Foreign language education in rural schools: Struggles and initiatives among generalist teachers teaching English in Mexico

In many countries, English as a foreign/second language (L2) teaching has become compulsory in urban and rural public schools. In rural areas, the challenges for the implementation of this state-sanctioned policy have been explored among L2 teaching specialists. However, this mixed-methods study considered a different teacher group and examined the struggles and initiatives of generalist teachers who are obligated to teach English in rural schools. To this end, data were collected from 115 teachers in 17 rural secondary schools in the Southeast of Mexico. First, the participants completed a survey with closed-ended questions that elicited information about teacher education, teaching experience and knowledge of the rural school system. Then, a subsample of participants completed an individual thematized semi-structured interview. They were selected on the basis of L2 teacher education involvement. In the survey data, response patterns were identified using frequency analyses. The interview data were analyzed using categorical aggregation. The data revealed that the generalist teachers struggle with L2 professionalization, sociocultural and instructional challenges. Nonetheless, only few participants have been engaged in L2 teacher education which could help them overcome these challenges. Instead, they rely upon limited strategies to counteract the day-to-day challenges at the expense of effective L2 teaching practices.

Simultaneous Technique for Acuity and Readiness Testing (START): Further Concurrent Validation of an Aid for Developmental Surveillance

Study objective. A brief (8-minute) procedure, now called Simultaneous Technique for Acuity and Readiness Testing or START, has been shown to be efficacious for predicting developmental outcomes and a cost-effective screen for visual acuity. The objective of the two studies reported here was to examine the ability of this procedure to predict concurrent developmental outcome by using a new simplified scoring system. Design. A prospective design was used. Subjects were screened using START, and then samples were stratified on the basis of developmental screening results (START in study 1 and the revised Denver Developmental Screening Test and a shortened version of the Minnesota Child Development Inventory in study 2) into subsamples (n = 118 and 120) which were administered the standard criterion test (McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities in one cohort and the Stanford-Binet in the other). Setting. Prekindergarten registration for a rural school system in North Carolina. Subjects. Two county-wide cohorts of preschool children (n = 352 and 362). Measurements and main results. Results for prediction of the McCarthy outcomes were as follows: sensitivity, 0.76; specificity, 0.99; predictive value, 0.81; underreferral, 1.3%; overreferral, 1.0%; and percent agreement, 98%. Prediction of Stanford-Binet results was as follows: sensitivity, 0.94; specificity, 0.83; predictive value, 0.22; underreferral, 0.3%; overreferral, 16%; and percent agreement, 84%. Most of the overreferrals for the Stanford-Binet were in the clinically important borderline category. Conclusion. These results provide further support for the concurrent validity of START. The results illustrate how routine health procedures can be restructured to obtain clinically useful data on specific child developmental functioning.

Confrontation and Adaptation

What one rural school system did (and what any school can do) to turn around the behavior and learning of a fourteen-year-old student

Rural school system recruitment and retention of speech-language pathologists

Rural school systems often have encountered difficulty in the recruitment and retention of special education personnel. The situation has been particularly evident in the area of speech-language pathology. Strategies which administrators can utilize to enhance recruitment and retention of speech-language pathologists are proposed.

Eliminating Artifacts from the System

A small rural school system finds a way to help children become successful learners without significant additional funding.

Specific and Diversive Curiosity in Students in Special Education Classes

Two tests of curiosity, designed for mentally retarded or nonverbal individuals, were given to 40 children selected from classes for gifted, learning disabilities, personal and social adjustment, and mentally retarded children in a small rural school system in the midwest. Each subject was administered four trials with the Maze Test, a measure of diversive curiosity (a state induced by conditions of changelessness, repetition, and monotony) and one trial with the Which-to-discuss Test, a measure of specific curiosity (a state induced by conditions and stimuli high in complexity, incongruity, or novelty). The gifted group performed significantly higher on the Which-to-discuss Test than the other three groups, and the mentally retarded performed significantly lower on the Maze Test than the other three groups.

University Outreach Clinician Training Model

This is a description of a cooperative venture between a university and a small rural mountain county school system. The project was undertaken as the solution to a chronic problem apparent throughout the more rural, less populous portions of the United States. Specifically the project was developed to alleviate the difficulty experienced by a rural school system in attracting and retaining qualified speech-language personnel.