1. Adolescent Psychology
Chapter 10: Schools

2. Chapter Overview Educational Strategies School transitions
Social Contexts of Schools
Exceptional Adolescents

3. Learning In Adolescence
School is an important context for learning
Academic learning & social arena
Direct Instruction Approach
Teacher-centered; Teacher direction & control
Mastery of academic skills
High expectations for students
Maximum time spent on learning tasks
Continues to be used in many schools
Constructivist Approaches
Interest in school reform
Learner-centered
Learner as active participant

4. Constructivist Approaches
Cognitive constructivist
Piaget’s theory
active, cognitive construction of knowledge & understanding.
teacher: provide support for students to explore their world & develop understanding
Social constructivist
Vygotsky’s theory
importance of collaboration with others to produce knowledge & understanding.
Teacher: create many opportunities for students to learn with the teacher & with peers in co-constructing understanding.

5. The Debate Constructivists argue that direct instruction
Makes adolescence passive learners
Does not adequately challenge
Does not promote creativity
Direct Instruction enthusiasts argue that constructivists
Do not give enough attention to content of subject areas
Too vague
Many educators & educational psychologists believe that a combination of these may be most effective

6. APA’s Learner-Centered Psychological Principles
APA developed 14 learner-centered principles to guide child and adolescent education
Divided into 4 categories
Cognitive & metacognitive factors
Motivational & instructional factors
Developmental & social factors
Individual difference factors

7. Schools & Accountability
How effective are schools? Who needs to be acountable?
State-mandated tests have taken on a more powerful role
Learning objective
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Federal legislation; Signed into law in 2002
Schools & school districts accountable for the success or failure of their students
Criticisms of NCLB
A single score from a single test as the sole indicator of students’ progress and competence represents a very narrow aspect of students’ skills (Lewis, 2006).
The tests schools are using to assess achievement and progress as part of NCLB don’t measure such important skills as creativity, motivation, persistence, flexible thinking, and social skills (Ercikan, 2006)

8. Criticisms of NCLB
A single score from a single test as the sole indicator of students’ progress & competence?? (Lewis, 2006)
Tests don’t measure creativity, motivation, persistence, flexible thinking, & social skills (Ercikan, 2006)
Too much class time “teaching to the test”
So are these tests & procedures mandated by NCLB the best ones for achieving high standards for education? (Houston, 2005)
How could we make schools more accountable?
How could we make students/parents more accountable?

9. Transitions in Schooling
Change is stressful
Top-dog phenomenon
Move toward personal independence & responsibility
Good student adjustment & high self esteem
Fewer transitions
Extra-curricular activity involvement
High quality friendships
Parental support

10. Transition: Elementary School to Middle School
Emergence of junior high schools in the 1920s & 1930s
Justified on the basis of physical, cognitive, & social changes that characterize early adolescence
Influenced by early onset of puberty
Occurs simultaneously with many other changes:
Puberty
Formal operational thought
Responsibility & independence
Impersonal school structure
Heterogeneous set of peers
Focus on assessment
Top-dog phenomenon

11. Improving Middles Schools
Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development (1998) recommended core social policy for education
Developing smaller “communities” – lessen impersonal nature
Lowering student-to-counselor ratios (100s:1 10:1)
Involving parents & community leaders
Develop better curricula
Team-teach in flexible blocks, integrating several disciplines
Boost students’ health & fitness – access to public health care
Successful middle schools provide & promote…
Personal attention, involve parents, support rigorous instruction, & promote student health

12. American High Schools
Many high school graduates are poorly prepared for
College
demands of a modern, high-performance workplace
New mission for the 21st century addressed the following problems (National Commission on the High School Senior Year, 2001):
Better instruction to enable all students to graduate from high school & succeed in post-secondary education & careers
Need higher expectations for student achievement
Example: senior year
U.S. high school students spend too much time working in low-level service jobs (14 to 20 hours a week)
Better communication & coordination between K-12 & above

13. Dropping Out of High School
Viewed as a serious educational & societal problem for many decades
Adolescents approach adult life with educational deficiencies

14. Dropping Out of High School
The Causes
School-related problems
Economic reasons
Socioeconomic status
Friends drop out
Personal reasons
Reducing the Dropout Rate
Early detection of school-related difficulties
Get engaged with school in positive ways
Early reading programs, tutoring, counseling, & mentoring
Create caring environments & relationships, use block scheduling, & offer community-service opportunities

15. Transition: High School to College
Replays the top-dog phenomenon
More impersonal school structure
Peers from diverse backgrounds
Focus on assessment
Reduced contact with parents

16. Transition: College to Work
Having a college degree is a strong asset
College graduates earn considerably more money in their lifetimes…but often leave college in debt
Often a difficult transition
U.S. colleges: develop general skills rather than vocationally specific skills
Many graduates: poorly prepared for specific jobs
Difficulty obtaining the type of job they desire, or any job
Bouncing from one job to another not unusual

17. Social Context of Schools
Social context differs at the different levels of school
Preschool:
A protected environment; Limited social setting
Children interact with one or two teachers
Almost always female teachers
Modifies some patterns of behavior developed through family experiences.
The Elementary School:
Classroom is still the major context -- a social unit
Social expression is more complex
Teachers & peers have a prominent influence on children
The teacher symbolizes authority
The peer group becomes more salient

18. Social Context of School
Middle or Junior High School
School environment increases in scope & complexity.
Social field expands-- school as a whole rather than the classroom
Socially interact with many different teachers & peers from a range of social & ethnic backgrounds
A greater mix of male & female teachers
Extracurricular activities, clubs, community
High School
School as a social system

19. School Size & Class Size
Increased size of secondary schools in the United States:
Increasing urban enrollments
Decreasing budgets
Is bigger better?
No systematic relation between school size & academic achievement has been found
More prosocial & possibly less antisocial behavior occur in small schools (Rutter & others, 1979)
Substantial reduction in class size does improve student achievement (Blatchford & Mortimore, 1994; Finn, 2002)

20. Managing Classroom Climate
Strategies for creating a positive classroom environments
Using an authoritative strategy
Effectively managing the group’s activities
Strategies of Classroom Management
Authoritative
Encourages independent thinking & doing
Consistent monitoring; caring attitude; limit setting
Verbal give and take
Authoritarian
Restrictive & punitive
Focus on keeping order, not on learning
Permissive
Autonomy with little guidance, boundaries, or support
No safety

21. Well Managed Classroom
Fosters learning
Clear rules & procedures – the safety of boundaries
Organization of groups
Pacing & monitoring activities
Prevents academic & emotional problems from developing
Activities absorb & motivate students
Students busy with active & challenging tasks
Promotes motivation
Consider person-environment fit

22. Teachers & Parents Teachers Parents & Schools
Enthusiasm, ability to plan, poise, adaptability, warmth, flexibility
Awareness of individual differences
Parents & Schools
important role in the adolescent’s success in school
family management practices (structure & organization)
Routine & achievement expectations
Positively related to grades & self-responsibility
Negatively to school-related problems (Taylor, 1996)
Being involved in schooling

23. Peers & Bullying Structure of middle school Peer Statuses Status
Group activity -- witnesses
Bullying
1 in 3
Loneliness
Difficulty making friends
Cyberbullying
Suicide, depression, health problems, anxiety, sleep, etc.

24. Bullying
Verbal or physical bx intended to disturb someone less powerful
Boys, younger middle school students, students with disabilities
Victims: loneliness, difficulty making friends
Bullies: low grades, smoke, drink alcohol

25. Bullying Victims Bullies
Short-term: depressed, disinterest in school, avoid school
Headaches, sleep problems, stomach pain, feeling tired
Suicidal ideation; more likely to have health problems
Long-term: in adulthood
Depression, low self-esteem
Bullies
Short-term:
Depression, suicidal ideation; More likely to have health problems
Long-term:
60% -- 1 criminal conviction; 33% had 3 or more

26. Bullying & Prevention
School climate: high academic standards, parental involvement, effective discipline
Olweus Bullying Prevention
Bully-Proofing Your School
Steps to Respect
School wide approach, training staff & parents, teaching students to recognize and not tolerate

27. Bullying & Prevention Get older peers to intervene
Develop school wide rules & post them
Form friendship groups for victims of bullying
Incorporate anti-bullying messages into community
Parents – reinforce positive behavior & appropriate interpersonal interactions
Identify early & use social skills training
Encourage contact with helping professional
School programs to counteract bullying
Model interactions that do not include bullying or aggression