1. A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development 6e
Chapter Sixteen:
Schools, Achievement, and Work
John W. Santrock

2. Schools Constructivist and direct instruction approaches
Constructivist approach
Emphasizes child’s active construction of knowledge and understanding; reflection and critical thinking
Teacher provides support for students exploring
their world and developing knowledge
Today: opportunities and collaboration stressed
Criticisms: not enough discipline, too relativistic and vague

3. Schools Constructivist and direct instruction approaches
Structured, teacher-centered/controlled
Criticisms: creates passive learners, few critical thinking challenges
Many recommend: effective teachers use direct and constructivist instruction together

4. Schools Accountability
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

5. Schools Schools and developmental status Early childhood education
The norm in many states, private and publicly funded
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

6. Schools Schools and developmental status Montessori approach
Originally developed for MR children, then for poor
Teacher is facilitator
Children encouraged to be early decision makers
Fosters independence and cognitive development skills
De-emphasizes verbal interactions
Criticisms vary

7. Schools Developmentally Appropriate and Inappropriate Education
Developmentally appropriate practice
focuses on age/individual (uniqueness) appropriateness
Recently: more focus on sociocultural factors
Developmentally inappropriate practice
direct instruction, extensive use of drill/practice, relies on paper-and-pencil activities given to large groups
Children show slower development

8. Schools Education for disadvantaged children 1965 – Project Head Start
U.S. programs vary for low-income children
Proven positive and quality experiences
Not all U.S. programs created equal in quality
Most successful: well-designed and well-implemented
Controversies in early childhood education
Include both academic and constructivist approaches

9. Schools Elementary education
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

10. Schools Educating adolescents
Transition to Middle or Junior High School
Independent from parent monitoring; more choices
Physical and bodily image changes, cognitive changes
Impersonal structure, multiple teachers, stressful times
“Top dog phenomenon”
Benefits
More opportunities, friends, challenges, feel grown up
More subject choices, intellectual work challenges

11. Schools Effective schools for young adolescents
Fears: junior highs being “watered-down” high schools, mimicked curriculum, schedules
There are biological, psychological differences
Carnegie report:
U.S. middle schools: massive, impersonal, and lacking
Recommended complete overhaul and changes: more flexible curriculum, more fitness-health programs

12. Schools Effective schools for young adolescents High School
Concerns about education and students
Needs pathway to student identity achievement
Graduate with inadequate skills
Enter college needing remediation classes
Student drop out rates decreasing today
Ethnic and racial differences
Gender differences

13. Schools Effective schools for young adolescents
Effective programs that discourage high school dropping out include
Bill and Melinda Gates foundation funding
“I Have A Dream” program
Projects adopt entire public grade level or cohorts in housing projects; gives college tuition to high school grads
Reading, tutoring, counseling, mentoring programs

14. 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
More opportunities to explore lifestyles and values
Many experience more stress and depression

15. 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
Occurs in many forms, offered by many sources
Individual reasons for attending adult ed/college vary

16. Schools Educating children with disabilities
Approximately 13.5% (ages 3 to 21) in United States receive special education or related services
Learning disability:
Difficulty learning/understanding/doing math
Gender differences: “Referral bias”?
Boys are 3x more diagnosed as girls
Diagnosis difficult; guidelines vary among states

17. Schools Educating children with disabilities Dyslexia:
Severe impairment in ability to read and spell
Brain scans used; difficulty integrating information
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity; onset in childhood
Definitive causes unknown; in DSM-IV
Medication is common treatment; other treatments vary
Stricter behavioral school rules “illuminate” these

18. Schools Educating children with disabilities Autism spectrum disorders
Autistic disorder: severe; onset in first three years
Asperger syndrome: mild impairments: obsessiveness
No proof of being caused by family socialization
Affects about 1 million children today

19. Schools Educating children with disabilities
Public Law , Education for All Handicapped Children Act; renamed as IDEA in 2004
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

20. Schools Socioeconomic status and ethnicity
Low-income, ethnic minority children face more difficulties in school
Schools in poor areas
Underfunded, low test scores and graduation rates
Young inexperienced teachers, largely segregated
Rote learning promoted
More minorities put in remedial/special education classes, suspended from school
Asians and Whites more likely put in advanced classes

21. Schools SES and ethnicity
Improving relationships among ethnically diverse
Turn class into jigsaw classroom
Positive personal contact with diverse other students
Engage in perspective taking; reduce bias
View school and community as a team
Comprehensive school plan, assessment strategy, and staff development plan
Mental health/support team
Parents’ program

22. Achievement Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation Extrinsic Intrinsic
Activity is means to an end
Often motivated by rewards and punishment
Intrinsic
Activity is an end in itself
Self-determination and personal choices
Personal responsibility for behavior encouraged

23. Achievement Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation Developmental shifts
Intrinsic motivation increases with age for most
Decreases in early high school
Greatest extrinsic increase and intrinsic decrease between sixth and seventh grade
Blamed on impersonalization experiences, increased evaluations (standardized tests) and competition

24. Achievement Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation Conclusions
Create stimulating cognitive environments
Promote more self-responsibility for student learning
Some rewards can undermine learning; rewards most effective with high interest
Rewards convey mastery information

25. Achievement Mastery motivation and mindset 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

26. Achievement Mastery motivation and mindset Mindset Self-Efficacy
Cognitive view of oneself
Fixed mindset: “carved in stone”
Growth mindset: belief in change
Promotes optimistic or pessimistic outlook
Shaping begins due to interactions with others
Growth mindset shows higher achievement results
Self-Efficacy
Belief that one can master a situation/have good results

27. 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
Setting highest standards that can be achieved is best

28. Achievement Goal-Setting, planning, and self-monitoring Purpose
Accomplish something meaningful to one’s self; contribute something to the world beyond one’s self
Teachers, parents convey importance of goals; should discuss where goals lead to (long-term picture)
Negative influences
Some TV/media, violent models of aggression/video games, unrealistic views of the world, passive learning, stereotyping, and other distractions

29. Achievement Goal-Setting, planning, and self-monitoring Purpose
Technology concerns for children, emerging adults
Computer and Internet
Online social environments (MySpace, Facebook)
Proper use, restrictions can be beneficial
Internet and aging adults
Fastest growing population of users
Search for information, use for fast communication

30. Achievement Ethnicity and culture Aging and culture
Good life based on health, security, kinship network
Collectivistic cultures (e.g. China, Japan) have high respect for older persons than individualistic cultures like United States
Possess valuable knowledge, control key family resources, remain “useful,” aging role changes have greater capacity, integrated extended family, role continuity throughout life span

31. Achievement Ethnicity and culture Socioeconomic status (SES)
Grouping by occupational, educational, and economic similarities
SES differences are proxy for material, human, and social capital within and beyond the family
SES variations in neighborhoods
Affect children’s adjustment: disadvantages/advantages
Crime and isolation linked to low self-esteem, distress

32. Achievement Ethnicity and culture SES differences Lower-SES parents
More concerns with child conformity to society, home of strong parental authority, corporal punishment use and more directive than interactive communication
Higher-SES parents
Concerned with delayed gratification, discipline rules discussed with children, less physical punishment, more interactive conversation

33. Achievement Ethnicity and culture Poverty
Challenges of poverty have impact on adult lives
2006: 17% of children under age 18 in poverty
U.S. poverty level demarcated by family structure and ethnic lines; minorities overrepresented
Psychological impact
Powerless, less financial resources, alternatives are restricted; environmental inequities is damaging

34. Achievement Ethnicity and culture Families and poverty
Links between economic well-being, parental behavior, and social adjustment
Feminization of poverty
Programs that have made an positive impact
Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP)
New Hope Program

35. Achievement Ethnicity and culture SES, poverty, and aging
Older adults in poverty linked to increased physical and mental health problems
Poverty among older minorities 2 to 3 times higher
Retirement forces reduced income and spending
Expenses, cost-of-living increases
Social security for those over 65 years

36. Achievement Ethnicity
United States is more ethnically diverse than ever before
Immigration
High rates impact on ethnic population growth
Special stressors for immigrants (language, changed SES, support system separation, struggle to adapt but preserve ethnic identity)
Acculturation: parents and children often at different stages of the process

37. Achievement Ethnicity and SES Research unclear due to methods used
Ethnicity and families
Ethnic group variations in size, structure, composition, kinship network, levels of education and income
Highest risks of poverty
Single or uneducated parents
All parents face childrearing challenges
Greatest harm to children

38. Achievement Ethnicity and culture Differences and diversity
Historical, economic, and social experiences produce differences between minority groups
Stereotyping of perceived deficits are harmful
Great diversity between groups seen as “one”
Latinos: experiences of Cubans and Puerto Ricans
Asians: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Thai
Ethnicity and aging
Face problems of racism, ageism, and sexism for women

39. Careers, Work, and Retirement
Career Developmental Changes
Young children
Idealistic fantasies about what to be when they grow up
High school
Serious career decisions as different options explored
College
Choose major/specialization leading to work in a field
Early adulthood
Start full-time occupation

40. Careers, Work, and Retirement
Career Development
Match personality type to career
Realistic: prefer solitude, being outdoors
Investigative: interested in ideas, intellectualist
Artistic: creative, innovative ways for self-expression
Social: helping orientation, desire to be with people
Enterprising: dominating, good at persuasion
Conventional: detail-oriented, prefer highly structured situations

41. Careers, Work, and Retirement
Career Development
Important aspect of choosing a career — match career to one’s values
Monitoring the Occupational Outlook
Labor force participation of women increasing
Work in Adolescence
90% receive high school diplomas
75% work part-time and attend school

42. Careers, Work, and Retirement
Work in Adolescence
U.S. high school students
75% work part-time and attend school
Most work hours per week
Most work in service jobs
Work more than in other developed countries; less than developing countries

43. Careers, Work, and Retirement
Emerging adulthood
Many variations of work patterns exist in merging roles of student and worker
Co-op programs, some dropouts, most graduate
Transition strongly influenced by level of education
Special concern: many attending community colleges but drop out or don’t finish

44. Careers, Work, and Retirement
Adulthood
The work landscape
National survey: 55% less productive due to stress; 52% considered or made a career change because of stress in the workplace
Unemployment
Dual-career couples
Males assuming more home responsibilities
Women assuming more ‘breadwinner’ roles

45. Careers, Work, and Retirement
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

46. Careers, Work, and Retirement
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

47. Careers, Work, and Retirement
Option to retire late twentieth-century phenomenon in United States
Today’s workers will spend 10 to 15% of their lives in retirement
Flexibility is key factor in adjustment

48. Careers, Work, and Retirement
Many return to work after retirement — about 7 million in 2006
Adjustment to retirement varies according to life changes and circumstances
Retirement planning includes more than successful financial planning

49. The End