The 13th annual Christine Greenhaw Mashburn Institute was held recently on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas with a number of area teachers and administrators in attendance.
UCA has hosted the Institute since 1991 for the purpose of providing classroom teachers and administrators with research-based instructional strategies and teaching methods for use with students with learning disabilities and other low-achieving students. Nearly 240 educators have participated in the institutes during the past 13 years.
“Consistent with the vision of Dr. and Mrs. J. D. Mashburn, the academic achievement of hundreds of children who struggle with learning in Arkansas schools has been dramatically improved as a result of the skills teachers have acquired through the Mashburn Institute,” said Dr. Mark J. Cooper, director of the institute.
According to Dr. Cooper, the primary purpose of this summer?s institute was to complete the first phase in preparing a cadre of outstanding educators to become a resource to their own school, school district and surrounding school districts in making research-based practices available to other teachers through high-quality professional development experiences.
The Mashburn vision is aligned with the vision to leave no child behind. “In order for schools to respond to this expectation, they will need access to individuals who can provide them with quality professional experiences in learning how to use research-based practices,” continued Dr. Cooper.
The No Child Left Behind legislation calls for teachers to use ?scientifically-based instructional practices.? Subsequently, instructional practices developed by the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning (KU-CRL) have been the cornerstone of the training provided at the summer institutes. The education/research team at the University of Kansas has developed a research-based instructional model called SIM that represents the Strategic Instruction Model.
The overall goal associated with the Strategic Instruction Model is to enable students who have been at risk for failure in school settings to learn new skills and to transfer these new skills into their home, work, and community settings. The Strategic Instruction Model consists of three components: Strategic curriculum for teaching students how to perform in academic settings; strategic instruction incorporating teaching behaviors that have been found to be effective in helping at-risk students learn new skills; and strategic environment procedures designed to help teachers create an atmosphere that encourages the use of new learning processes.
The instructional materials used to support the practices outlined by the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning have been rigorously field tested and validated by teachers in real classrooms, Dr. Cooper noted. This process has included responding to suggestions from educators on the practicality of the proposed instruction as well as carefully scrutinizing research data on the procedures? effectiveness with regard to student performance.
The teachers and administrators in attendance gave the Institute high marks. Dr. Cooper presided over a luncheon in McCastlain Hall to honor Dr. Mashburn. Both he and Dr. Dave Naylor had high praise for the honoree, with the latter calling Dr. Mashburn, “the kindest man I have ever known.”
In his remarks, Dr. Mashburn praised his friends at UCA who work with the Institute as well as the participants for this year’s event.
-Tommy Jackson
