perception data revealed that, on the whole, the students with learning disabilities and those without experienced the transition similarly and fared well during the elementary-to-middle-school transition. Full text: Headnote Abstract Headnote The purpose of this 2-year study was to describe how Hispanic students with and without learning disabilities fared academically and socially during the transition from elementary school to middle school. Participants were 14 Hispanic students who were instructed in a sixth-grade consultation/ collaboration, inclusive elementary classroom before making the transition to middle school. Examination of social, academic, and student perception data revealed that, on the whole, the students with learning disabilities and those without experienced the transition similarly and fared well during the elementary-to-middle-school transition. The main purpose of our study was to describe how students with and without learning disabilities (LD) fared academically and socially over a 2-year period, during their transition from a sixth-grade inclusive elementary classroom to seventhgrade, in middle school. Data regarding students' progress in the following domains were collected: reading comprehension, global and academic selfconcept, and friendship quality Students' perceptions of their transition experiences were also gathered in two individually administered interviews. To date, a modest body of research exists regarding the effects of making the transition from elementary to middle school on the development of adolescents in general education but not in special education (e.g., Eccles &Midgley, 1989; Eccles et al., 1993b; Nottleman, 1987). For general education students, this period of school transition often leads to declines in their selfperceptions, academic performance, school-related behaviors (Eccles, Lord, &Midgley, 1991), and grade-point average (Seidman, Allen, Aber, Mitchell, &Feinman 1994). Students' schoolrelated declines from elementary to middle school are usually not extreme but, rate occur at a gradual rate (Eccles &Midgley, 1989). Academic Outcomes Researchers have investigated the academic performance of general education students during school transition (e.g., Lord, Eccles, &McCarthy, 1994; Simmons &Blyth, 1987; Wigfield &Eccles, 1994), and, as summed up by Midgley and Urdan (1992), "after the school transition, many students feel less positively about their academic potential and the value of schooling, they give up more quickly and put forth less effort, and their grades decline" (p. 5). Most researchers agree that the academic performance and competence of general education adolescents tend to decrease after the transition to middle school (Eccles et al., 1993a; Wigfield, Eccles, Mac Iver, Reuman, &Midgley, 1991). Academic competence (i.e., a student's belief in his or her control over positive academic outcomes) tends to decrease from sixth grade to the beginning of seventh grade for students in general education (Wigfield et al., 1991). By the end of seventh grade, these students' academic competence generally increases but does not reach the same level as was present at the beginning of sixth grade. It seems that students' academic performance rebounds after the elementary-to-middle-school transition but does not return to prior levels. 28 April 2014 Page 1 of 15 ProQuest
- 4. Researchers' explanation for the academic and behavioral declines of general education students lies in the changes in the classroom environment that typically occur when students make the transition from elementary to middle school (Eccles &Midgley, 1989; Simmons &Blyth, 1987). In middle school, teachers are less likely to form interpersonal relationships with students and more likely to display higher levels of control and to discipline more frequently (Eccles et al., 1993b). This level of control contrasts with elementary school classrooms, where students are often given opportunities to take responsibility for their own schoolwork. Furthermore, middle school students likely receive whole-class instruction, with little small-group or individualized instruction (Vaughn &Schumm, 1994). Observations of sixthand seventh-grade students have revealed that most students work on the same assignments, use the same textbooks, and receive the same homework (Feldlaufer, Midgley, &Eccles, 1988). Whole-class instruction encourages teachers to publicly evaluate student performance and use stricter grading standards, often leading to declines in student academic performance and academic self-concept (Eccles &Midgley, 1989). Self-Concept Most of the studies that have investigated non-learning disabled (NLD) students' self-concept during the middle school transition period have reported consistently that students' academic self-concept decreases after elementary school (Eccles et al., 1989; Wigfield et al., 1991). In one longitudinal study examining the elementaryto-middle-school transition, adolescents' math and English self-concepts declined during the transition from sixth to seventh grade and continued to decline throughout the seventhgrade year (Wigfield et al., 1991). These results support other researchers who have also reported a decrease in students' academic self-concept (Eccles et al., 1993b; Marsh, 1990). Although NLD students experience decreases in academic self-concept, most maintain a stable global selfconcept during the transition to middle school and the middle school years (Jones &Thornburg, 1984; Nottleman, 1987; Wigfield &Eccles, 1994). Some researchers have even reported increases in the self-concept and self-esteem of general education students (Hirsch &Rapkin, 1987; Nottleman, 1987). Given that NLD students' academic self-concept often decreases during the transition to middle school but their global self-concept remains stable, one of our purposes for this study was to determine how the self-concept of adolescents with LD fared across the transition. Chapman's (1988) synthesis of 20 studies on the self-concept of students with LD, some of which included adolescents, revealed that general education students held higher academic self-concept than students with LD in all studies but one. Additionally, most researchers have reported that elementary-age students with LD have a lower global selfconcept than their NLD peers (Bear, Cleaver, &Proctor, 1991; Rogers &Saklofsky, 1985). At the secondary level, however, researchers have reported that students with LD have a global self-concept on par with that of their NLD peers (Hagborg, 1996; Kirstner, Haskett, White, &Robbins, 1987, Tollefson et al., 1982). Silverman and Zigmond (1983) examined the global self-concept of seventh- and eighth-grade adolescents with and without LD and found that the self-concept scores of students with LD were not significantly different from those of their NLD classmates or the norming population of the PiersHarris Children's Self-Concept Scale. These conclusions were bolstered by Sabornie (1994), who compared middle school students with and without LID and found no significant differences in the students' global selfconcept scores. Friendship Quality Friendship functions as an important social support when adolescents face stressful life events, such as making the transition from elementary to middle school. Often, adolescents' behavior and adjustment improves when they have friendships that are trusted and supportive (Berndt &Keefe, 1991). Strong friendships can even boost students' self-esteem (Berndt &Keefe, 1993). A longitudinal study of adolescents revealed that students who reported positive friendships also had a positive perception of their global selfworth. Likewise, adolescents who had ongoing and recurring negative interactions with peers perceived their global self-worth negatively (Berndt &Keefe, 1993). 28 April 2014 Page 2 of 15 ProQuest
- 5. As children develop and mature, their perspective on the characteristics needed to form a quality friendship changes from the personal to the situational (Berndt &Perry, 1986). Elementary-age children often explain their relationships with friends in terms of the friends' actions (e.g., being "nice" or "mean"), whereas adolescents realize that supportive friendships may involve an occasional disagreement or argument. Adolescents also develop more friendships based upon extracurricular interests and class scheduling. As adolescents mature, they find that having one or two close friends is often more important than boasting a large group of acquaintances. Perhaps making the middle school transition is less stressful for adolescents with supportive friendships than it is for those who lack such relationships. In summary, there is limited research on how general education students make the transition from elementary to middle school. At least for many general education students, this period results in (a) gradual declines in academic performance, (b) stable global-self concepts, but (c) declines in academic self-concept. No multiyear studies were located that investigated the performance of students with LD, and little is known about the friendship quality of students with LD as they make the transition to middle school or their perceptions of this process. This study sought to better understand the academic and social outcomes for a cohort of students with LD and their non-LD peers who made the transition from elementary to middle school. Method Participants Permission for participation in this study was obtained from parents and students. Participants were in the same sixth-grade classroom during the 1994-1995 academic year. These students attended a school, composed mainly of Hispanic students, in a large southeastern metropolitan area that had implemented an inclusion model for the past 2 years. Fourteen Hispanic students (7 with LD and 7 without) participated in this study, which then followed the original cohort of 14 students into middle school. Table 1 provides a description of the participants. All students with LD in the sixthgrade inclusive classroom (n = 7) were selected for this study. Students were classified as LD if they met the following criteria: Their intelligence score was within the normal range as measured on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-HIll (WISC-III; Wechsler, 1991); One or more standard scores on the WISC-III were 1 standard deviation below either the Verbal or the Performance IQ score; Evidence of processing difficulties existed; and Their learning difficulty was not the result of a precipitating condition, such as second language learning, a sensory handicap, or a mental handicap. The seven students without LD were selected from the same sixth-grade inclusive classroom. These students were purposively selected to match the students with LD on the basis of ethnicity and gender. According to their scores on the Stanford Achievement Test, six of the students were average achieving (stanine of 4-6) and one student was high achieving (stanine of 9). Measures Basic Academic Skills Samples (BASS). The Basic Academic Skills Samples (Espin, Deno, Maruyama, &Cohen, 1989) has been utilized in several large-scale research studies (Elbaum &Vaughn, 1997; Zigmond et al., 1995). It was originally designed as a screening instrument to yield an index of student achievement in the basic academic skill areas and to study programs designed to meet the needs of students with LD in general education classrooms (Espin et al., 1989). The BASS is group administered and requires a total of only 5 minutes, making it ideal for administration at regular intervals throughout the school year. The Reading subtest of the BASS consists of a cloze procedure in which every 7th word (starting with the 14th word) is replaced by a multiple-choice item containing the correct word and two distracters. Students are given I minute to read the passage and correctly mark the word that belongs in the sentence. The BASS reading score is the average across the three passages of the number of correct responses minus 28 April 2014 Page 3 of 15 ProQuest
- 6. half the number of incorrect responses (Zigmond et al., 1995). To prevent a score's being artificially inflated by guessing, scoring is discontinued after the student makes three consecutive incorrect choices (Espin et al., 1989). This instrument is reported to be a valid index of student achievement in reading, with a correlation of .81 between the number of words read aloud and the total number of words read on the BASS (Espin et al., 1989). Elbaum and Vaughn (1997) administered the BASS to more than 1,400 students with LID from Florida and reported it as having high test-retest reliability and strong concurrent validity with the Stanford Achievement Test. Friendship Survey. This measure is an individually administered, 18-item measure that Vaughn, Elbaum, Schumm, and Hughes (1998) adapted from a structured interview originally developed by Berndt and Perry (1986). The purpose of this measure was to investigate dimensions of children's friendships (Vaughn et al., 1998). The following is an example of a question from the Friendship Survey: "Do you and your friends go over to each other's houses?" Students respond "Yes," "Sometimes," or "No" for each question. As reported in previous research (Vaughn et al., 1998), the total score on the friendship survey can be used as a measure of the quality of a student's friendships; overall, the friendship survey gives an indication of how well he or she interacts with friends in, or outside of, school. Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Measure. The Piers-Harris (Piers, 1984) has also been used in previous research studies (Marsh &MacDonald Holmes, 1990; Proctor &Choi, 1994; Silverman &Zigmond, 1983; Tollefson et al., 1982; Yauman, 1980). This measure is an 80-item self-report questionnaire designed to assess how children feel about themselves (Piers, 1984). For each of the 80 items, a brief statement is provided and students are asked to respond "Yes" or "No" to indicate whether each statement applies to them. "My classmates make fun of me" and "I have many friends" are two examples of items from this measure. The total score of the Piers-Harris ranges from 0 to 80, with a higher score indicating a more positive selfconcept. This research study reports two scores from the Piers-Harris: the total score and that of the intellectual/ academic self-concept subscale. The total score is reported because it is the single most reliable measure for the Piers-Harris (Piers, 1984). Marsh and MacDonald Holmes (1990) concluded that the subscales of the Piers-Harris should be interpreted with caution because "the Piers-Harris originally was intended to measure a relatively global, unidimensional construct, and its scale scores were derived ex-post facto on the 28 April 2014 Page 4 of 15 ProQuest
- 7. basis of factor analyses" (p. 96). The Piers-Harris was normed on 1,183 children representing Grades 4 through 12. Test-retest reliability coefficients are reported that range from .42 to .96 (Piers, 1984). Median testretest reliability was .73. Reported internal consistency coefficients range from .88 to .92 for the total score and from .73 to .81 for the cluster scales (Piers, 1984). Interviews. The purpose of the individual student interviews was to understand students' perceptions of the transition to middle school. The researcher adhered to the following interview procedures (Bogdan &Biklen, 1992) during the student interview: 1. Build a relationship and common ground with small talk; 2. Inform the student of the purpose of the interview and assure him or her of confidentiality; 3. Present questions as a guide for discussion; 4. Avoid using questions that can be answered by "yes" or "no"; 5. Encourage students to elaborate on key points and clarify responses when unclear; 6. Listen carefully; and 7. Be flexible. The interview consisted of 12 questions: Questions 1 through 5 were about the school transition, Questions 6 through 8 related to inclusion and students' friendships, and Questions 9 through 12 investigated students' views of academics (see the Appendix for a copy of the first student interview). A second individual interview was developed to obtain further information about students' perceptions of transition and inclusion. To develop the second student interview, the researcher examined the first level coding from the initial student interviews (Miles &Huberman, 1994), and new questions were developed that expanded on students' responses from the first-level coding. All questions from the second interview were openended and allowed students to expand on previous responses. Procedure This research study was conducted in four phases. Phase 1 of the data collection was administered during Year 1, when the participants were in sixth grade (their final year of elementary school). During sixth grade, the participants were included as part of a larger study investigating the academic and social effects of inclusion (Vaughn et al., 1998). The consultation/collaboration model of inclusion consisted of approximately 36 students in one class, 6 of which were identified as LD. Trained graduate assistants administered the BASS, Piers- Harris, and Friendship Survey during October and May of the school year. Phase 2 of the data collection was completed during January of the following year, when participants were in seventh grade, their first year of middle school. During seventh grade, the students with LD spent a minimum of one class period per day in the resource room and rotated to other classes throughout the day. Data were collected from the participants in a 1-hour session at each school. When administering the Piers-Harris and the Friendship Survey, we read the items aloud to students when necessary; however, the BASS does not permit the items to be read out loud. Phase 3 of the data-collection process was completed during May of the participants' 7th grade year. Again, data were collected and each student was individually interviewed for approximately 20 to 30 minutes, during which responses were written down and the interview audiotaped. This recording was reviewed and transcribed for accuracy. Phase 4 began after the data from all initial student interviews were transcribed and had received firstlevel coding (Miles &Huberman, 1994), which summarized segments of data. This first-level coding helped the researcher identify students who provided descriptive details during the interview, in addition to areas that needed to be expanded upon during the second interview. With the information from the first student interviews, a second interview was developed to provide a more intensive examination of critical issues. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed for accuracy and data analysis purposes. The transcribed interviews were studied by the primary author, and an initial list of large common ideas 28 April 2014 Page 5 of 15 ProQuest
- 8. emerged (Strauss &Corbin, 1990). The interview data were then unitized and patterns of data became evident. After themes were derived to describe the patterns of data, another researcher, trained in qualitative data analysis, independently read the unitized data. Both researchers met and agreed upon a mutual set of factors. When differences existed, the researchers discussed the issues and came to an agreement. Intercoder agreement was .95. Results The findings from this study are discussed in terms of four areas: academic performance in reading, self- concept and friendship quality, intraindividual results, and students' perceptions of inclusion and school transition. Academic Performance in Reading The BASS is not a nationally normreferenced reading measure; however, the students from this transition study are equated to students from Minnesota who participated in the development of the BASS measure to provide a means of comparison (sixth grade was the highest grade in the comparison sample from Minnesota). We feel this is a valuable comparison because the BASS reading measure has been used in several large-scale research projects and serves as an indicator of how students in our specific geographic area achieve in regard to the findings of other researchers (Elbaum &Vaughn, 1997; Zigmond et al., 1995). As presented in Table 2, when the mean raw scores of the BASS were examined by group (LD and NLD), the general education students' mean raw scores were higher on the BASS than the mean raw scores of the students with LD at each data point (i.e., September 1994, May 1995, January 1996, and May 1996). When the mean scores of the NLD students and students with LD are compared to the BASS comparison sample, both groups of students achieved below the sixth-grade comparison sample from Minnesota at all data points. The comparison sample data from all six grade levels showed that the pattern of change for students' scores was an increase of approximately 2 points at each ascending grade level. On the basis of that pattern, it was predicted that the mean raw score for a seventh-grade comparison sample would be 16. In our study, the seventh-grade NLD students' mean score was approximately 11 and the mean score of the students with LD was approximately 5. When matched to the comparison sample scores, the students with LID scored on par with second-grade students and the NLD students scored on par with fourthgrade students. The mean raw scores of both groups of students were much lower than the predicted seventhgrade comparison sample score. From the end of sixth grade to the end of seventh grade, reading scores for both groups of students were slightly higher in middle school than in elementary school. The mean reading raw score of the NLD students increased at each data-collection point. This slight upward trend indicated that the NLD students made only minimal progress in reading across the 2 school years. 28 April 2014 Page 6 of 15 ProQuest
- 9. The students with LD also made minimal reading gains during sixth grade. In the inclusion classroom, the mean raw score of the students with LD increased; however, from the end of sixth grade and throughout seventh grade, it remained constant. The data from the BASS measure indicate that over the 2-year period, the students with LID made little academic progress in reading. Friendship Quality and Self-Concept Group Analysis of Global SelfConcept. Over the 2-year period, both groups of students fared well on the Piers- Harris measure of global selfconcept when making the transition from elementary school to middle school. As shown in Table 2, the global self-concept raw scores of the students with LD were in the average range when compared to those of the normative sample of same-age students. The global self-concept scores of the NLD students were in the high-average range-approximately one-half a standard deviation above the norm mean. Additionally, at all data points the NLD students' raw scores were higher than the raw scores of the students with LD. The largest increase in global selfconcept scores for both groups of students occurred in the sixth-grade inclusive classroom. The mean global self-concept score of the students with LD increased 3 points and the score of the NLD students increased 7 points. During seventh grade, there was relatively little change in students' global self-concept scores. Both groups of students' mean raw scores decreased slightly from the end of sixth to the end of seventh grade. Overall, during the 2-year period, the global self-concept scores were relatively stable for both groups of students. Group Analysis of Academic SelfConcept. The academic self-concept scores for both groups of students were in the average range at all data points when compared to the norming sample of same-age students from the Piers-Harris test manual (see Table 2). The mean academic self-concept scores of the students with LD were lower than those of their NLD peers but stayed in the low-average range. This finding is contrary to most research studies, which have reported that students with LD do not have an academic self-concept on par with 28 April 2014 Page 7 of 15 ProQuest
- 10. their NLD peers' (e.g., see Chapman, 1988, for a review). As a group, the mean academic selfconcept scores of both groups of students increased the most in their sixthgrade inclusive classroom. Students' mean academic self-concept scores were higher at the end of sixth grade than they were at the end of seventh grade. An increase on the academic self-concept measure during sixth grade is similar to students' mean score increases on the global selfconcept and Friendship Survey measures. Friendship Quality. Students' scores from the Friendship Survey were examined by comparing group mean scores for each data point. As presented in Table 2, one interesting finding from the Friendship Survey results was that the mean raw score of both groups of students increased more in sixth than in seventh grade. Students' mean raw scores at the end of sixth grade were higher than their scores at the end of seventh grade. Most of the gains in students' mean friendship quality scores occurred in the sixthgrade inclusive classroom and were relatively flat during seventh grade. When the scores are examined across 2 years, the students' Friendship Survey scores remained relatively stable. In summary, on the measures of selfconcept and friendship quality, the mean raw scores of both groups of students were relatively stable, with slightly higher scores found at the end of sixth grade. Furthermore, the global and academic self-concept mean raw scores of both groups of students decreased from the end of sixth to the end of seventh grade but were in the average range when compared to same-age students from the normative sample in the Piers-Harris test manual. Intraindividual Results In addition to conducting a group analysis of academic and social performance, we examined individual students' raw scores on all measures, from the end of sixth to the end of seventh grade, to identify patterns of change. Students' scores were also visually examined to identify scoring responses that clustered into common groups. The visual examination of students' scores provided an overall indication of how students fared on all measures when making the transition from sixth to seventh grade. Based on students' raw scores, there was not a clear pattern that distinguished the performance of the students with LD from that of the NLD students. Overall, the raw scores of 11 of the 14 students decreased from the end of sixth to the end of seventh grade. That slight decrease is consistent with the findings of other researchers studying adolescents as they make the transition from elementary to middle school (Eccles et al., 1991; Wigfield &Eccles, 1994). Students' Perceptions of Inclusion and School Transition Five factors emerged from the qualitative data analysis of the student interviews: (a) inclusion as a positive experience; (b) inclusion as a less positive experience; (c) positive changes associated with middle school; (d) less positive changes associated with middle school; and (e) friendships. (See Table 3 for a summary of students' interview responses.) Inclusion As a Positive Experience. Most of the students interviewed reported that the sixth-grade inclusive class was a positive experience, for three main reasons. The first was related to the amount, and degree of difficulty@ of the academic content in the inclusive class. Most students with LD felt they learned more material in the inclusive classroom than in the middle school resource room. As one student with LD stated, "In LD [resource, the work] is always the same thing. Every year the teachers keep teaching the same thing over and over. That's why people barely learn anything." This student and several other students with LD viewed the academics in the sixth-grade inclusive classroom as more challenging than the academics in the seventh-grade resource room. Second, many students favored the inclusive classroom because they felt they received extra help by having two teachers in the classroom at the same time. When students were asked why the special education teacher came into the general education classroom, one NLD student said, "She would help the students that needed it because the teacher could not take care of us all." Students with LD also enjoyed the support of two teachers in the classroom: "We had two teachers to teach us. It wasn't an LD class, it was just like having an extra teacher," 28 April 2014 Page 8 of 15 ProQuest
- 11. said one student. Students perceived that teachers in the inclusive classroom expanded the support for all students during reading instruction. Third, it seems that the feelings of self-worth of some students with LD improved in the elementary inclusive classroom. One student was in a resource room during fifth grade, an inclusive classroom for sixth grade, and special education class for language arts during seventh grade in middle school. When asked what type of setting he liked best, he cautiously replied, "My sixth grade class, because in there nobody treated you like an LD kid, they just treated you like normal." Inclusion As a Less Positive Experience. Students with less positive experiences in the inclusive class voiced two specific concerns. First, some students with LD preferred the resource room because the academic work was "easier" and they were able to "get good grades." These students viewed the academic material in the inclusive classroom as too hard. Second, some NLD students felt the resource classroom was the best place for students with LD to get extra help because there was "too much noise" in the inclusive classroom. One NLD student explained, "The noise got real loud sometimes ... you couldn't hear and you get confused." Positive Changes Associated with Middle School. There were no clear distinctions separating the views of the NLD students from those of the students with LD as they made the transition from elementary to middle school. Both groups of students viewed the transition favorably. Students identified four main reasons for preferring middle school over elementary school: the independence found in middle school, the schedule of changing classes, the opportunity to make new friends, and liking the teachers, Increased independence in middle school was the main reason for this preference. One student expressed the feelings of many when he said, Middle school lets you expand your life. You are not always in the same place at the same time, you can do more stuff and the teachers trust you. In elementary it's a group thing and you always have to go together and you always have to be in the same classroom. It was always the same time, the same place. 28 April 2014 Page 9 of 15 ProQuest
- 12. One students' opinion of changing classes was, "If you forget your homework, like in third period, you can do it in first period." Furthermore, students enjoyed the larger environment in middle school and found that taking multiple classes allowed them to meet more friends. Most students believed that the teachers in middle school looked out for their best interests. In other words, the teachers took a personal interest in them, were concerned for their well-being, and cared about them. Less Positive Changes Associated with Middle School. Although students viewed most of the changes associated with making the transition to middle school positively, there were some changes they did not like. Some were minor, such as disliking the school dress code, losing a backpack, finding the schoolbooks too heavy to carry@ and not getting their first choice of elective classes. More consequential negative changes included increased academic competition, feeling victimized or picked on by other students, and perceiving that teachers in middle school did not take a personal interest in students. Six of the 14 students felt they were picked on by other students in seventh grade. They were called names and physically pushed around; one student felt he was always being accused of things he had not done. One NLD student, asked why he was being called names, replied, "Kids think they are tough and pick on kids that are not like that. Before you wear something to school, you think about it to see if people would make fun of you." A few of the students felt the teachers in middle school did not "look out" for them as much as their elementary school inclusion teachers did. Students defined "not looking out for you" as teachers' not taking a personal interest in their academic work, not paying attention to them, and occasionally yelling at them. One student said, "I liked having one teacher for the whole day because she took care of you and looked out for you, and you got to know her better. In middle school, teachers don't look out for you." Friendships. Friendships played an important role for students when making the transition from elementary school to middle school. When students were asked if they had more friends in sixth or seventh grade, all students responded they had more friends during seventh grade. Most students' rationale for having a larger group of friends in middle school than elementary school related to the larger student population, meeting people at different grade levels, and having different class periods in middle school. "It's easier to have friends because you have more people in your classes and you can see people in different grades in the halls and in spill-out," said one student. All students viewed the opportunity to make new friends in middle school positively. Discussion This study was conducted to determine how students with and without LID fared academically and socially as they made the transition from a consultation/collaboration inclusive elementary classroom to traditional middle school. The results of this study across the 2-year period revealed that the social scores of both groups of students were relatively stable. The mean raw scores of the students with LID were slightly higher at the end of sixth grade than at the end of seventh grade on the Friendship Survey and the Piers-Harris self-concept measure. Furthermore, during seventh grade, the global and academic self-concept scores of the students with LD were in the average and low-average range when compared to same-age students from the Piers-Harris normative sample. It is interesting to speculate about potential factors that might have contributed to students' relatively stable self- concept and friendship-quality scores during the transition from elementary to middle school. On the Friendship Survey there were no clear distinctions between the scores of students with LD and those of the NLD students. When the Friendship Survey scores were examined from the end of sixth to the end of seventh grade, both groups of students' scores had decreased slightly. However, that slight decrease may be explained by the standard error of measurement. Of greater importance was the relative stability of students' scores on the Friendship Survey and the results of the interview data, in which students reported having more friends in seventh than in sixth grade. Because the Friendship Survey assessed students' quality of friendships in and out of school, students could have been finding support from friends in school or within their community. Previous research studies have not focused on the self-concept of students with LD during the elementary- 28 April 2014 Page 10 of 15 ProQuest
- 13. tomiddle-school transition, and therefore it is encouraging to note that at all data points the global self-concept scores of the students with LD were in the average range when compared to same-age students from the PiersHarris norming sample. The finding of average global self-concept scores for middle school students with LID supports earlier research on the selfconcept of adolescents with LD (Hagborg, 1996; Sabornie, 1994; Silverman &Zigmond, 1983). Silverman and Zigmond also reported that the selfconcept of adolescents with LID was not significantly lower than that of their NLD classmates or of the norming population from the Piers-Harris. Three possible explanations for how students with LD maintained an adequate self-concept were offered by Silverman and Zigmond: multiple reference groups, impaired self-perceptions, and strength in nonacademic areas. The compensatory-strengths hypothesis, which says these students have other, nonacademic areas of strength, is the one most likely to support the findings from our transition study. Throughout the structured interviews, it seemed that most students found success in nonacademic areas, such as participating in fund- raising activities, being involved with peers, playing sports, and so forth. Involvement in extracurricular activities may have helped the students with LD maintain an average global self-concept. Subsequent research has built upon the compensatory-strengths hypothesis. Hagborg (1996) studied the selfconcept of three subgroups of middle school students with LID and found evidence to support the idea that students with LD, especially those with an internal locus of control for academic successes, have an average global selfconcept. In that most researchers in the area of self-concept (e.g., Byrne, 1984; Marsh, 1990; Marsh, Byrne, &Shavelson, 1988) agree that self-concept is multidimensional, it is probable that some students with LID in our transition study compensated for a low academic self-concept by having strengths in other self- concept domains, which in turn allowed their global selfconcept to fall in the average range. The academic self-concept scores of the students with LID were in the lowaverage range at all data points when compared to those of the Piers-Harris norming sample. The mean selfconcept scores of the students with LID were in the low-average range of performance and were lower than those of the NLD students at all data points. This finding is consistent with Chapman's (1988) review of the self-concept literature, which revealed that, in all but 1 of 20 studies, the academic selfconcept of students with LD was lower than NLD students'. It was unexpected that the mean reading comprehension scores of both groups of students increased only slightly from the beginning of sixth to the end of seventh grade. Any combination of the following three reasons may have contributed to students' apparent lack of progress in reading. First, students' academic gains in the sixth-grade inclusive class may have been enhanced by the external university support of this classroom. Second, there may have been less emphasis on teaching reading at the middle school level, as students primarily took classes in language arts. Third, the BASS measure may not be a valid tool for assessing the reading comprehension of adolescents in middle school. Regardless of the reasoning for students' minimal reading gains, we feel that this is an area that warrants further investigation. When the social and academic data were aggregated, the results converged to reveal that most students experienced a slight decline in raw scores from the end of sixth to the end of seventh grade. However, across the 2-year period, students' scores changed less than expected and can be viewed as rather stable on most measures. We believe that the students' positive perceptions of the transition, considered in conjunction with the relative stability of their test scores, can be viewed as promising. We feel that the students' perceptions are a powerful indicator of how they fared as they made the transition from elementary to middle school. Equally important, students' self-concept and friendship-quality scores were in the same range as those of average achieving students from the comparison samples. Our study provides descriptive data for an area of limited investigation: the middle school transition experience for students with LD. The quantitative and qualitative data from this study suggest no obvious differences regarding how students with LD and NLD students make the transition to middle school. As a group, the students with LD did not experience much difficulty-in fact, it seems they were more deficient on academic achievement measures than on measures of academic or global self-concept. Perhaps rather than focusing on 28 April 2014 Page 11 of 15 ProQuest
- 14. how students fare socially during the transition, future researchers need to investigate students' academic performance prior to and after the middle school transition. Readers should note that this study may have been limited by the confounding factor of students' placement in the externally supported inclusive classroom prior to the transition to middle school. Future research should be aimed at replicating this study with a larger sample of students over a 3- to 5-year period. References REFERENCES References Bear, G. G., Cleaver, A., &Proctor, W. A. (1991). Self-perceptions of nonhandicapped children and children with learning disabilities in integrated classes. The Journal of Special Education, 24, 409-426. Berndt, T. J., &Keefe, K. (1991). How friends influence adolescents' adjustment to school (Report No. PS 019 606). Seattle, WA: Society for Research in Child Development. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 332 813) Berndt, T. J., &Keefe, K. (1993). Effects of friendship on adolescents' self-esteem (Re References port No. PS 021 286). New Orleans: Society for Research in Child Development. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 358 915) Berndt, T. J., &Perry, T. B. (1986). Children's perceptions of friendships as supportive relationships. Developmental Psychology, 22,640-648. Bogdan, R. C., &Biklen, S. K. (1992). Qualitative research for education. Boston: Allyn &Bacon. Byrne, B. M. (1984). The general/academic self-concept nomological network: A review of construct validation research. Review of Educational Research, 54, 427-456. Chapman, J. W. (1988). Learning disabled children's self-concepts. Review of Educational Research, 58, 347- 371. Eccles, J. S., Lord, S., &Midgley, C. (1991). What are we doing to early adolescents? The impact of educational contexts on early adolescents. American Journal of Education, 91, 521-594. Eccles, J. S., &Midgley, C. (1989). Stageenvironment fit: Developmentally appropriate classrooms for young adolescents. In R. E. Ames &C. Ames (Eds.), Research on motivation in education (Vol. 3, pp. 139-186). New York: Academic Press. 28 April 2014 Page 12 of 15 ProQuest
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- 16. disabled children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 18, 273-278. Sabon-de, E. J. (1994). Social-affective characteristics in early adolescents identified as learning disabled and nondisabled. Learning Disability Quarterly, 17, 268-279. Seidman, E., Allen, L., Aber, J. L., Mitchell, C., &Feinman, J. (1994). The impact of school transitions in early adolescence on the self-system and perceived social context of poor urban youth. Child Development, 65, 507- 522. Silverman, R., &Zigmond, N. (1983). Selfconcept in learning disabled adolescents. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 16, 478-490. Simmons, R. G., &Blyth, D. A. (1987). Moving into adolescence. New York: Aldine De Gruyter. References Strauss, A. L., &Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Tollefson, N., Tracey, D. B., Johnsen, E. P, Buenning, M., Farmer, A., &Barke, C. R. (1982). Attribution patterns of learning disabled adolescents. Learning Disability Quarterly, 5, 14-20. Vaughn, S., Elbaum, B. E., Schumm, J. S., &Hughes, M. (1998). Social outcomes for students with and without LD in inclusive classrooms. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 31, 423-436. Vaughn, S., &Schumm, J. S. (1994). Middle school teachers' planning for students with learning disabilities. Remedial and Special Education, 15, 152-161. Wechsler, D. (1991). Wechsler intelligence scale for children (3rd ed.). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corp. Wigfield, A., &Eccles, J. S. (1994). Children's competence, beliefs, achievement values, and general self- esteem: Changes across elementary and middle school. Journal of Early Adolescence, 14, 107-138. Wigfield, A., Eccles, J. S., Mac Iver, D., Reuman, D. A., &Midgley, C. (1991). Transitions during early adolescence: Changes in children's domain-specific self-perceptions and general self-esteem References across the transition to junior high school. Developmental Psychology, 27, 552-565. Yauman, B. E. (1980). Special education placement and the self-concept of ele References mentary school age children. Learning Disability Quarterly, 3, 30-35. Zigmond, N., Jenkins, J., Fuchs, L. S., Deno, S., Fuchs, D., Baker, J. N., Jen References kins, L., &Coutinho, M. (1995). Special education in restructured schools: Findings from three multi-year studies. Phi Delta Kappan, 76, 531-540. AuthorAffiliation James W. Forgan, Phl), is an assistant professor of special education at Florida Atlantic University. He taught students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders in elementary and middle school. Dr. Forgan's current interest is helping students with learning disabilities improve their reading. Sharon Vaughn, Phl), is a professor in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Austin and the director of the Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts. Her research interests focus on the academic and social functioning of students with reading and learning disabilities. Address: James W. Forgan, Florida Atlantic University, 5353 Parkside Dr., Jupiter, FL 33458 (e-mail: Jforgan@fau.edu). MeSH: Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Child, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Prospective Studies, Schools, Social Behavior, Adolescent Behavior (major), Hispanic Americans (major), Learning Disorders -- rehabilitation (major) Publication title: Journal of Learning Disabilities 28 April 2014 Page 14 of 15 ProQuest
- 17. Volume: 33 Issue: 1 Pages: 33-43 Number of pages: 11 Publication year: 2000 Publication date: Jan/Feb 2000 Year: 2000 Publisher: SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC. Place of publication: Austin Country of publication: United States Publication subject: Education--Special Education And Rehabilitation, Psychology, Medical Sciences ISSN: 00222194 CODEN: JLDIAD Source type: Scholarly Journals Language of publication: English Document type: Journal Article Accession number: 15505954 ProQuest document ID: 194222878 Document URL: http://search.proquest.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/docview/194222878?accountid=42518 Copyright: Copyright PRO-ED Journals Jan/Feb 2000 Last updated: 2013-08-22 Database: Arts & Humanities Full Text _______________________________________________________________ Contact ProQuest Copyright © 2014 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. - Terms and Conditions 28 April 2014 Page 15 of 15 ProQuest