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Behavioral and Social Learning Theories

Behaviorists believe we should examine only what can be directly observed and measured. At approximately the same time as Freud was interpreting his patient’s unconscious minds through early childhood experiences, behaviorists such as Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson were conducting detailed observations of behavior in controlled laboratory circumstances. Out of the behavioral tradition grew the belief that development is observable behavior, learned through experience with the environment. The two versions of the behavioral approach that are prominent today are the view of B.F. Skinner and social learning theory.

Skinners Behaviorism

Behaviorismemphasizes the scientific study of observable behav­ioral responses and their environmental determinants. In Skinner's behaviorism, the mind, conscious or unconscious, is not needed to explain behavior and development. For Skinner, develop­ment is behavior. For example, observations of Sam reveal that his behavior is shy, achievement-oriented, and caring. Why is Sam's behavior this way? For Skinner, rewards and punish­ments in Sam's environment have shaped him into a shy, achievement-oriented, and caring person. Because of interac­tions with family members, friends, teachers, and others, Sam has learned to behave in this fashion.

Since behaviorists believe that development is learned and often changes according to environmental experiences, it fol­lows that rearranging experiences can change development. For behaviorists, shy behavior can be transformed into outgoing behavior; aggressive behavior can be shaped into docile behav­ior; lethargic, boring behavior can be turned into enthusiastic, interesting behavior.

Social Learning Theory

Some psychologists believe that the behaviorists basically are right when they say development is learned and is influenced strongly by environmental experiences. However, they believe that Skinner went too far in declaring that cognition is unim­portant in understanding development. Social learning theory is the view of psychologists who emphasize behavior, environment, and cognition as the key factors in development.

The social learning theorists say we are not like mindless robots, responding mechanically to others in our environment. Neither are we like weathervanes, behaving like a communist in the presence of a communist or like a John Bircher in the presence of a John Bircher. Rather, we think, reason, imagine, plan, expect, interpret, believe, value, and compare. When oth­ers try to control us, our values and beliefs allow us to resist their control.

American psychologists Albert Bandura and Walter Mischel are the main architects of the contemporary version of social learning theory, which was labeled cognitive social learning theory by Mischel. Bandura believes we learn by observing what others do. Through observational learning (also called "mod­eling" or "imitation"), we cognitively represent the behavior of others and then possibly adopt this behavior ourselves. For example, a young boy may observe his father's aggressive outbursts and hostile interchanges with people; when observed with his peers, the young boy's style of interaction is highly aggressive, showing the same characteristics as his father's behavior. Or a young female executive adopts the dominant and sarcastic style of her boss. When observed interacting with one of her subordinates, the young woman says, "I need this work immediately if not sooner; you are so far behind you think you are ahead!" Social learning theorists believe we acquire a wide range of such behaviors, thoughts, and feelings through observing others' behavior; these obser­vations form an important part of our development.

Social learning theorists also differ from Skinner's behav­ioral view by emphasizing that we can regulate and control our own behavior. For example, another young female executive who observed her boss behave in a dominant and sarcastic man­ner toward employees found the behavior distasteful and went out of her way to encourage and support her subordinates. Imagine that someone tries to persuade you to join a particu­lar social club on campus and makes you an enticing offer. You reflect about the offer, consider your interests and beliefs, and make the decision not to join. Your cognition(your thoughts) leads you to control your behavior and resist envi­ronmental influence in this instance.

WHAT INFORMATION MUST TEACHERS DISCLOSE?

Teachers are required to report known and suspected incidents of child abuse and neglect. Federal assistance for child abuse programs requires that each state enact a child abuse and reporting statute. Educators in all 50 states and the District of Columbia are now required to report child abuse, and 45 states impose criminal penal­ties for failure to report abuse and neglect. The principal of a Minnesota ele­mentary school was charged with two counts of failing to report suspected child abuse following two alleged inci­dents of sexual misconduct by a teacher. The mothers of two boys informed the principal that a teacher had made sex­ual advances toward their sons, but the principal failed to notify police. During the investigation police discov­ered that the principal had also failed to report two other incidents of alleged child abuse involving the same teacher. During the trial, the principal argued that the statute requiring edu­cators to report known and suspected instances of child abuse was uncon­stitutionally vague and overbroad. The Minnesota Supreme Court found oth­erwise. The Court held that the statute does not require the espousal of an ideological point of view, but only mandates the reporting of informa­tion. An individual making such a re­port would be free to indicate that while there is reason to suspect abuse, he or she does not hold a personal belief to that effect. Thus whether the principal believed them to be true or not, he was required to report the incidents.

Teachers in most states are also re­quired to report to law enforcement officials any information communi­cated to them by a student that may bear on the commission of a felony. For example, if a student confides to a teacher information about violations of drug laws, that information must be reported.

What information must be safeguarded?

Teachers must safeguard educational records. An educational record is any form of information directly related to a child that is collected, maintained, or used by the school. An educational record may include the results of a child's psycho­logical evaluation or the IEP It may also include a videotape of the class taken by the teacher or an audiotape made by the teacher of a child's oral reading perfor­mance. For students under the age of 18, psychiatric hospital treatment plans may be considered educational records

Bellamy to Woodson, 1989). Any form of information collected, maintained, or used by the school that relates to a child be considered an educational record and must be safeguarded.

Records that a school district collects or uses but does not originate must also be considered an educational record under FERPA and EHA. For example, if a school were to receive a medical eval­uation regarding a child and that report were placed in the child's file, the medical report would be considered an educational record. Reports from juvenile court or social service agencies that the school maintains in its files are also considered educational records. Use, not origination, defines an educational record under FERPA and EHA.

Who has access to confidential information?

Parents must be permitted to inspect any and all confidential information related to their child. Such inspection must be afforded with­out unnecessary delay and before any meeting regarding an IEP or hearing relating to the identification, evaluation, or placement of the child. In no case may access be delayed more than 45 days.

The parents may also request expla­nations and interpretations of their child's records from school officials. Fur­thermore, parents may have a represen­tative such as an attorney inspect the records.

The school district is required to pro­vide the parents with access to, but not necessarily copies o/ their child's educa­tional records. If, however, a parent were unable to go to the school to inspect the records because of illness or injury, school officials would be required to provide copies of the records. A fee may be charged for copies unless it would effectively prevent par­ents from exercising their right to inspect the records. However, the school district may not charge an administra­tive fee for searching for and retrieving educational records.

Access to educational records must be afforded to custodial and noncusto­dial parents alike. When Robert Fay, a noncustodial parent, tried to obtain information regarding his children's school activities and educational progress, the superintendent wrote that the school system would "provide infor­mation to any person or organization whom the courts decide have a legal right to it". Fay then sued the school district in federal court, alleging that he had been denied access to his children's educational records. The court found the school district liable under the Civil Rights Act of 1871 for denying Fay his statutory right under FERPA to inspect school records. The judgment, along with compensatory damages, was upheld by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Students who are 18 years old or older or who are enrolled in a postsec-ondary educational institution, exclu­sive of their parents, have the right to inspect their own educational records. Parents, however, retain the right to inspect records if the student is claimed as a dependent for income tax purposes.

School officials, including teachers and administrators who have a legiti­mate educational interest, may access educational records. The names of children with disabilities may also be disclosed to school board members if the district's policies define the board members as school officials with a legitimate educa­tional interest.

Records may also be disclosed to offi­cials of another school system or agency in which the child intends to enroll. If the parent has notified the school district that the child will be transferring to another school, the child's educational records may be sent to the new school. Upon request, written notice and copies of the records must also be sent to the parent.

Federal or state program auditors, representatives of accrediting organi­zations, and organizations conducting studies may access personally identi­fiable information in order to carry out their responsibilities.

Finally, information from educa­tional records may be disclosed in order to comply with a judicial order or sub­poena or to protect the health and safety of the child.

With written consent of the parent, personally identifiable information may be disclosed to a third party. For example, with written consent of the parent, copies of a child's educational records may be sent to a physician. Likewise, personal information concerning a child may be discussed with a private psychologist provided that the school district has obtained prior written consent from the parent. Teachers and administrators with access to educational records may disclose information to third parties only after written consent of the parent has been obtained.

What record of access must re maintained?

EHA and FERPA both require that the school district maintain a record of each disclosure of personally identifiable information or request for disclosure. The record of access must include the name of the person seeking informa­tion, the date access was given, and the purpose for which access was given. The record of access requirement does not apply to school officials, parents, students over the age of 18 or enrolled in postsecondary educational institu­tions, or individuals with written con­sent from the parent. Requests for "directory information"—information that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if dis­closed to the public—need not be recorded.

What information may teachers disclose?

Teachers may disclose directory infor­mation. For example, disclosure of a child's name, address, telephone number, or date and place of birth is usually considered harmless. However, disclosure of other information that would ordinarily be considered harmless may be harmful to a child with disabilities. Disclosure of the name of the child's previous school, for example, may be considered harm­less enough, but disclosure that the child had previously attended a special school for children with severe emo­tional disturbances is an invasion of pri­vacy of a greater magnitude.

The school district must notify par­ents of the information that has been designated directory information and thus subject to public disclosure. Parents may, in turn, notify the school of any or all information that should not be released without their consent. Thus, prior to dis­closing even directory information, the teacher should check to verify that a child's parent has not requested that it be withheld.

What information is not subject to disclosure?

Not subject to disclosure are personal notes made by a teacher, kept in his or her sole possession, and revealed to no one except a temporary substitute teacher. For example, if a teacher kept a written record in a notebook of a child's behav­ioral outbursts and showed it to no one, the notebook would not be subject to disclosure. However, if the teacher shared the notebook with anyone other than a substitute teacher, the notebook would be considered an educational record.

A 4th-grade teacher in Massachu­setts wrote a college term paper describing a child with disabilities in her classroom. The paper referred to the child by his first name only and identified no other person or place. Before the start of a reevaluation con­ference for the child, the teacher gave the term paper to the school district special education supervisor and told him that it might provide additional understanding of the child's special needs. The supervisor placed the paper in his briefcase but did not read it, and returned the paper to the teacher after the meeting. When the building princi­pal asked to see the term paper, the teacher refused, claiming that the paper was private. The U.S. Court of Appeals held, however, that by taking the term paper to the reevaluation conference, the teacher had forfeited her expecta­tion of privacy.

Private notes are just that: notes. Once they become the basis for a special education decision or intervention, they may no longer be considered private notes. Mary K. has a doctorate in counseling psychology and is qualified to adminis­ter and interpret the Rorschach Inkblot Test. When her daughter was adminis­tered the Rorschach along with other instruments by a school psychologist, Mary and her husband, John K., requested access to the verbatim Rorschach responses in order to better evaluate the school psychologist's rec­ommendations and to possibly obtain a second opinion. The Circuit Court's rul­ing against the parents was overturned by the Illinois Court of Appeals. The Court ruled that raw psychological test data are a part of a student's record and are subject to dis­closure under Illinois law. The judge stated, "We cannot consider the verba­tim transcript of [the child's] responses as [the psychologist's] "speculations, reminders, hunches, or impressions.

INVASION OF PRIVACY

Justice Brandeis wrote, "The makers of our constitution...conferred, as against the Government, the right to be let alone—the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civ­ilized men". In the creation of voluminous edu­cational records for children placed in special education, school personnel observe the children, interview them, test them, and intervene with them; they are hardly "let alone." While the rights of minors are protected by the Constitution, states still retain the power to restrict the rights of children. The rights of children must be balanced against spe­cific governmental interests in the edu­cational setting that may not be present in society at large (Stevens, 1980). Stu­dents' rights to privacy may need to be violated in the form of search and seizure when there is a reasonable sus­picion of illegal behavior; disclosure in order to provide appropriate supervision to pro­tect other pupils from aggressive or vio­lent behavior; reporting suspected child abuse; and creating, maintaining, and releasing educational records. However? to avoid infringing on the privacy rights of students, teachers should take the advice of Eades (1986) and make certain that the reports they write, the statements they make, and the records they create are only as required and permitted by their employment in the school.