Papers

REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, 6th ed., by Robert Slavin

I guess reviewing developmental psychology (Chapter 2) within an Ed Psych course is a necessary evil. I say this because I hear this complaint from several of my colleagues who also teach Ed Psych. Some professors even eliminate it. I teach in a department with a heavy focus on Child and Adolescent Psych as well as Developmental Psych and related courses such as Adv. Dev Psych, Child/Adol Psych, etc. Most students take one or more developmental psych courses and get a concentrated emphasis on those concepts. But, of course, these are taken at different semesters in their academic careers so some Ed Psych students have some background and others don’t. Therefore, exam grades often reflect the levels of their previous studies. There’s the element of unfairness here. That’s why I call it a necessary evil.

I don’t know how to eliminate some focus on the principles of Dev Psych as components of Ed Psych. There are too many cross-disciplinary processes to ignore. Nevertheless, I wanted to make that observation as significant feedback for consideration. Maybe there is a way to integrate those concepts with the more teacher focused elements in the rest of the book. I’m not saying I absolutely recommend it. Personally, I enjoy spending a couple of weeks in a compressed Dev Psych course. I do make sure that my comments emphasize an educational application of the concepts rather than the more generalized references (to other settings) that are expounded for Dev Psych. But this text always follows developmental concepts with applications to educational settings. And that’s what I like about this text. Keep on grounding those concepts with specific teaching recommendations.

I would recommend eliminating in the introductory sections, the issues of nature-nurture and continuous-discontinuous. Nature-nurture is taught in many different types of courses and wastes time in Ed Psych. I can count on many blank stares when I elaborate upon the differences between continuous and discontinuous theories. These are very important concepts to Dev Psych but can easily be integrated as descriptive qualities to information processing theories and stage theories as respective examples.

I must admit to often eliminating the contributions of Hoffman. When I have to streamline due to time limitations or adapt course content to level of student ability, Hoffman is first to go. I really like his concepts of empathic distress and his notion of guilt but I tend to focus on Kohlberg and the kinds or moral dilemmas that teachers face. This might be a place for Slavin to interject character education. Maybe this is geographic but those types of programs are expanding rapidly in school systems of East Tennessee. Enlightened, researched information would be advisable for that topic.

Speaking of Kohlberg, I like to prepare teachers for two major areas of moral development. One is to emphasize and appreciate that they are key people in furthering the moral development of their students. By internalizing their responsibility in facilitating the movement thru the stages as listed by Piaget and especially Kohlberg, then a heightened sense of understanding that behavior problems (for example) are opportunities for learning higher levels of moral development can be enhanced. The other major area is taking time to consider the kinds of moral dilemmas teacher often face with students such as cheating, sexuality, or abusive caregivers and also with colleagues like incompetence or departmental/committee issues.

Chapter 3 is a confusing chapter to assimilate. It’s like a stepchild struggling for identity. I find that approaching it topically from the terms at the end of the chapter is a primary means for overcoming its tendency to seem like a dumping ground for all the developmental concepts that don’t fit into Chapter 2. I think what I’m saying is that I prefer a topical approach over a chronological one during Ed Psych. That may be more for efficiency than anything else. There’s really nothing intrinsically wrong with focusing on developmental concepts along the earlier years of the lifespan. Some people might prefer that and it seems more typical in Dev Psych texts than a topical approach. But I find a tendency to spend too much time on developmental concepts when I teach chronologically in an Ed Psych course.

What about the notions of lifelong learning and adult education? Would this be a good location for reinforcing those ideas? It just popped into my head that I always take a moment to apologize to my Ed Psych students for the quality of teaching often found in colleges and universities. I insist efficiency wins out over effectiveness. I mean lectures and multiple choice do work but how can I spend time in a course teaching techniques that I don’t practice. If the whole thrust of the text emphasizes a variety of approaches, then that challenges the Ed Psych professor to expand and forces a self and peer reflection.

My students will question the teaching of other instructors and compare to content in Ed Psych. I like to "head it off at the pass" by emphasizing that teachers in elementary and secondary schools HAVE to be better teachers because they must teach everybody, they must discipline, they’ve got parents to deal with… In the US, we hire college faculty based on their being experts in the field, not primarily on their specific teaching abilities (although it often tends to be both!!!) But teachers for the younger years must deal with behaviors that would cripple a typical professor! And in my locale, the pay scale for university faculty is actually less on average than for teachers in the city school system. But the point here is considering issues in adult education.

Another consideration is adventure education, ranging from wilderness programs to challenge courses and environmental education. There may be other spots in the text to put this but they would easily dovetail with adult education. Of course, this may be my bias since I specialize in this area but the growth of this industry has been explosive in the past few years and many school systems are integrating adventure activities into their curricula. So many universities are constructing climbing towers and ropes courses with other challenge components, not to mention offering outdoor experiences in course format such as mountaineering, backpacking, kayaking, and even first aid/search & rescue courses.

Chapter 3 also contains references to programs for children like kindergarten and Head Start. I really like Slavin’s immediately attention to the research on kindergarten and early development, noting the trends toward getting too academic at the expense of socioemotional growth. Time and time again Slavin incisively and precisely strikes to the heart of the matter by gathering and concluding from available research the correct and overriding perspectives. Just like his willingness to conclude the contributions and effectiveness of both whole language and phonics or , his analyses always tends to agree most often with my own. Of course, wouldn’t you expect that since I use the text in my course, but I do like Slavin the best because we most often see eye to eye, especially with debatable and controversial matters. (and thanks for correcting the error in Kohlberg from the previous edition!)

Student Diversity (Chapter 4) has lots of redeeming features. It does neglect so many areas of concern in diversity but that definitely cannot be avoided. I also teach Cross-cultural Psychology and really feel strongly about the importance of these topics. One major criticism rests with the key terms at the end of the chapter. There are a number of other terms that should be included –which should, of course, imply further explanation in the text. Intercultural competence should be emphasized, in the sense of lifelong learning about other cultures to keep gaining expertise in communicating with diverse individuals and conveying accurate, up-to-date information about other groups of people here in the US and around the world. Stages in the developmental process of multicultural education could instruct the importance of playing a part in furthering the "raising of consciousness" that students can ideally attain throughout the school years.

Additional concepts to include would be ethnocentrism, xenophobia, global education, LBGT, and the "ism’s" such as ageism and sexism. Terms from cultural anthropology are very relevant for diversity like the different types of societies and sociology adds a number of useful contributions from conflict theories to group processes. I really like how Slavin considers SES. Is he really saying on page 109, line 30 that wealthier students actually learn more over the summer than they do during the school year?! Other sections that deserve compliments include child-rearing practices, school and community influences for both SES and ethnicity, and the discussion of bilingual education. For the latter issue, I would like to see something on the advantages of teaching languages earlier in the primary schools over waiting until senior high. The recommendations for teaching in a culturally diverse school are right on target.

Once again, Slavin is right on target by emphasizing multiple intelligence as a primary focus in the conceptualization of intelligence. This approach is much more useful to teachers. A talent based approach emphasizing that each student has a unique constellation of qualities, of strengths and weaknesses, compels a more positive outlook in teachers rather than over-focusing on the traditionally academically talented. Schools are for all students regardless of ability-level and, like it or not, this society wants to keep everybody there until graduation. So our educational plans must include each student. Gardner’s approach widens the choice of learning activities and encourages a variety of teaching approaches bound to improve the quality of any classroom. Adopting this paradigm forces us to attend to physical and emotional/affective aspects of education thus improving relevance to individual student demands as well as assisting society in its critical need to compensate for inadequate parenting and unhealthy peer/societal pressures. Perhaps adding more practical applications here could be recommended.

I definitely think the behavioral chapter is excellent. It is ‘pretty standard stuff’ but Slavin has explicated the essentials - clearly, logically, and efficiently. I do struggle with the exclusion of applied behavioral analysis but the more I contemplate, the better I like the addition of that aspect in a later section. Maybe I’ve just gotten used to it but I do regularly explain to students that the course comes back to this concept when we get more focused on classroom and behavior management (which Slavin so encouraging entitles "Effective Learning Environments").

I do follow the text fairly closely in fact, moreso than other courses because I have been criticized by Ed Psych students in SAI, Student Assessment of Instruction. The course is almost exclusively teacher ed students and a proportion of them already have some of their own ideas! It keeps this professor on his toes. I try to be very explicit about the situation teachers might find themselves such as field trips, corporal punishment, violence in the schools since they need to mentally process these situations now, on the basis of their present level of understanding, as preparation for their future situations.

A colleague of mine, David Sabatino, is very learned in cognitive psychology and really appreciates the section on Other Information-Processing Theories. I agree, although it does get complex if too much is detailed…that’s better for a course in Cognitive Psych. I personally like it though. I consider a primary thrust of this chapter (6) as a vehicle for teachers to make a major step to becoming experts in memory. I would recommend more elaboration on mnemonic devices. Those are a lot of fun as well as being very effective in learning. An idea – since they are efficiently explained, provide links to websites in the next edition. I bet you’ve already thought of that, huh!

So my opinion of Chapter 6 is very positive. Besides some updating and better graphics (one point – Figure 6.1 is the paradigm I always graph to explain info processing but the area on long term memory could integrate better with its division into three parts, episodic, semantic and procedural), this chapter is well organized and chock full of information. A greater emphasis on the "decade of the brain" and the buzzword, brain-based learning, could bring valuable trends in addition to recognized principles. I expected to see Jane Healy’s name somewhere. If it makes it to the cover of Time??? But the results of brain imaging technology could reveal interesting insights to the field of cognitive psychology. And I’m a little surprised to find no anatomical descriptions of neurological processes although I’m secretively appreciative. It is fundamental and it can be done interestingly but for the most, it’s boring and done in biology class.

(How do you pronounce "loci"?) There’s no telling how many mispronunciation stories teachers could tell. Like schema vs schemes (ie, Piaget)…they’re pretty much the same. Talk about proactive facilitation, or is that retroactive…I need a mnemonic for this!

Slavin gets right down to it in Chapter 7. It’s logical and sequences the students thru steps in process of lecturing to students. I appreciate his selection of research in substantiating that this is not the only way to teach. Some students just think that if it comes out of the teacher’s mouth, then it’s been taught, confusing coverage of subject with effective instruction. Now, I do have to emphasize that point even though the text does not, but that’s OK, since surely the effective college instructor in Ed Psych will progressively emphasize such a fundamental principle!

The vocabulary list in Chapter 7 is not very challenging and there are more terms mentioned in this chapter that could be added to the list such as analogies and affective objectives. An advisable update in this section could be the addition of classroom instructional technology from the overheard projector to smartboards as well as web-based courses and web-enhanced practices. Power point (is this a copyright violation) or similar software programs are increasingly being used these days and beg analysis with reference to research. Although this could be added in the CBI section, it is a specific application to making presentations, a form of direct instruction. Whether in Chapter 7 or Chapter 9, it’s a relevant concern to mention the various kinds of IT. Movies should be explained in regard to achievement effects and copyright, not to mention rating of appropriateness. There are different models and complexity of equipment that may warrant some type of remark in the next edition of this text.

"Student-centered and constructivist approaches to education" is a great title to the variety of teaching techniques that enliven the daily professional lives of effective teachers. By the way, I do like the concept of intentional teachers and how it intertwines thru the text. I must admit I rarely mention the topic in lecture except in a sentence or two but many students bring it up in their writings. My first writing assignment for the last few semesters has been "Essential teacher qualities: what kind of teacher do I plan to become?" The papers are truly inspirational. I take a quote from each paper and post in on a bulletin board, I’m so impressed. Students do not have to use references in this particular paper but often employ the concept of the intentional teacher when composing this piece of writing.

Thank goodness Slavin is a cooperative learning guru. I, too, am in favor of cooperative grouping. My wife is a math teacher in middle school and has really utilized cooperative techniques quite effectively. She commented the other day that she lectures less each succeeding year and does group activities more. Her school does track (unfortunately); nevertheless, she finds that the more she can give individual attention as well as constructively harness mixed grouping to maximize review of material, the better their achievement, especially in the lower achieving classes.

In my Ed Psych class, I’ve added a component called Practice Teaching. That means I let the class members teach Chapters 7 – 10. I divide up the chapters into major topic areas such as direct instruction, cooperative learning, discovery learning, individualizing instruction, CBI, problem-solving/critical thinking, motivation, mastery learning, etc. Then I assign the topics to groups of 4 (usually) who develop presentations for the class. I evaluate their presentations descriptively and ask other class members to give peer evaluations with scoring rubrics (explained later in the Slavin text). Without revealing personal identity, I summarize the peer feedback and include it with my written feedback. Next, each student completes a 4 page form asking for a self assessment of the presentation. That is graded and all this is designed to model the more effective and realistic forms of evaluation that impact a teacher. Teachers typically get more feedback from their colleagues, their students, and from their self-reflection than from their supervising administrators.

Speaking of tracking, Slavin does an excellent job in collating research on ability grouping in Chapter 9. I’ve used his information as well as the verifying results posted in most educational psychology textbooks to help make a case with school systems to eliminate the negative effects of tracking. Unfortunately, this is an uphill battle, but continuing to provide up to date research that addresses this contentious issue certainly assists in the struggle to avoid unnecessary labeling and ineffective teaching strategies.

I must admit to finding Carroll’s QAIT model in this chapter a little out of place. It can relate to individualizing instruction but it’s not specific to that realm. QAIT would seem more introductory, bringing the student of educational psychology into the beginning phases of assimilating teaching techniques. Perhaps mastery learning would be a more appropriate introductory. A connection is made in mastery learning to the contribution of Carroll to Bloom’s thinking so a logical connection is made; however, it would also seem that these two sections could be contiguous. This would highlight their similarities and differences as well as lessen the questionable placement of QAIT as the beginning of this particular chapter.

CBI needs to be updated. Much of the material is still relevant but several significant developments should be included. Like I said before, change the term to Instructional Technology. Distance education should be elaborated at this point, including interactive television (ITV), video based formats, and online education (web-based and web-enhanced). These approaches are exploding in utilization and popularity, deserving review in this text as well as adding the status of current research. I could also expect numerous web addresses both in this section as well as interspersed throughout the textbook, not to mention the online version of the text. I wonder how soon it will be that the text will be totally online and perhaps subject to revisions and updates on a semester or annual basis. Which is easier or better, to do this frequently or just every few years?

Also, when we look at programs for students at risk, there are several other options to consider besides just the elements in early intervention and compensatory education programs. A major movement to establish alternative schools is sweeping the nation whereby secondary schools are creating specific sites for students with emotional and behavioral issues. This area is rife with poor decision-making and ineffective programming. Many states and school systems are constructing boot camp programs that have little beneficial effect or, at best, using program designs that do not incorporate the fundamental conclusions of effective counseling and behavior management. Another important consideration includes the variety of specialized schools, many of which are privately operated such as wilderness programs, residential treatment facilities, and military schools. I, myself, have been director in several different types of schools set up for specialized learning situations. Any program, especially residential, for school age children and youth must have provisions for appropriate educational services. Facilities for delinquent youth require formal school settings and those unique environments deserve examination. We operate in the vast, unexplored hinterland of educating our marginal youth.

The chapter on Motivation is difficult to criticize. The major theories and perspectives I might acknowledge are included. I like the image portrayed in the beginning story. The rest of the chapter goes into sufficient detail of analysis. I appreciate including Maslow’s theory and the further elaboration of self-actualization, one of my personal favorites. There are excellent applications to the teaching environment. The discussion on effective use of praise is informative and cues teachers to develop this as a skill and not a haphazard communication device.

Slavin’s incentive method, Individual Learning Expectations, is a laudable achievement and constitutes a masterful utilization of grades to further student performance. It is rather difficult to motivate student teachers to accept that it is really useful but I consider ILE to have tremendous application potential. In Tennessee, we are championing a Value-Added Assessment, an achievement test supposed to measure the intellectual gains made by students in a given subject area each year. Although controversial, it is being applied and results are given to teachers. The official line is that they will NOT be used for teacher evaluation or disciplinary purposes but many suspect that’s not true or that it will be used for those purposes in the future. ILE could dovetail with this or possibly supplant it as a more scientifically based program for measuring and even insuring that positive educational results are being reached with students. It is an intriguing thought, isn’t it?

The chapter title, Effective Learning Environments, is right on target. It directly, efficiently, succinctly says the purpose of the chapter’s content. At first, I was willing to criticize putting time management in this section but additional reflection insisted that it just doesn’t start the chapter out right. I prefer setting the stage with the section on Teaching Engaging Lessons. When I lecture, I emphasize that point as a way to keep an overall perspective in maintaining classroom discipline. Slavin does clearly state in the beginning that competence and knowledge of techniques are the ultimate preventive measures but it needs enlivening, perhaps some quotes from a famous educator.

Another aspect to this unitary chapter on effective learning environs is that it also represents a continuum from classroom to behavior management. Those are sometimes conceptualized as two separate categories of instructional methodology. For the more preventive aspects of class management, I accompany the analysis on pages 366-374 with specific situations that classroom teachers experience such as dealing with tardiness and absenteeism, assigning classroom helpers, and field trips. Last week, as part of practice teaching, we set up a miniclassroom, complete with elementary aged students, and modeled some of the processes that characterize a smooth running classroom. It was filmed from several angles and has been analyzed by students to identify effective techniques and approaches. It was a lot of fun, too! We had parental permission. They were present at the time and the tapes have since been erased. We didn’t focus on behavior (parents get defensive), but just talked about and modeled some recommended ways to teach more competently. The activity really gets everybody involved.

The insert on the Intentional Teacher is especially instructive, crammed full of useful information with a great intro and excellent examples. It duplicates the previous chapter as a creative summary without being unduly redundant. I also like Louise Gruppen’s use of rules with the addition of further explanations and especially the way she uses self evaluation. Setting monthly goals for the entire class is an exceptional overall learning strategy.

Slavin mentions Canter and Canter, giving the example of their broken record technique. What about the many other contributors to "in-service" teacher training. All thru the years, the bookshelves have been filled with a particularly captivating perspective on classroom discipline. It might be nice to see a quick rundown of the more significant authors such as William Glasser, CM Charles, Rudolf Dreikurs, and Thomas Gordon. At least some mention of the philosophical position insinuated by concepts described as positive discipline, inner discipline, and synergetic teaching. Maybe this is beyond the scope of this type of text and I certainly acknowledge that Slavin definitely takes the right approach by focusing on the preventive aspects of behavior management. If students read and re-read this chapter, both before and after they begin teaching, their teaching effectiveness would be immeasurably enhanced. I often recommend to students that they keep this particular text rather than selling it because it has such practical utility. And some students have actually told me this is what they were doing!

Again, I have to compliment Slavin on title selection. Chapter 12 is so very politically correct. I mean you could say challenges but exceptionalities still has a nice ring to it. Where you definitely need PC updating is in the section on mental retardation. I know there’s no way to give the topic justice in this course but at least mention there are other ways to make the reference of mental retardation. Perhaps by just interjecting those more acceptable labels thru out the narrative rather than just re-stating the phrase, mental retardation, would enlighten while not deteriorating the diagnostic category so scientifically (and value-free) designated.

I want to reiterate that there needs to be information somewhere on schools and programs that deal with children and youth who exhibit troubling behavior. There are several places in the text that could include this reference. In the section on Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders would be another appropriate location for describing programs that are used with accompanying research support. This is not a criticism necessarily, but a suggestion to explore extensions of educational practice.

It is imperative to update the sections on the legal aspects of special education. Too many teachers and school systems don’t know how to interpret the law and insist upon certain absurdities like being unable to discipline special ed kids and letting them run rampant thru the halls. Beyond that, the text admirably details the intricacies of mainstreaming and inclusion, representing most of the best practices mandated and envisaged. Linking back to the previous chapter and its focus on applied behavior analysis could possibly improve the integral understanding that most of the problematic behavior demonstrated by many learners with exceptionalities can be effectively ameliorated by those goals and techniques. I just had a light bulb…I was thinking about the limited amount of information in the gifted and talented section. Suddenly it dawned on me that this could be a useful place for project (or problem)-based learning. Or perhaps a quick look at internships, practicum, distributive education, apprenticeships, etc…

I guess there’s so much information to be transmitted that the assessment of student learning is divided into two chapters. Personally I’d like to see more on classroom and behavior management, concentrating chapters 13 and 14 into one. If it’s necessary to compress information, then there’s too much information on standardized tests. Now, I know this is the province of the educational psychologist…but is it appropriate to extensively propound the conceptual details. Well, I can be easily convinced that this is, in fact, necessary. Teachers will see these scores and need to know how to interpret them. We may end up teaching to them…so perhaps we really do have to know the enemy. Nevertheless, this is feedback since I usually spend only a week with tests and grading, collapsing the two chapters and even making a study guide to make student learning more efficient, especially if a little behind at the end of the semester.

II. OVERALL COMMENTS

I really like this textbook. It’s my favorite and I’ve used it for 5 years, I believe. I remember the older editions. One of my colleagues recommended using it and continues to use this one from my understanding although he’s on sabbatical right now, but his adjunct would be using this text. Fundamentally, I agree with Slavin’s perspectives. And he’s consistently good throughout all his chapters. I especially like how he regularly peppers the text with references to research. Slavin is solidly supported and other texts are often not so consistently rigorous. Many other texts in Ed Psych do interest me. I have them sent to me all the time as you can imagine and I like to read them, especially to supplement my knowledge and enhance discussion with students. But Slavin’s text consistently wins out and is a perennial favorite. I’m getting ready to read the online version.

There’s a consistent criticism I can make with regard to the self-assessments at the ends of the chapters. Although it appears they are reasonably well constructed on an individual basis, the composite does not demonstrate the need for teachers to create a battery of assessment devices. You are role modeling only one type of test. A real improvement would be to vary question type and even add some performance testing or authentic assessment. That’s one problem I have with most test packages accompanying texts…they don’t provide enough variety of assessment means. The chapters on assessment fairly exhaust various ways to assess learning but the most visible example throughout the text does not exemplify the best approaches.

This text is used for undergraduate, upper level, and graduate education programs, up to master’s level. The prerequisites are Introduction to Psychology and possibly Developmental Psychology (ideally). I just got thru looking at the comparable text, Educational Psychology:windows on classrooms, 5^th ed by Paul Eggen and Don Kauchak. Just for comparison sake in response to your inquiry, take a look at the chapter on Cognition in the Content Areas. That’s a very interesting tact, to relate specific information on methods. We have courses in those areas but it’s worthy of noting. They have information on a companion website. They do manage to put assessment of learning into one chapter, yet still keep 14 so they’ve expanded in the cognitive area from what I can tell. Their differentiation of learner and teacher centered approaches to instruction is also illustrative. It certainly generates an image that clearly focuses for the teaching professional, an instrumental differentiation of teaching style. At any rate, some food for thought.

I’ve gone on and on…I’ve got to stop. But I do want to again emphasize my appreciation for the hard work and dedication behind writing this book. The references are impeccable and Robert Slavin is to be heartily commended for making dramatic differences in the lives of teachers and their students. Keep up the good work!