7:30-8:45 a.m. PAST PRESIDENTS' BREAKFAST Salon C

9:00-9:50 a.m. COUNSELING (Discussion Session) Salon A

Presider: Julie Holmes, Louisiana Tech University/Lincoln Parish (LA) Schools

ECLECTIC TREATMENTS FOR CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MOOD DISORDERS

Jennifer L. Marshall, Berea College, and Trey J. Fitch, Morehead State University

             The paper addressed theories of child and adolescent mood disorders of depression and anxiety, practical issues of how to present eclectic treatments to deal with these mood disorders to counseling students, and relevant research dealing with child and adolescent mood disorders.
             The objectives of this presentation were to discuss child and adolescent mood disorders (depression and anxiety) and outline multiple treatment options that counselor educators can present to students. Child and adolescent depression and anxiety are barriers to learning and psychosocial development. Counselor educators need a variety of treatment options when addressing these disorders, especially with new counselors. This presentation outlined child and adolescent mood disorders and provides cognitive, behavioral, and affective intervention strategies.

COUNSELING STUDENTS WITH LEARNED HELPLESSNESS: AN EMERGING NEED

Anisa M. Al-Khatab, Eastern Kentucky University

             Learned helplessness is a powerful belief that can undermine and inhibit an individual's effort to achieve learning. In fact, learned helplessness, as research indicates, places students in a state of mind that prevents them from exerting the effort to make a difference in their own learning (Woolfolk, 1995). The state of helplessness requires interventions beyond the classroom teacher's roles and teaching strategies.
             Counselors' roles and functions have changed as a result of the shifts in focus of school counseling. Responding to changes in social, economic, and political conditions, school counseling has moved from focusing on vocational guidance (pre-1950's) to enhancing individual developmental guidance and counseling programs (1970's-present) (Keys, Bemak, & Lokhart, 1998). Also in the 1970's, the scope of behavioral assessment expanded to include cognitive and self-control techniques (Ollendick and King, 1999).
             The study focused on learned helplessness as a behavioral-cognitive and emotional situation that requires school counselors to assist teachers and students to overcome. The study examined major theoretical explanations and significant contributing factors to the development of learned helplessness. The state of helplessness was explained in light of three strands of theories: (1) attribution theory and the significance of the locus of control, (2) achievement-motivation theory, and (3) self-efficacy theory and the effect of its sources of information. The study also examined the expanded roles and functions of school counselors and delineated the roles and functions that counselors can assume to enable students to combat learned helplessness and to take positive steps toward making a difference in their own learning.

DUAL RELATIONSHIPS IN SUPERVISION: A COMFORTABLE THRESHOLD

Regina S. Fults and Katherine Dooley, Mississippi State University

             Dual relationships in supervision are becoming more prevalent in mental health professions. Previous literature indicates that although these relationships are prohibited in most professional organizations, they are still highly prevalent. This study explored the attitudes and comfort levels of persons in training (supervisees) regarding specific behaviors exhibited by supervisors.
             Approximately 130 master's and doctoral-level students in mental health fields participated in the study. Participants were administered a questionnaire designed to identify comfort levels in three specific areas: (1) social attitudes and behaviors, (2) physical touch, and (3) sexual attitudes and behaviors. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data.
             The results indicated that some behaviors leading to devastating boundary and ethical violations were found very acceptable by the participants. Social relationships consisting of having dinners, lunches, and receiving gifts from supervisors were given very high comfort ratings. Similarly, physical touch behaviors, such as being hugged by their supervisor, were also given very high comfort ratings.
             There are many ethical guidelines and standards of conduct that strictly prohibit dual relationships in supervision. However, sometimes those relationships are unavoidable. This study indicated that an increased focus should be given to examine boundary violations in order to prevent dual relations. Implications for training and research were discussed.

9:00-9:50 a.m. RESEARCH/STATISTICS (Discussion Session) Salon B

Presider: Jim Flaitz, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

THE EFFECTS OF STRUCTURED ONE-ON-ONE TUTORING IN SIGHT WORD RECOGNITION OF FIRST-GRADE STUDENTS AT-RISK FOR READING FAILURE

Laureen G. Mayfield, Lincoln (LA) Parish Schools

             The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an alternative reading program on the performance of at-risk first graders. Sixty first graders from three north Louisiana public elementary schools with high poverty rates, who were determined by their teachers and principals to be functioning in the bottom 20-30% of first-grade reading students, were purposefully selected. Students were pretested on three subtests of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised (WRMT-R), Form G, and randomly assigned to either a control or an experimental group. Experimental group students received 15 minutes per day of tutoring by America Reads Volunteers in the Edmark Reading Program, a highly structured sight word program; control group students were read aloud to for 15 minutes each day by the same volunteers.
             At the completion of the first semester of the school year, the 60 participants were tested on four subtests of the WRMT-R, Form H (Letter Identification, Word Identification, Word Attack, Passage Comprehension) and were asked to read aloud the 150 words taught in the treatment program. Qualitative data were also collected in the form of student, parent, teacher, and administrator interviews, observation, and examination of documents. Quantitative data were analyzed with four ANCOVAs and one ANOVA; stepwise multiple regression was used to determine covariates for each subtest. Qualitative data were examined using content analysis.
             Results indicated a significant difference in the performance of experimental group students on the WRMT-R Passage Comprehension subtest and Edmark posttest. Qualitative data indicated that more experimental group students than control group students exhibited significantly improved reading ability, attitudes toward reading, attitudes toward school, and attitudes toward self. Results suggested that schools should consider the use of volunteers to implement one-on-one tutoring in the Edmark Reading Program to teach a supplementary sight word vocabulary to at-risk first graders.

AVOIDING DECISION-MAKING BY CHANCE: PROTECTING EFFECT SIZE ESTIMATES

J. Jackson Barnette, University of Iowa, and James E. McLean, The University of Alabama at Birmingham

             Cohen's popular book titled Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences , coupled with recent challenges to statistical significance, has made "effect size" one of the hottest methodological topics of our time. Cohen recommends specific levels of effect size for "small," "medium," and "large" effects. However, even Cohen acknowledged that these values are relative to the specific content and method in a given research situation. The purpose of this study was to determine the probabilities of attaining varying magnitudes of standardized effect sizes by chance and when protected by a .05-level statistical test.
             Monte Carlo procedures were used to generate standardized effect sizes in a one-way ANOVA situation with two through five, six, eight, and 10 groups having selected sample sizes from five to 500. Within each of the 91 number of group and sample size configurations, 100,000 replications were generated from a distribution of normal deviates. For each data set, the effect size was computed along with a statistical test of hypothesis at the .05 level. For each n/k combination, the proportion of effect sizes exceeding 0.1 to 2.0 in increments of .1 was computed for all cases and for those cases where the no difference hypothesis was rejected.
             There are trends that are common across all configurations. As the magnitude of effect size increases, the probability of getting such a difference by change decreases as would be expected. Within a given number of samples situation, as sample size increases, as expected, the probability of getting such a difference by chance decreases. Within a given sample size, as the number of groups increases the probability of getting such a difference by chance increases. Another finding that is consistent across all configurations is that the significance test protected effect size probability is always equal to or less than the unprotected probability, in some cases dramatically so. It is clear that the addition of the significance test reduces the probability of finding a seemingly large effect size by chance. Such a protected effect size indicator could be an answer to the arguments posed by both those who protest against the use of the significance test and those who propose its use in judging the magnitude of an observed effect.

FACTORS INFLUENCING PARTICIPATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: EXPLORING THE FACTOR STRUCTURE OF A QUESTIONNAIRE

Sandra M. Harris, Troy State University, Montgomery

             Research has shown that attracting individuals into and graduating them from higher education has become problematic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factor structure of a questionnaire that gathers information on factors that influence a person to pursue higher education. The literature-based, researcher-developed Factors Influencing Participation in Higher Education (FIPHE) Questionnaire was used to reach the following objectives: (1) determine whether gender differences existed in the demographic data, (2) assess internal consistency of scales and items in the questionnaire, (3) evaluate the factor structure of the questionnaire, and (4) determine whether there were gender differences in the data gathered by the questionnaire.
             Participants were 280 students enrolled at a traditional, southeastern, land-grant university during the 1998 fall quarter. Participants were recruited from a general studies psychology course and several sections of an educational psychology course. Cross-tabulation procedure revealed gender differences on nine of 33 demographic variables. Reliability analyses generated alpha coefficients that ranged from .57 to .90. A factor analysis revealed that a nine-factor solution accounted for 37% of the variance compared with 38% for the hypothesized 10 factor-solution. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant gender differences on 10 of 15 measures of interest. A correlation analysis revealed a number of significant correlations among the measures of interest.
             Results indicated that there were gender differences in the factors that influenced participation in higher education and that there was an interactive effect between those factors. Consequently, the researcher concluded that the FIPHE Questionnaire is a construct valid instrument that educators could use to gain an understanding of what motivates individuals to pursue higher education. This information could further be used to design more effective recruitment programs for attracting individuals into higher education and more effective retention programs that could result in graduating more individuals from higher education.

9:00-9:50 a.m. TEACHER EDUCATION (Discussion Session) Meeting Room 1

Presider: Naomi Coyle, Centenary College

COMPETENCY: A TEACHER EDUCATION ISSUE

Lynetta Owens and Cynthia Harper, Jacksonville State University

             Quality in teacher preparation is a concern shared by professionals involved in all aspects of education. Teaching has been described as an honorable profession. It is a rewarding and exciting field that holds tremendous responsibility. No other profession shapes the lives of so many youngsters.
             Because of the teacher reform movement in the United States, programs in teacher education have undergone much change, ranging from types of programs offered including curricula for nontraditional students, to the inclusion of more content course work to better prepare students for teaching in the classroom.
             Colleges of education have an obligation to ensure that only well-prepared, caring and competent individuals receive education degrees. However, the desire to teach and the ability to teach are two different issues. Preparation and skill are relatively straightforward to evaluate. Difficulties arise when maturity, desire to teach, and commitment to the process, among other attitudinal characteristics are not considered. Decades of experience with prospective teacher educators indicate that failure in teacher education programs is associated more routinely with the latter than the former set of abilities. Unfortunately, these weaknesses are rarely addressed until the student has already expended considerable years and resources. Failure at the last step in a teacher preparation program is painful for everyone involved and must be avoided at all costs. Appropriate measures must be taken by teacher preparation programs to retain the best teacher candidates.
             This university provides a program that is designed to identify, remediate, and counsel those students who exhibit characteristics associated with problems in teacher education early in the education process to prevent the trauma associated with lack of professional competence.

WHAT MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS PERCEIVE TO BE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE PRESERVICE MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER PROGRAM

Laura C. Stokes, University of North Alabama

             This study was conducted to measure perceptions of practicing middle school teachers and administrators about what are the essential elements of an effective preservice middle school teacher program. This study has particular significance because it identifies both the knowledge-base content and the pedagogical strategies that should be included to adequately prepare middle-school teachers. This study would benefit schools of education, as well as school systems designing beginning teacher programs and inservice training.
             Of specific interest are the following research questions: (1) What are the most important knowledge-base items to include in preservice middle school programs? (2) What are the most important competencies/strategies to include in preservice middle school programs? (3) What field experiences would best prepare the preservice middle school teacher?
             Two faculties of middle schools in a city school system in north Alabama were surveyed. A five-point Likert scale ranging from (1) strongly agree to (5) strongly disagree was used. The instrument was developed and used to measure perceptions of middle school educators about which knowledge-base items and which strategies are essential for adequately preparing the preservice middle school teacher.
             The survey was administered to the two faculties in fall 1999. Among the content items that ranked highest were knowledge of teaming and knowledge of the characteristics of middle school students. Findings showed that the strategies that respondents ranked as most essential were discipline methods and cooperative learning strategies.

A NEW MODEL OF STUDENT TEACHER SUPERVISION: PERCEPTIONS OF SUPERVISING TEACHERS

Binyao Zheng and Linda Webb, Kennesaw State University

             A large suburban university developed and implemented a model of student teacher supervision in which supervising master teachers combine the traditional roles of the cooperating teacher and the college supervisor.
             The study examined supervising teachers' perceptions of the new model of student teacher supervision to determine: (1) the impact of the new model on supervision practices, (2) the role of the university student teacher coordinator, and (3) the effectiveness of the process.
             A survey instrument was constructed to gather perspectives on model impact, role of university faculty, and effectiveness of the process. Teachers participating in the new student teacher supervision model completed a survey containing 31 items regarding the new model. Items were divided by topic under evaluation, and space in each section was left for comments. Sixteen of the 17 teachers participated supervising student teachers under the new model completed and returned the surveys. The responding teachers were grouped in four groups by certification/teaching field: Group I had six teachers in early childhood education; Group II had four teachers in middle grades education (one of whom was actually a P-12 educator); Group III had three teachers in secondary education; and Group IV with three teachers in P-12 education. Additional groupings compared the seven teachers with specialized supervision training to the nine who lacked the specialized training and the seven with over 15 years teaching experience to the nine with less than 15 years experience.
             Analysis was conducted on the three areas of survey questions. Responses were analyzed for each item, and an average score was obtained to demonstrate an overview. In addition, a comparison was conducted on each item comparing the four certification/teaching field groups, the two specialized training groups, and the two teaching experience groups. The findings of the research suggested implications for supervision of student teachers.

9:00-9:50 a.m. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (Training Session) Meeting Room 5

HOW TO SEARCH FOR JOBS OUTSIDE THE TRADITIONAL ACADEMIC BOX

Jennifer M Good, Susanne MacGuire, and Donna Pascoe, Auburn University

             The scope of this graduate training session was to provide graduate students with a method for job-searching outside of the traditional faculty placement methods connected with higher education. Often young scholars, particularly females, are constricted in their job search efforts due to family commitments. Hence, the purpose of this training session was to foster divergent thinking among graduate students in order to encourage creative methods for finding jobs in a given geographic area. Specifically, the session allowed participants to discuss networking techniques, research fellowships, jobs within industry, and opportunities with local non-profit and community organizations.
             Objectives included the following: (1) participants will be able to list networking techniques and create a list of potential employees within their area, (2) participants will be able to discuss a variety of job possibilities outside of traditional faculty placements, and (3) participants will be able to plan a focused agenda for attacking a job search in a given area.
             Session activities included: (1) students responded to and discussed the following prompt, "Write a brief description of what you consider to be the ideal job. Is it realistically obtainable? Why or why not?"; (2) each trainer gave a brief overview (with overheads) of different kinds of job experiences and opportunities: research fellowships, grant work, work with community organizations and clinics, and jobs in industry; (3) participants will write a list of their academic and research strengths; they then wrote a parallel list of how these strengths could be adapted to fit different, non-traditional settings; (4) participants were given a flow-chart on which they will write the names of potential networking contacts and why these individuals are helpful; methods for approaching these individuals were discussed; (5) trainers presented an outline of methods and tips for finding and locating non-traditional jobs; and (6) each participant created a plan for job-searching. These plans were discussed and shared with other workshop participants.