1. by John W. Santrock Adolescence University of Texas at Dallas
Thirteenth Edition
Adolescence
by John W. Santrock
University of Texas at Dallas
PowerPoint slides prepared by Leonard R. Mendola, PhD
Touro College

2. Chapter 10: Schools Outline
APPROACHES TO EDUCATING STUDENTS
Contemporary Approaches to Student Learning
Accountability
TRANSITIONS IN SCHOOLING
Transition to Middle or Junior High School
Improving Middle Schools
The American High School
High School Dropouts
Transition from High School to College
Transition from College to Work

3. Chapter 10: Schools Outline
THE SOCIAL CONTEXTS OF SCHOOLS
Changing Social Developmental Contexts
School Climate
Person-Environment Fit
Teachers, Parents, Peers, and Extracurricular Activities
Culture

4. Chapter 10: Schools Outline
ADOLESCENTS WHO ARE EXCEPTIONAL
Who are Adolescents with Disabilities?
Learning Disabilities
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Educational Issues Involving Adolescents
with Disabilities
Adolescents Who Are Gifted

5. An important context for that learning is school.
Schools
In youth, we learn.
An important context for that learning is school.
Schools not only foster adolescents’ academic learning, they also provide a social arena where peers, friends, and crowds can have a powerful influence on their development.

6. Approaches to Educating Students
Contemporary Approaches to Student Learning
There are two main contemporary approaches to student learning:
Constructivist
Direct Instruction

7. Approaches to Educating Students
The Constructivist Approach
It is a learner-centered approach.
Emphasizes the importance of individuals actively constructing their knowledge and understanding with guidance from the teacher.
Children are encouraged to explore their world, discover knowledge, reflect, and think critically with careful monitoring and meaning guidance from the teacher (Eby, Herrell, & Jordan, 2009).

8. Approaches to Educating Students
The Constructivist Approach (Continued)
Constructionists believe that for too long in American education children have been required to
Sit still.
Be passive learners.
Rotely memorize irrelevant as well as relevant information (Armstrong, Henson, & Savage, 2009).
Constructivism may include an emphasis on collaboration: children working with each other in their efforts to know and understand (McNeil, 2009).

9. Approaches to Educating Students
The Constructivist Approach (Continued)
Constructivist instructional philosophy would not have children memorize information rotely but would give them opportunities to meaningfully construct the knowledge and to understand the material while guiding their learning (Kellough & Carjuzaa, 2009).

10. Approaches to Educating Students
The Direct Instruction Approach
Is a structured, teacher-centered approach that is characterized by:
Teacher direction and control.
High teacher expectations for student’s progress.
Maximum time spent by students on academic tasks.
Efforts by the teacher to keep negative affect to a minimum.
An important goal in the direct instruction approach is maximizing student learning time.

11. Approaches to Educating Students
Accountability
State-mandated tests have taken on a more powerful role (Gronlund & Waugh, 2009; Oosterhof, 2009).
Most states have or are in the process of identifying objectives that every student in the state is expected to achieve.
The most visible aspect of state-mandated testing involves the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the federal legislation that was signed into law in 2002.

12. Approaches to Educating Students
Accountability (Continued)
NCLB is the U.S. government’s effort to hold schools and school districts accountable for the success or failure of their students (Yell & Drasgrow, 2009).
The legislation shifts the responsibility to the states, with states being required to create their own standards for students’ achievement in mathematics, English/language arts, and science.
In 2006, states were required to give all students annual tests in grade 3 through 8.

13. Approaches to Educating Students
Accountability (Continued)
Criticisms of NCLB (Stiggins, 2008):
Using 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, 2007).
The tests schools are using to assess achievement and progress, required by NCLB, do not measure such important skills as:
Creativity
Motivation
Persistence
Flexible thinking
Social skills

14. Approaches to Educating Students
Accountability (Continued)
Criticisms of NCLB (Stiggins, 2008):
Teachers are spending far too much class time “teaching to the test” by drilling students and having them memorize isolated facts at the expense of more student-centered constructivist teaching that focuses on higher-level thinking skills, which students need for success in life.
At issue is whether the tests and procedures mandated by NCLB are the best ones for achieving these high standards (Yell & Drasgow, 2009).

15. Transitions in Schooling
Transition to Middle or Junior High School
The transition to middle or junior high school can be difficult and stressful for many students (Anderman & Mueller; 2009; Elmore, 2009).
The transition takes place at a time when many changes—in the individual, in the family, and in school—are occurring simultaneously. These changes include:
Puberty
Formal operational thought
Responsibility and independence
Impersonal school structure
Heterogeneous set of peers
Focus on assessment
Top-dog phenomenon

16. Transitions in Schooling
Improving Middle Schools
In 1989 the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development recommended:
Develop smaller “communities” to lessen the impersonal nature of large middle schools.
Lower student-to-counselor ratios from several hundred-to1 to 10-to1.
Involve parents and community leaders in schools.

17. Transitions in Schooling
Improving Middle Schools (Continued)
In 1989 the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development recommended:
Develop better curricula that produce students who are literate, understand the sciences, and have a sense of health, ethics, and citizenship.
Have teachers team-teach in more flexibly designed curriculum blocks that integrate several disciplines, instead of presenting students with disconnected, rigidly separated 50-minute segments.
Boost students’ health and fitness with more in-school programs and help students who need public health care to get it.

18. Transitions in Schooling
The American High School
Many high school graduates are poorly prepared for college.
Many are poorly prepared for the demands of the modern, high-performance workplace.
The National Research Council (2004) made a number of recommendations for improving U.S. high schools:
Get students more engaged in learning.
Focus on the psychological factors involved in motivation.
Promote a sense of belonging “by personalizing instruction, showing an interest in students’ lives, and creating a supportive, caring social environment” (p. 3).

19. Transitions in Schooling
High School Dropouts
Viewed as a serious educational and societal problem for many decades.
Adolescents approach adult life with educational deficiencies that severely curtail their economic and social well-being (Elmore, 2009).
In the last half of the 20th century and the first several years of the 21st century, U.S. high school dropout rates declined (National Center for Education Statistics, 2008a).

20. Transitions in Schooling
Trends in High School Dropout Rates
Fig. 10.1

21. Transitions in Schooling
The Causes of Dropping Out
School-related problems
Economic reasons
Socioeconomic status
Friends drop out
Personal reasons

22. Transitions in Schooling
Reducing the Dropout Rate
The most effective programs provided early reading programs, tutoring, counseling, and mentoring (Lehr & others, 2003).
Early detection of children’s school-related difficulties.
Get children engaged with school in positive ways.
Create caring environments and relationships, use block scheduling, and offer community-service opportunities.

23. Transitions in Schooling
Transition from High School to College
Replays the top-dog phenomenon.
Involves a move to a larger more impersonal school structure.
Interaction with peers from diverse geographical and sometimes more diverse ethnic backgrounds.

24. Transitions in Schooling
Transition from High School to College
Increased focus on achievement and performance and their assessment.
Students are more likely to:
Feel grown up.
Have more subjects from which to select.
Have more time to spend with peers.
Have more opportunities to explore different lifestyles.
Enjoy greater independence from parental monitoring.

25. Transitions in Schooling
Transition from College to Work
Having a college degree is a strong asset.
College graduates earn considerably more money in their lifetimes than those who do not go to college.
Income differences between college graduates and high school graduates continue to grow (Occupational Outlook Handbook, ).
U.S. colleges train many students to develop general skills rather than vocationally specific skills.
The transition from college to work is often a difficult one (Mortimer & Larson, 2002).

26. The Social Contexts of Schools
Changing Social Developmental Contexts
The social context differs at the preschool, elementary, and secondary level.
Preschool
A protected environment.
The boundary is the classroom.
The Elementary School
The classroom is still the major context.
More likely to be experienced as a social unit.

27. The Social Contexts of Schools
Changing Social Developmental Contexts (Continued)
The Middle or Junior High School
The school environment increases in scope and complexity.
The social field is the school as a whole rather than the classroom.
Adolescents socially interact with many different teachers and peers from a range of social and ethnic backgrounds.

28. The Social Contexts of Schools
Changing Social Developmental Contexts (Continued)
The Middle or Junior High School (Continued)
A greater mix of male and female teachers.
Social behavior is heavily weighted toward peers, extracurricular activities, clubs, and the community.
The student in secondary schools is usually aware of the school as a social system and may be motivated to conform and adapt or to challenge it (Minuchin & Shapiro, 1983).

29. The Social Contexts of Schools
Classroom Climate and Management
Two effective general strategies for creating positive classroom environments are:
Using an authoritative strategy.
Effectively managing the group’s activities.
Strategies of Classroom Management
Authoritative
Authoritarian
Permissive

30. The Social Contexts of Schools
Person-Environment Fit
Some negative psychological changes might result from a mismatch between the needs of developing adolescents and the opportunities afforded them by the schools they attend.

31. The Social Contexts of Schools
Teachers, Parents, Peers, and Extracurricular Activities
Adolescents’ development is influenced by teachers.
Teachers
The following teacher traits are associated with positive student outcomes more than are other traits:
Enthusiasm
Ability to plan
Poise
Adaptability
Warmth
Flexibility
Awareness of individual differences
Positive teacher expectations were linked with higher student achievement (Jussim & Eccles, 1993).

32. The Social Contexts of Schools
Parents and Schools
Parents play important roles in the adolescent’s success in schools.
Through effective family management practices.
Being involved in adolescents’ schooling.
Family Management
Family management practices are positively related to grades and self-responsibility, and negatively to school-related problems (Taylor, 1996).

33. The Social Contexts of Schools
Parental Involvement
Is less in secondary school (Eccles & Harold, 1993).
Teachers listed parental involvement as the number one priority in improving education (Chira, 1993).
Students were more likely to get As and less likely to repeat a grade or be expelled if both parents were highly involved in their schooling (National Center for Education Statistics, 1997).

34. The Social Contexts of Schools
Parental Involvement (Continued)
Joyce Epstein (2001, 2005, 2007a,b, 2009) offers the following recommendations for increasing parental involvement in adolescents’ schooling:
Families have a basic obligation to provide for the safety and health of their adolescents.
School have a basic obligation to communicate with families about school programs and the individual progress of their adolescents.
Parents’ involvement at school needs to be increased.
Parental involvement in the adolescent’s learning activities at home needs to be encouraged.

35. The Social Contexts of Schools
Peers (peer relations in school contexts)
Structure of middle school
Encourages students to interact with larger numbers of peers on a daily basis (Wentzel, 2003).
The relative uncertainty and ambiguity of multiple classroom environments and more complex class schedules may result in students turning to each other for information, social support, and strategies for coping.
Peer statuses
Have been studied in relation to school success.
Being popular or accepted by peers is usually associated with academic success.
Being rejected by peers is related to more negative outcomes (Wentzel, 2003).

36. The Social Contexts of Schools
Peers (peer relations in school contexts)
Bullying
Significant numbers of students are victimized by bullies (Hinuja & Patchin, 2009; Juvonen & Galvan, 2008; Pepler & others, 2008).
In a national survey of more than 15,000 6th through 10th-grade students, nearly 1 of every 3 students said that they had experienced occasional or frequent involvement as a victim or perpetrator in bullying (Nansel & others, 2001).
Friendship

37. The Social Contexts of Schools
Bullying Behaviors Among U.S. Youth
Fig. 10.2

38. The Social Contexts of Schools
Peers (peer relations in school contexts)
Bullying (Continued)
Who is likely to be bullied?
Boys
Younger middle school students
Anxious and socially withdrawn children
Bullies and their victims in adolescence were more likely to experience depression and engage in suicide ideation and attempt suicide than their counterparts who were not involved in bullying (Brunstein Klomek & others, 2007).
Cyberbullying
When a child or adolescent is tormented, threatened, harassed, or humiliated by another child or adolescent on the Internet (Aricak & others, 2008).

39. The Social Contexts of Schools
Bullying Prevention/Intervention
An increasing number of prevention/intervention programs have been developed to reduce bullying (Breakstone, Dreiblat, & Dreiblat, 2009):
Olweus Bullying Prevention
Bully-Proofing Your School
Steps to Respect

40. The Social Contexts of Schools
Bullying Prevention/Intervention
To reduce bullying, schools can adopt these strategies (Cohn & Canter, 2003; Hyman & others, 2006; Limber, 2004):
Get older peers to serve as monitors for bullying and intervene when they see it taking place.
Develop school-wide rules and sanctions against bullying and post them throughout the school.
Form friendship groups for adolescents who are regularly bullied by peers.

41. The Social Contexts of Schools
Bullying Prevention/Intervention (Continued)
Identify bullies and victims early and use social skills training to improve their behavior.
Become involved in school programs to counteract bullying.
Reinforce adolescents’ positive behaviors and model interactions that do not include bullying or aggression.

42. The Social Contexts of Schools
Friendship
Having friends is related to higher grades and test scores in adolescents (Berndt & Keefe, 1996).
One longitudinal study found that having at least one friend was related to academic success over a two-year period (Wentzel & Caldwell, 1997).

43. The Social Contexts of Schools
Extracurricular Activities
Adult-sanctioned.
Occur after-school hours.
Wide array of activities beyond academic courses:
Sports
Honor societies
Band
Drama club
Academic clubs (math and language)
Participation is linked to higher grades, school engagement, less likelihood of dropping out.

44. The Social Contexts of Schools
Extracurricular Activities (Continued)
Participation is linked to:
Higher grades.
School engagement.
Less likelihood of dropping out of school.
Higher self-esteem.
Lower rates of depression, delinquency and substance abuse (Fredricks, 2008; Mahoney & other, 2009; Parente & Mahoney, 2009; Peck & others, 2008).

45. The Social Contexts of Schools
Extracurricular Activities (Continued)
The quality of the extracurricular activities matters (Fredricks, 2008; Mahoney & other, 2009; Parente & Mahoney, 2009).
High-quality extracurricular activities that are likely to promote positive adolescent development:
Competent and supportive adult mentors.
Opportunities for increasing school connectedness.
Challenging and meaningful activities.
Opportunities for improving skills (Fredricks & Eccles, 2006).

46. The Social Contexts of Schools
Culture
Adults often restrict access to peers, especially for girls.
Socioeconomic Status and Ethnicity
Adolescents from low-income, ethnic minority backgrounds have more difficulties in school than do their middle-socioeconomic-status non-Latino white counterparts.
Critics argue that schools have not done a good job of educating low-income, ethnic minority adolescents to overcome the barriers to their achievement (Golnick & Chinn, 2009; Taylor & Whittaker, 2009).

47. The Social Contexts of Schools
The Education of Students from Low-Income Backgrounds
Many adolescents in poverty face problems that present barriers to their learning (Hutson, 2008).
Schools in low-income areas are more likely to have more students with:
Low achievement test scores.
Low graduation rates.
Small percentages of students going to college.
Teachers with less experience.
Teachers that are more likely to encourage rote learning (Spring, 2008).

48. The Social Contexts of Schools
Ethnicity in Schools
More than one-third of all African American and almost one-third of all Latino students attend schools in the 47 largest city school districts in the United States.
Many of these inner-city schools are still segregated, are grossly underfunded, and do not provide adequate opportunities for children to learn effectively.
The effects of SES and the effects of ethnicity are often intertwined (Coltrane & others, 2008; Liu & others, 2008).

49. The Social Contexts of Schools
Ethnicity in Schools (Continued)
Strategies for improving relationships among ethnically diverse students:
Turn the class into a jigsaw classroom.
Encourage students to have positive personal contact with diverse other students.
Encourage students to engage in perspective taking.
Help students think critically and be emotionally intelligent about cultural issues.
Reduce bias.
View the school and community as a team.
Be a competent cultural mediator.

50. The Social Contexts of Schools
Cross-Cultural Comparisons
Many countries recognize that quality, universal education of children and youth is critical for the success of any country.
Countries vary considerably in their ability to attain this mission. (Feinstein & Peck, 2008).

51. The Social Contexts of Schools
Cross-Cultural Comparisons (Continued)
Secondary Schools
School begins at age 6 or 7.
Stay in school until 14- to 17-years old.
Divided into two or more levels.
Entrance exams in Japan only.
Sports important in United States and Australia.

52. The Social Contexts of Schools
Cross-Cultural Comparisons (Continued)
Colleges
What is college attendance like around the world?
Canada has the largest percentage of 18- to 21-year-olds enrolled in college (41 percent)
Belgium (40 percent)
France (36 percent)
United States (35 percent)
Ireland (31 percent)
New Zealand (25 percent)
(U.S. Department of Education, 1996).

53. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
U.S. Children with a Disability Who Receive Special Education
Fig. 10.3

54. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Learning Disabilities
Involves understanding or using spoken or written language; the difficulty can appear in listening, thinking, reading, writing, or spelling.
May also involve difficulty in doing mathematics.
The learning problem is not primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; mental retardation; emotional disorders; or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

55. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Learning Disabilities (Continued)
From the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s
There was a dramatic increase in the percentage of U.S. students receiving special education services for a learning disability (from 1.8 percent in 1976 to 1977 to 5.8 percent in 1995 to 1996) (National Center for Education Statistics, 2008b).
Some experts say that the dramatic increase reflected poor diagnostic practices and over-identification.
Other experts say the increase in the number of children being labeled with a “learning disability” is justified (Bender, 2008; Hallahan, Kaufmann, & Pullen, 2009).
About three times as many boys as girls are classified.

56. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Learning Disabilities (Continued)
Diagnosing a learning disability is often a difficult task (Bender, 2008; Fritschmann & Solari, 2008).
The most common problem that characterizes students with a learning disability involves reading (Shaywitz, Morris, & Shaywitz, 2008).
Dyslexia is a category that is reserved for individuals who have a severe impairment in their ability to read and spell.
Children and adolescents with learning disabilities often have difficulties in handwriting, spelling, or composition.

57. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Brain Scans and Learning Disabilities
Fig. 10.4

58. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Children and adolescents show one or more of the following characteristics over a period of time:
Inattention
Hyperactivity
Impulsivity
Children and adolescents who are inattentive have difficulty focusing on any one thing and might become bored with a task after only a few minutes.
Children and adolescents who are hyperactive show high levels of physical activity, seeming to almost always be in motion.

59. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
The number of children and adolescents with ADHD has increased substantially, by some estimates doubling in the 1990s.
The disorder occurs as much as four to nine times more in boys than in girls.
There is controversy about the increased diagnosis of ADHD (Gargiulo, 2009).
ADHD is not supposed to be diagnosed by school teams because it is a psychiatric disorder with specific criteria (Bender, 2008).

60. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Definitive causes of ADHD have not been found.
A number of causes have been proposed:
Some children and adolescents inherit a tendency to develop ADHD from their parents (Goos, Ezzatian, Schachar, 2007).
Some children and adolescents develop ADHD because of damage to their brain during prenatal or postnatal development (Banerjee, Middleton, & Faraone, 2007).
Cigarette and alcohol exposure during prenatal development and low birth weight (Neuman & others, 2007).

61. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Regions of the Brain in Which Children with ADHD Had a Delayed Peak in the Thickness of the Cerebral Cortex
Fig. 10.5

62. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
The increased academic and social demands as well as stricter standards for behavioral control, often illuminate the problems of the child with ADHD.
Elementary school teachers report that the child with ADHD has difficulty:
Working independently.
Completing seatwork.
Organizing work.
Restlessness and distractibility also are often noted.

63. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Treatment of ADHD
Stimulant medication is effective
(Ritalin, or Adderall)
Researchers have often found that a combination of medication and behavior management improves the behavior of children with ADHD.
Critics argue that many physicians are too quick to prescribe stimulants for children with milder forms of ADHD (Marcovitch, 2004).

64. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Educational Issues
Until the 1970s most public schools either refused enrollment to children or adolescents with disabilities or inadequately served them.
In 1975, Public Law , the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, required that all students with disabilities be given a Free, Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).
In 1990, Public Law was recast as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
IDEA was amended in 1997 and then reauthorized in 2004 and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (Turnbull, Huerta, & Stowe, 2009).

65. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Educational Issues (Continued)
IDEA spells out broad mandates for services to all children with disabilities (Carter, Prater, & Dynces, 2009; Smith & others, 2008):
Evaluation and eligibility determination.
Appropriate education.
An individualized education plan (IEP).
Education in the least restrictive environment (LRE).

66. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Individualized Education Plan (IEP)
A written statement that spells out a program that is specifically tailored for children and adolescents with a disability (Gargiulo, 2009).
The IEP should be:
Related to the student’s learning capacity.
Specifically constructed to meet the student’s individual needs and not merely a copy of what is offered to other students.
Designed to provide educational benefits.

67. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
A setting that is similar as possible to the one in which children and adolescents who do not have a disability are educated.
This provision of the IDEA has given a legal basis to efforts to educate students with a disability in the regular classroom (Smith & others, 2008).
The term inclusion describes educating a child or adolescent with special education needs full-time in the regular classroom (Gargiulo, 2009).

68. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Percentage of U.S. Students with Disabilities 6 to 21 Years of Age Receiving Special Services in the General Classroom
Fig. 10.6

69. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Adolescents Who Are Gifted
Have above-average intelligence (an IQ of 130 or higher) and/or superior talent in some domain, such as art, music, or mathematics.
Programs for gifted adolescents in schools typically base admission to the programs on intelligence and academic aptitude. (Pfeiffer & Blei, 2008; VanTassell-Baska & Stambaugh, 2008).

70. Adolescents Who Are Exceptional
Adolescents Who Are Gifted
Ellen Winner (1996), an expert on giftedness, describes three characteristics of adolescents who are gifted:
Precocity.
Marching to their own drummer.
A passion to master.
Often adolescents who are gifted are socially isolated and under-challenged in the classroom.

71. RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING THE LIVES OF ADOLESCENTS
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)
1920 Association Drive, Reston, VA 22091
703–620–3660
The CEC maintains an information center on the education of children and adolescents who are exceptional and publishes materials on a wide variety of topics.

72. RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING THE LIVES OF ADOLESCENTS
Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology (2nd ed.) (Vols 1 and 2) edited by Neal Salkind. (2008). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
A number of leading experts provide in-depth coverage of many educational psychology topics, ranging from learning and cognition to the social and cultural aspects of schools.

73. RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING THE LIVES OF ADOLESCENTS
National Dropout Prevention Center
Clemson University
205 Martin Street
Clemson, SC 29634
803–656–2599
The center operates as a clearinghouse for information about dropout prevention and at-risk youth and publishes the National Dropout Prevention Newsletter.

74. RESOURCES FOR IMPROVING THE LIVES OF ADOLESCENTS
Turning Points 2000: Educating Adolescents in the 21st Century by Anthony Jackson and Gayle Davis. (2000). New York: Teachers College Press.
This follow-up to earlier Turning Points recommendations includes a number of strategies for meeting the educational needs of adolescents.

75. E-LEARNING TOOLS
To help you master the material in this chapter, visit the Online Learning Center for Adolescence, 13th edition at: