Elementary School District Research Articles

Massive outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection in schoolchildren in Sakai City, Japan, associated with consumption of white radish sprouts.

In July 1996, an outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection occurred among schoolchildren in Sakai City, Osaka, Japan. This outbreak developed in 13 North-East District and 34 Middle-South District elementary schools in the city. All children hospitalized on July 17-19 had presented on July 8 (North-East District) and July 9 (Middle-South District). School lunches served on July 1 and 8 in the North-East District and on July 1, 4, 8, and 9 in the Middle-South District were proposed by a food consumption study to be associated with infection. White radish sprouts from a single farm were the only uncooked food common to the most highly implicated meals on the involved days in two school districts (sweet and sour chicken with lettuce on July 8 in the North-East District and chilled Japanese noodles on July 9 in the Middle-South District). Two incidents of E. coli O157:H7 in neighboring areas were also related to white radish sprouts from the farm. The pulse-field gel electrophoresis patterns of isolates from patients in these two districts and the neighboring areas were identical. Thus, it was concluded that the cause of the outbreak was the white radish sprouts shipped on July 7-9 from one particular farm.

A Model for Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment

According to recent attrition rates, novice teachers may soon be considered “at risk” for staying in the classroom. There are nationwide attempts to help beginning teachers ease their transition into the profession, equip them more effectively to deal with diverse student populations, and help them develop as increasingly capable teachers. In California, state-funded programs are in their fourth year, following an extended experimental project to determine the best means of offering support that is geared to individual teacher assessment. This article describes one local beginning teacher support and assessment program, designed and carried out jointly by a public university and two elementary school districts. Program strengths and changes that have been made based on various ongoing forms of feedback and evaluation are also discussed.

The Other Side of the Story

Within the context of a large-scale, comprehensive evaluation of the California Drug Alcohol Tobacco Education (DATE) program, this study sought to extend knowledge of student perceptions of prevention education using a naturalistic approach. The constant comparative method was used to analyze 40 focus group interviews of risk and thriving groups conducted in 11 high, middle, and elementary school districts. This article presents three assertions generated solely from 490 "narrative stories" found in the data set. "At-risk" and "thriving" students at all three levels of schooling (a) use "story" to make sense of prevention education, and (b) distinguish use from abuse. High school students of both groups (c) believe that hearing only one side of the substance use/abuse story and strict expulsion policies further alienate students most in need of help. Implications for the use of story as an assessment tool are discussed, as are implications for substance use prevention policy.

Determinants of VO2 peak in Children from Taiwan

This study sought to examine factors that could influence the accuracy of estimating school children's VO2peak using cardiorespiratory (CR) fitness field test measurements. We randomly recruited 38 male subjects, aged 11‐12 years, from a district elementary school male population (n = 165) for the study. To test the reliability of the CR fitness field test items, all 165 male students underwent the following measurements on two different days: 1) 800‐m run‐walk test (RWT); 2) 3‐min bench step test (BST); 3) heart rate (resting, peak exercise and recovery); 4) blood pressure (SBP/DBP); 5) skinfold thickness (SF); and 6) height, weight and body mass index. Test‐retest reliability of the field test measurements ranged from 0.42 to 0.86 (p < 0.05) which is considered moderate to high. The measurements obtained from the 38 students were used as independent variables for developing a regression equation. VO2peak was used as the dependent variable. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that RWT score, subscapular SF (SFsub) and SBP are strong predictors of VO2peak. The total variance explained by these independent variables of the prediction equation was 69%. The equation: VO2peak (ml kg‐1min‐1) = 96.806 ‐ 0.0779 (800‐m RWT, sec) ‐ 0.2078 (SBP, mmHg) ‐ 0.5816 (SFsub, mm), had a total error of 4.47 ml kg‐1 min‐1 and coefficient of variation (CV) of 8.5%. In this study, the 800‐m RWT had a higher correlation coefficient with VO2peak than the 3‐min BST. We concluded that the 800‐m RWT, SFsub and SBP are significant determinants of CR fitness for Chinese boys aged 11‐12 years. Descriptors: Blood pressure, cardiorespiratory endurance, fitness test, VO2peak.

子どもの身近な地域の構造と地図学習

The purpose of this paper is to make clear a structure of the imaginary environment of “community” in children's mind and develop a new curriculum of map learning in social studies of primary school. As a study area, the author chose Yamana elementary school district. This school district consists in rural area in Fukuroi city, which is in the western part of Shizuoka Prefecture. The main results are summarized as follows:1) Each child have expanding his mental map of “community” on an imaginary environment before they study map learning.2) An imaginary enviroment of “community” in children's mind consist of their known streets and places. Each child draw some places where they interest on their free-hand sketch-map. Each child know some names of the places and some landscapes where they interest. Many of the children have interested, some parks, shopping centers and streets ever been.3) The maps use for map-learning classes in social studies must consist of some streets and places familiar to children.4) It is necessary to consist of exploration in the map learning.5) Now in Japan, teachers should pay more attention to a structure of imaginary environment in children's mind.

The Devaluation of Standardized Testing: One District's Response to a Mandated Assessment

This study examined teacher testing-related attitudes and practices in a relatively unexplored educational assessment setting: court-ordered achieve- ment testing. Responses to a mail survey from teachers (representing Grades 3,4, and 5) in 17 elementary schools in a Midwestern urban district suggested that teachers engaged in a large number of test preparation practices preceding mandated Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) testing. Most teachers reported that the results of ITBS testing did not provide benefits that offset the time and costs associated with testing. Teachers reported finding minimal value in the purpose or results from the tests. Furthermore, teachers indicated having experienced pressure from others, inside and outside their school, to improve student scores. Engagement in inappropriate testing practices was found to be substantially greater than had been previously reported in other studies of testing impact. Correlations and path analysis indicated that teacher engagement in inappropriate testing practice was unrelated to the intensity of pressure to improve test scores. Teachers who perceived less value and benefit associated with testing were more likely to engage in inappropriate practices.

茨城県土浦市における児童の空間行動の拡大に伴う知覚環境の発達 行動圏抽出へ向けての一試論

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the developmental process and mechanism of children's perception of the environment in the neighborhood, based on perceived amount and perceived space, in relation to the expanding process of their spatial behavior with advance of grade. For analyzing children's perception of the environment, the author used their free-hand sketch-map. This analyzing method is very useful for grasping the situation of children's behavior in their living space. As a study area, he chose Tsuchiura elementary school district. This school district consists of the central and rural area in Tsuchiura city, which is the central city of south district in Ibaraki Prefecture. So there are geographically many differences between each area of this school district. But it is thought that, in perception of the environment, there will be few difference between each area. Because most children live in the central area rather than in the rural area.The main result are summarized as follows:1) Children expand the range of their spatial behavior remarkably with advance of grade.2) Children's perceived amount increases with advance of grade.3) Children's perception of the environment is formed by the strong influence of the regional feature and their behavior in living space.4) Most of children's perceived space spreads only around their home. So their perceived space does not develop remarkably with advance of grade.5) The community or neighborhood for children is limited around their home.6) From the analysis of questionnaire about children's playing activity, it is made clear that they prefer to play indoors rather than outdoors with the advance of grade, and that, in all grade, their place for playing is limited arond their home. In short, it is thought that these above mentioned points stopped their develpoment of perception of the environment.7) From the result of this study, children's behavioral zone can be extracted. This behavioral zone consist of three concentric zonal structures, which is called, “zone for usual behavior”, “zone for unusual behavior” and “zone for long term travel”.

Parenting classes: focus on discipline.

Nurses in community settings have an opportunity to provide instruction related to health and life-style needs. An important consideration is the parental role. A particularly controversial and opinion-laden aspect of parenting is disciplining children. Discipline provides children with the security of clearly enforced rules to help them learn self-control and social standards. Parenting classes are worthwhile for people who have little formal or informal preparation. A survey of middle-class elementary school district parents' and childrens' attitudes toward discipline was conducted to develop meaningful parenting classes. Parents' feelings about being a mother or father were surprisingly negative. A parent educational program was developed to cover child growth and development and disciplinary practices. Parent evaluations led to continuation and an expansion of this program to other schools within the area.

Effects of teaching metacognitive skills to students with low mathematics ability

This report presents two studies investigating the effects of metacognitive instruction in mathematics on low-ability sixth-grade students. The first study was conducted in three classes that had scored below average on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) in an elementary school district having a Hispanic population. Two of these classes were randomly assigned to the experimental group and one to the control group. In this study the experimenter was the instructor. A second study was designed as a follow-up to eliminate possible confounded effects between the experimenter and the treatment. Thirty-two additional students were added to the sample of the first study as a new control group. These students had the same characteristics as the students in the first sample. In addition to learning outcomes, sources of errors were examined using Mayer's model of problem solving. Results from both studies showed significant main effects favoring the experimental group on achievement in mathematics and attitudes toward mathematics. A lack of linguistic, strategic, and procedural knowledge seemed to be the major source of errors students experienced in solving mathematics problems. The intervention used in this study could be tailored to regular classrooms where a majority of students have demonstrated low performance in mathematics.

Metric Mall

At Petrosky Elementary school in Alief Independent School District, Houston. Texas, a unique mathematics and science unit was developed for third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students. The students worked in stores in this “Metric Mall.” These “retail” experiences gave them opportunities to work with measuring tools and ordinary, but motivating, materials.

Computer use in the classroom—II. An assessment of using the computer as a tool and as tutee

An assessment of using the computer as tool and as tutee has been made. The research involved a review of relevant literature and field research done at schools in four districts in Vancouver and Toronto. A questionnaire was distributed and interviews were conducted with elementary school teachers and district consultants. From the data collected, teachers' perceptions on using the computer as tool and as tutee were juxtaposed against relevant literature findings. In light of this comparison and the analysis of CAI made in Part I of the study, some guidelines for integrating the computer into the elementary classroom have been proposed.

Computer use in the elementary classroom—I. An assessment of CAI software

An assessment of computer-assisted instructional (CAI) software has been made by comparing teachers' perceptions of CAI with findings in the literature. The research involved a review of relevant literature and field research done at schools in four districts in Vancouver and Toronto. A questionnaire was distributed and interviews were conducted with elementary school teachers and district consultants. Their perceptions on using the computer as a tutor have been analyzed as a first step towards proposing some guidelines on integrating the computer into the elementary curriculum.

Assessing Microcomputer Competencies for the Elementary Teacher: An Indepth Study of Illinois Schools

Concerned with current elementary school students’ microcomputer competencies and skills, this study analyzes responses from administrators and teachers from elementary school districts in Illinois. Conducted in 1986, all 431 elementary school districts in the state of Illinois were surveyed. The questionnaire used identified: respondent biographical information and microcomputer training; school demographic data; perceived student ability, application and understanding levels; and desired future student levels of competencies. This study reveals current elementary administrative/teacher perceptions about student microcomputer competence in the elementary school. Implications of this study range from a call for indepth microcomputer assessment activities within individual schools to developing means for acquiring better student understanding about microcomputer problems and increasing student involvement or interaction with microcomputer concerns. This study calls on all educators to begin determining exactly what “microcomputer knowledge” their students need in order to function effectively in the future.

Computer use in the elementary classroom: A survey of computer contact persons in four school districts

This article investigates the use of computers in the elementary classroom. The research involved a review of some literature and field research done at schools in four chosen school districts in Toronto and Vancouver. A questionnaire was distributed and interviews were conducted with elementary school teachers and district consultants. From this field research, information was collected on the availabilities of hardware, software, teacher implementation, as well as on teachers' perceptions on computer use in the classroom. The survey results illustrate the state of computer use in some elementary schools. The findings provide implications for integrating computer use into the curriculum, and lays the groundwork for further research on how best to use the technology for elementary education.

Elementary-school principals and their political settings

This study utilizes a stratified (on SES) sample of Detroit metropolitan elementary-school districts to examine political settings of principals. Altogether 18 principals were interviewed in 1981 and 1984. Twelve more were interviewed in the Lansing area in 1985. Upper income districts were found to have bureaucratic settings as did the lower income, even where their districts were poor or anomic. Principals in the latter viewed the central office more negatively than did the former. Middle income districts were more typically bargaining. Some schools in middle and upper income districts were impacted from the neighborhood especially when the latter was relatively poor.

Critique [of Self-Evaluation of Black and White College Students by Keith D. Parker

“Self-Evaluation of Black and White College Students” presents informative results of a study concluding that blacks have higher self-esteem than whites at one Southern university. Although self-esteem in blacks at the university under study may be higher than that of whites, the same is not the case in elementary school districts throughout the Los Angeles Basin in Southern California.

居住地環境整備における住区基幹公園の整備水準と指標に関する研究

The purpose of this study is to make it clear what the public service standard and its indicators of the neighborhood-unit basic parks among the city-planned-parks in the residential district are. On this paper, we analized the meaning of the size of a city-planned-park per person which is generally adopted as the indicator of the state of public services. The results are summerized as follows ; 1. The size of a city-planned-park per person is not related to the state of public services of the neighborhood-unit basic parks (such as Infant Parks, Children Parks, Neighborhood Parks and District Parks). 2. The size of a city-planned-park per person is effective as the indicators of city parks excluding the neighborhood-unit basic parks. 3. As the public service standard of the neighborhood-unit basic parks, the number of parks per elementary school district or the number of parks per ten thousand people is more suitable than the size of a cityplanned-park per person.

Production frontier estimates of scale in public schools in California

Empirical estimates of production frontiers and average production functions, performed here for selected public elementary school districts in California for 1976–1977 and 1977–1978 show the existence of increasing returns to scale, although the frontier estimates specify lower values of the overall scale economy. This lends support to the hypothesis of an optimal school size model, where schools operate in the region of increasing returns to scale subject to the limit of availability of the student population. Some policy implications of the results are also briefly analyzed.

The changes of Elementary School Districts after Closed in the Yoshino Mountainous Area

The changes of Elementary School Districts after Closed in the Yoshino Mountainous Area

Perceptions of school psychology services from a staff perspective

This investigation examined how staff in an elementary school district perceived their school psychologists and how these perceptions differed across components of service and staff groups. We developed a School Psychological Service Questionnaire and then analyzed responses from regular education teachers, special education teachers, principals, and school psychologists in an urban school district. Although the findings are numerous, most noteworthy are, first, that consumer groups in the district had different perceptions than school psychologists about how school psychologists allocate their time and how this time should be allocated in the future. Second, consumer perceptions of school psychologists' knowledge generally were favorable. Third, in terms of domains appropriate for involvement by school psychologists, a factor analysis of consumer ratings revealed three relatively clear dimensions of recommended service provision — special education activities, interpersonal or school-climate activities, and administrative responsibilities. Fourth, the helpfulness of school psychologists, as perceived by consumers, related positively to frequency of contact. Fifth, differences in perception of school psychological services were evident across staff groups. Finally, comparisons between master's level and doctoral level school psychologists suggested numerous differences in how the staff perceived these service providers.