At Risk Students

and
Teaching Strategies
for
Cognitive Learning
 Table Of Contents
 Slide 1 Title Page
 Slide 2 Table of Contents
 Slide 3 Focus Questions
 Slide 4 Statistics
 Slides 5-8 Introduction
 Slides 9-21 Strategies and Methodologies
 Slides 22-23 Summary
 Slide 24 Conclusion
 Slide 25 References
 Questions for Thought
 Do you remember classmates in school that
never seemed to complete in class assignments
or do their homework?
 Do you remember classmates in school who did
poorly in most of their classes and rarely
participated in extracurricular activities?
 How many of those students actually graduated
from high school?

(Ormrod, 2006)
 The National Center for
Education Statistics

Drop Out Rates (1999)

 25.3% Hispanic
 13.4% black
 7.6% White

(Johannessen, 2004, pg. 638 )

 Who are at risk?

 “Students who have a high probability of

failing to acquire minimal academic skills
necessary for success in the adult world.”

(Ormrod, 2006, pg. 129)

 At Risk Students
 Approximately 12 million students in the largest
urban school districts are labeled at risk.
 Schools and teachers have been defining a
majority of their students as unable to educate.
( Haberman, 1995)

These facts define the necessity of teaching

teachers how to teach the unteachable.
The essence of this presentation.
 Labels of Students
Least Likely To Succeed
 Struggling Students
 Reluctant Students
 At Risk Students
 Disadvantaged Students
 Alienated Students
 Resistant Students
 Educationally Deprived
(Johannessen, 2003, pg.6)
 Characteristics of
Students At Risk
 Low socioeconomic status families
 Minority ethnic groups
 Linguistic minority background
 History of academic failure
 Older in age than classmates
 Emotional and behavior problems
 Lack of psychological attachment to school
 List your most at-risk students---these are the ones we want
YOU to focus on—the ones who need YOUR help the most!

(Ormrod, 2006)
 Teachers Encouraging
At Risk Students
 Make the curriculum relevant to student to students’ lives
and needs
 Use students’ strengths to promote high self-esteem
 Communicate high expectations for students’
performance
 Encourage and facilitate school involvement and
extracurricular activities
 How can you do this with the students you listed???

(Ormrod, 2006)
 Teachers Promote
Self-Determination in
At Risk Students
Strategies:
 Present rules and instructions in an informational
rather than controlling manner
 Give students opportunities to make choices
(individually or as a group)
 Evaluate students’ performance in a non-
controlling manner
 Use extrinsic reinforcers selectively

(Ormrod, 2006)
 Teachers Promote
Self-Efficacy in
At Risk Students
Strategies:
 Teach basic skills
 Use effort and achievement rubrics
 Assure students they can be successful
 Promote mastery or challenging tasks

( Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock, 2001)

 How do teachers know if at risk
students are learning?
 permanent changes in behavior as a result of life
experiences
 permanent changes in mental representations or
associations as a result of life experiences
(Both definitions describes learning as a
permanent change due to experiences)
(Ormrod, 2004)

Student characteristics and instruction determines

learning outcomes. (NASSP, 1979)
 Teachers Make Learning
Meaningful for At Risk Students
 Student-directed instruction promotes prior
knowledge activation
 Meaningful learning occurs only when students
can relate new information to prior knowledge
 Meaningful learning facilitates both storage and
retrieval of information
 Discuss with your table—how can YOU make
learning meaningful to students? Think of the
students you wrote down that YOU will focus on….
(Ormrod, 2004)
 Transfer and Problem Solving
Strategies for At Risk
Students
 Allow students many opportunities for practice and
learning
 Use scaffolding for complex tasks
 Implement authentic activities:
 Assignments must require prior knowledge
 Create activities that promote HOTS
 Convey high performance expectations
 GIVE EXAMPLES OF EACH AT YOUR TABLE

(Ormrod, 2004)
 Teachers Can Motivate
At Risk Students
 Intrinsic (internal) motivation has more advantages
than extrinsic (external) motivation.
 Intrinsically motivate students by
 Creating meaningful lessons
 Promoting authentic engagement
 Encouraging students’ success
 Promoting pleasure and enjoyment
 DISCUSS AT YOUR TABLE—HOW DO YOU DO
THIS???
 Needs Deficiencies in
At Risk Students
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 Physiological Needs
 Safety Needs
 Love and Belongingness Needs
 Esteem Needs
 Need for self-actualization

(Ormrod, 2004)
 Teachers Can Satisfy Non-Academic
Needs of At Risk Students

 Help low income families apply for free lunch

 Create an orderly and predictable environment
 Acknowledge students’ special occasions
 Listen to students’ ideas
 Acknowledge students’ accomplishments
 Assess students’ based on individual
achievement and not in comparison to peers

(Ormrod, 2004)
 At Risk Students
Need Goals
 Goal setting influences motivation
 Goals influence choices and consequences that
are reinforcing
 Goals effect the extent that students become
cognitively engaged

Avoidance Goals vs. Mastery Goals

(Ormrod, 2004)
 Benefits of Goal Setting
 Goal attainment results in considerable self-
satisfaction, greater self-efficacy, and higher
standards for future performances.
 Goals are beneficial only to the extent that they
are accomplishable.
 Setting goals is an important part of self-
regulated behavior and learning.
 How does goal setting relate to motivation???
 When have YOU set a goal and how did it
motivate YOU?
 Teachers Can Motivate Goal
Setting in At Risk Students
 Communicate high student expectations
 Establish routines
 Positive feedback
 Encourage individual mastery goal setting
 Relate failures to controllable external factors or unstable
and controllable internal factors
 Relate successes to stable and unstable internal factors
 Are these motivators for students???

(Ormrod, 2004)
 Teachers Foster Positive
Attributions of At Risk Students
 Teachers communicate their attributions for learners’
performances directly through statements and indirectly
through emotional reactions. (I knew you could do it!)
 Teachers evaluate students on the basis of mastery and
not one another.
 Teachers should encourage students to take on
challenges and risks
 Classroom activities should be noncompetitive
 List ideas for working with at-risk students academically
in your classroom---try to focus on the students you
listed earlier.
(Ormrod, 2004)
 Teachers Promote Learning
in At Risk Students
Teachers must believe that they
themselves have some control over
students’ learning and achievement. By
using instructional strategies that promote
long-term memory storage, by scaffolding
challenging tasks, and promoting HOTS
they can genuinely help students master
school subject matter. Teachers must
believe that all students can learn.
 Cognitive Learning Theory
The ability to reason depends on a number of factors.

 “Today, there is a demand for men and

women who can think, reason, and use
their minds well.”

(Schlechty, 2002, pg. 94)

 Conclusion
The cognitive approach to teaching and learning
focuses on complex, meaningful questions and
problems that make connections with students’
life experiences and cultures. Students who are
at risk for academic failure are a diverse group
of individuals with a diverse set of needs, and so
there is probably no single strategy that can
keep all of them in school until graduation.
However, a combination of strategies can help
many at risk students succeed and stay in
school.

(Ormrod, 2006)
 References
 Haberman, Martin. (1995). Star Teachers of Children in Poverty.
Indiana: Kappa Delta Pi Publishers.
 Johannessen, Larry. (September/October, 2003). Achieving success
for the “resistant” student. Clearing House, 77(1), p. 6-13.
 Johannessen, Larry. (May, 2004). Helping “struggling” students
achieve success. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy,
47(8), p. 638-647.
 Marzano, Robert, Pickering, D., Pollock Jane. (2001). Classroom
Instruction That Works. Virginia: McRel.
 Ormrod, Jeanne. (2004). Human Learning. New Jersey: Pearson
Education, Inc.
 Ormrod, Jeanne. (2006). Educational Psychology Developing
Learners. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
 Secondary School Principals. (1979). Student Learning Styles.
Virginia: National Association of Secondary School Principals
(NASSP).
 Schlechty, Phillip C. (2002). Working On The Work: An Action Plan
For Teachers, Principals, and Superintendents. California:
Jossey-Bass Publishers.