Education Commons^™

Effects Of Environment On Depressive Symptoms On Chinese Left-Behind Children, Lanyan Ding, Eric S. Buhs

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Estimates indicate that about 70 million children in China have been left behind in their hometowns by one or both parents as their parents migrate to other places for work opportunities. However, the potential impact of parental migration on the emotional well-being of left-behind children is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine depression levels in Chinese left-behind children and to identify potential risk factors contributing to depressive symptoms in this population. Using a nationally-representative, stratified sample from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) database (3019 children, ages 10-15), an HLM model was applied at 1) the …

Anti-Japanese Sentiment Among Graduates Of South Korean Public Schools, Jamal Barbari

Capstone Collection

This capstone paper aims to explore how South Koreans, who have graduated public high school within the past seven years (from 2010 to 2017) view Japan and Japanese people, and what (if at all) information concerning Japan and Japanese people was established and received during their presence in the public school system. Through a brief analysis into the history and intricate relationship between Korea and Japan, introduction into hidden curriculum and its significance in this context, as well as ten personal interviews with South Korean graduates who fit the criteria for this research, this capstone paper offers a distinctive insight …

All Hands In Interactive Resource Guide, Veronica Benavides

All Faculty and Staff Papers and Presentations

This guide is a culmination of a year long All Hands In community-based project where the working team of staff from Bronxworks, Highbridge Advisory Council, and Bank Street College of Education co-identified, co-developed, and co-designed the project and content around family engagement practices and community strengths and needs.

Acquisition Of Aquatic Motor Skills Through Children’S Motor Stories, Juan Antonio Moreno Murcia, Elisa Huescar Hernandez, Jose Antonio Richart Parra

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

An increasing interest in the renewal of traditional recreational content and the use of the aquatic environments as educational resources is supported by very few empirical, evidence-based studies that link the two. This quasi-experimental study analyzed the role of stories in influencing perceived motor competence and real motor skills in seventy-eight children ages between 4 and 5 years through the administration of two questionnaires on aquatic motor ability and aquatic motor competence. Differences were found in aquatic motor competence (p < .01) and aquatic motor ability (p < .05) for the experimental group, where higher means values were obtained after the intervention. We present this methodological proposal as a useful educational tool for early childhood stimulation with achievements that go beyond motor progress itself.

The Impact Of Song And Movement On Kindergarten Sight Word Acquisition, Katy Martin

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this naturalistic, qualitative study was to document the impact that song and movement had on kindergarten sight word acquisition. To investigate this, 18 kindergarten students were taught 20 new sight words using songs and movement over the course of four weeks. Data was systematically collected and analyzed to determine the specific benefits that song and movement had on kindergartner's sight word learning in regard to automaticity, motivation, and engagement. The kindergarten students were administered a pre-and post-sight word assessment along with a pre-and post-song and movement motivation and engagement student survey. Throughout the study, a qualitative journal …

The Impact Of Parental Involvement On Student Success: School And Family Partnership From The Perspective Of Students, Tyler Bailey

Doctor of Education in Teacher Leadership Dissertations

THE IMPACT OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT ON STUDENT SUCCESS: SCHOOL AND FAMILY PARTNERSHIP FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF STUDENTS

by

Tyler M. Bailey Kennesaw State University, 2017

In this study, the impact of school-family relationships on student success were examined through the narratives of three fifth-grade students, their teachers, and the school’s curriculum coach. The study used these stories to understand better how student success was altered by parental involvement in the students’ academic, social, and emotional life.

The participants were selected from the same school located in a major southeastern city. The students and teachers were in the same class (within …

Benefits Of One-On-One Prescriptive Reading Tutoring To An Elementary Student, Jewel Mahoe

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

Many struggling readers at the elementary level benefit from additional tutoring to meet grade level standards. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of a one-on-one, prescriptive tutoring program designed to increase the reading abilities of an elementary student. This study seeks to identify the benefits of individualized tutoring to an elementary student identified as in need of additional support in reading. This study presents data regarding the tutoring of a female participant in the fourth grade, over ten, hour-long sessions from October to December of 2016. The prescriptive tutoring sessions were designed using results from a …

Kids Make Sense... And They Vote: The Importance Of Child Study In Learning To Teach Responsively, Frederick Erickson

Occasional Paper Series

A lecture that discusses the "developmental-interaction" perspective and practice that has become the hallmark of Bank Street. Erickson builds upon the relations of mutual influence among students, teachers, and learning environments, and taking account of the relations between local practice within the small-scale "here and now" interactional ecosystems of immediate learning environments and the workings of culture, language, and society across more distal connections in social space and time.

The Developmental-Interaction Approach To Education: Retrospect And Prospect, Nancy Nager, Edna K. Shapiro

Occasional Paper Series

This paper analyzes the past, present, and future of the developmental-interaction approach to education: human development and the interaction between thought and emotion as well as the interaction between learners and their environment. Shapiro and Nager review the history of the developmental-interaction approach, outlining its essential features and tracing Bank Street College's distinctive role in its evolution. They then reassess key assumptions, address criticisms of developmental theory and its place in education, and suggest possible new directions.

Promoting Student Success: Bilingual Education Best Practices And Research Flaws, Lillian Fassero

Senior Honors Theses

This paper first determines the benefits which bilingual education offers and then compares transitional, dual-language, and heritage language maintenance programs. After exploring the outcomes, contexts, and practical implications of the various bilingual programs, this paper explores the oversight in most bilingual studies, which assess students’ syntax and semantics while neglecting their understanding of pragmatics and discourse structures (Maxwell-Reid, 2011). Incorporating information from recent studies which question traditional understandings of bilingualism and argue that biliteracy requires more than grammatical and vocabulary instruction, this paper proposes modifications in current research strategies and suggests best practices for transitional, dual-language, and heritage maintenance programs.

Picturebooks And Gender : Making Informed Choices For Equitable Early Childhood Classrooms., Kathryn F. Whitmore, Christie Angleton, Emily L. Zuccaro

Kathryn Whitmore

We examine picturebooks through a feminist lens, understanding that children’s literature and media can limit and expand how young children access gender representations. We describe four categories that increase teacher knowledge to select books with multiple and varied gender representations for children in their classrooms. These four categories are gender binaries, discourses of childhood innocence, intersectionality, and heteronormativity. We illustrate each category with two quality books that maintain and disrupt each theme. We hope teachers will find the categories useful for thoughtfully selecting books for classroom libraries, read aloud, and discussion.

Listening To Children In Dialogue. A Response To “‘State Your Defense!’ Children Negotiate Analytic Frames In The Context Of Deliberative Dialogue”, Kathy Bickmore

Democracy and Education

In this appreciative response to Jennifer Hauver’s article about elementary children’s negotiation of analytic frames in deliberative dialogue during input into a school governance decision, Bickmore argues for the value of such agentic, citizenship-relevant learning opportunities in public schools. She points to their unfortunate infrequency (to the detriment of socially just democracy) in economically and racially marginalized communities. The concept of analytic frames is compared with the notion of interests—desires, needs, concerns, and ethical principles—underlying each party’s proposals in integrative negotiated conflict resolution theory. Questions are raised about the roles played by cultural context and status inequalities within dialogue groups. …

Preschool Enrollment And Elementary School Achievement In An East Tennessee School District, Derek Voiles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if a significant difference in achievement scores exists among students based on whether or not they attended preschool as measured by standardized achievement reading-language arts and math scores on the Tennessee Comprehensive Achievement Program assessment for fourth grade students in a single East Tennessee school district. The variables of grade level and preschool attendance were considered. The population consisted of fourth grade students during the 2014-2015 school year. Data were gathered from the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program achievement test scores obtained from the 2014-2015 school year and from the school district’s preschool …

Head Start Teacher Professional Development On Language Modeling And Children's Language Development: A Sequential Mixed Methods Design, Latrenda Terrell

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Poverty is known to affect many areas of life for poor children, particularly young children’s language development. To address language development issues as well as other educational needs, the Head Start Program was created. The purpose of this sequential mixed-methods study was to describe the professional development experiences of Head Start teachers on language modeling. In addition, this study sought to explore teachers’ views on language modeling and the activities they find most effective to support student learning.

Analysis of the data revealed that teachers wanted more training and workshops, to be paired with a mentor/coach, pay raises for achieving …

Murphy's "Lisa Murphy On Play: The Foundation Of Children's Learning" (Book Review), Rebekah Phillips

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Daly And Beloglovskys' "Loose Parts 2: Inspiring Play With Infants And Toddlers" (Book Review), Kristin Vargas

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Dialogic Reading In A Special Day Class, Donna Senn

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Early Childhood Special Education provides services to children aged three to five years. A predominant identifier is very low communication skills (Shevell, et al, 2003; Kaiser & Roberts, 2011; Robertson & Ohi, 2016). Dialogic Reading techniques have demonstrated successes in various settings (Hargrave & Senechal, 2000; Whitehurst et al., 1988; Trivette & Dunst, 2009). The rationale for this study was grounded in Rogoff’s, “apprenticeship in thinking” (1990, p. 7) theory. The research literature reviewed centered on three primary lines of inquiry namely, 1) The social aspect of language learning; 2) Speech and language interventions; and 3) Dialogic reading strategies. This …

Improving Reading Through Fine Motor Skill Development In First Grade, Tyler West-Higgins

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Children who struggle with learning to read in first grade, fall behind, and have difficulty catching up with their peers. Research has shown students who struggle to read in first grade, also struggle to read in later years. The purpose of this study was to determine if an intervention to enhance fine motor skills to a select group of students in one class room increased their reading abilities. This was a mixed methods research study which assessed the quantitative data from the running record assessments, and the qualitative data taken by teacher-aide during assessment process post fine motor intervention. This …

The Effects Of Collaboration On Teacher Empowerment, Brittany Kay Feinauer

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The purpose of this action research project was to measure the effects that collaborative curriculum planning had on three early childhood classrooms in a private Montessori school. The study population included six early childhood teachers who collectively designed a curriculum and helped collect data for the first seven weeks of the intervention. Each participant filled out a teacher feedback form which was based on Spreitzer’s (1995) psychological empowerment scale to measure changes in perceptions of four different aspects of empowerment: meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact. The primary researcher also analyzed data from individual teacher journals, notes from weekly discussions, and …

Practicing Freedom: Effects Of Personal Anti-Racist Engagement On A Montessori Educator's Experience, Maggie Mccaffrey

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

This self-study was designed to assess the effects of engagement with antiracist media on the work of a Montessori educator in the classroom. Conducted over eight weeks, the study used nightly readings, daily reflections, a tally of daily antiracist thoughts, and a scale of one through five measuring the participant’s optimism regarding the integration of antiracist pedagogy with Montessori philosophy and practice. The study was performed at a racially and economically diverse private Montessori school in a Midwestern metropolitan area in a class of twenty children ranging from 2.7 to 5 years old. The results indicated that, although the intervention …

The Effect Of Handwriting Without Tears On Montessori Four-Year-Olds' Handwriting Ability, Shelley B. Valdez

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The action research question for this study was, “What effect would the addition of a program by Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) called, Transition to Kindergarten, in a block everyday have on the development of handwriting skills of my four-year-old students?” Beyond utilizing the HWT program, the reviewed literature on handwriting instruction expounded on six major themes: brain benefits of handwriting, blocks of handwriting instruction (speed and legibility), name writing (gross & fine motor skills), the connection between writing and reading, and phonological awareness. This project was conducted in a private Montessori school in South Florida, where six preschool participants (age …

An Evaluation Of Full-Day Kindergarten Programming, Amy Houlihan

Dissertations

The purpose of this program evaluation document is to provide a rationale and structure for implementing full-day kindergarten. The persistence of the achievement gap in the United States requires considerable and deliberate action to narrow and eliminate the gap over time. With the evolving educational landscape and the adoption of the Common Core State Standards, early education, including systematically designed and implemented full-day kindergarten are one way to afford children the opportunity to begin their education on pace to succeed. This program evaluation examines the differences between half-day kindergarten and full-day kindergarten programs including data analysis from the first year …

Levels Of Feedback Observed In Kindergarten Classrooms: Perceptions And Reality, Jacqueline Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The most powerful influence on student achievement is the classroom teacher and the most effective instructional strategy teachers can use to increase student learning and achievement is effective feedback (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). The research on teacher feedback in kindergarten classrooms is scarce therefore this study helps reduce the void in the literature on the importance of teacher feedback in kindergarten classrooms.

The purpose of this study was to examine effective teachers’ perceptions of the amount and kind of feedback they provide to their students and to determine if their perceptions match the feedback they actually provide. The participants in …

Parental Perceptions Of Preschool-Age Children’S Literacy Development In A Rural Appalachian Community, Kimberly Austin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Early Childhood educators agree on the significant influence of a parent on a child’s literacy development. The environment a parent provides, in addition to the opportunities a child has in the early years, have a major influence on a child’s literacy development. This study sought to determine how parents in a low-income socioeconomic group perceived literacy development and how their preschool-age children performed on an emergent literacy assessment. The 64 study participants were recruited from a Head Start program in the central Appalachian Mountains. An overwhelming majority of participants were mother/child dyads, every participant spoke English as a primary language, …

Kindergarten For Equity: A Policy Advocacy Statement, Amy Houlihan

Dissertations

The urgency to close the achievement gap means it is our moral imperative to provide all children with the opportunities necessary to succeed as early as possible. Knowing the critical timing of a child’s brain development from birth to age five, we cannot afford to wait until a child is six or seven years old to begin developing their academic and social emotional capacity. This policy advocacy document supports a statewide mandate for children to attend kindergarten at age five throughout the state of Illinois. With little need for increased resources to accommodate the mandate, the social, moral and ethical …

Design And Validation Of A Scale For Preschoolers: Measuring Nutrition Knowledge, Beliefs, And Behaviors, Michelle E. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The literature indicates a lack of validated scales to measure nutrition knowledge, attitudes and behaviors in preschool-aged children. Reliable and valid assessment tools are critical in the development of nutritional interventions for young children; careful design, including psychometric evaluation of reliability and validity, is the best approach to scale development. Best practice points to an efficient, yet comprehensive look at the constructs of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. This multi-phase study included 298 preschool children ages 2-6 years (151 girls, 147 boys; mean age 3.936). A 45-item scale was created, with 4 subscales to measure the nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors …

Hansel's "Creative Block Play: A Comprehensive Guide To Learning Through Building" (Book Review), Kristin Vargas

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Pelo's "The Language Of Art: Inquiry-Based Studio Practices In Early Childhood Settings" (Book Review), Grace Andrews

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Adolescent Reading Improvement: A Phenomenology Of High School Students’ Perspectives, Anne Poplin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experience of improvement in reading comprehension of adolescent readers who have made gains greater than what might be predicted based on previous growth in reading comprehension measures. These research questions guided this study: What influences have impacted the lived experiences of these improving readers? What barriers to reading improvement existed for these students? In addition, what school-related reading experiences, if any, hold meaning for these readers? What characteristics are shared among adolescent readers who have experienced better-than-expected growth? Interviews, story chart artifacts created by participants, and observations of students’ process …

Effects Of Social-Emotional Education On Pre-Kindergarten Student Academic Achievement, Lauren Pierce Starnes

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Social-emotional education is an ongoing area of interest to optimize student achievement and ameliorate problem behaviors. This study examines the systematic effects of social-emotional education on preschool students’ academic achievement testing. A sample of Pre-Kindergarten students from private, suburban preschools was examined for this study. The results of this study yielded strong positive academic achievement scores in the domains of Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Early Math for students exposed to a social-emotional education program compared to a matched sample not exposed to social-emotional education. The results add to the research on social-emotional education by studying a lesser-studied population of …