Education Commons^™

Early Childhood Leadership: A Photovoice Exploration, Kristi Cheyney-Collante, Melissa Cheyney

The Qualitative Report

The first five years of a child’s life represent critical windows in physiological, social-emotional, and cognitive development. Administrators of early childhood (EC) programs play a pivotal role in determining the quality of experiences that unfold for young children in center-based care. Using photovoice, semi-structured administrator interviews, and participant-observation, we aimed to identify the factors contributing to one center’s atypically excellent outcomes with diverse children and families. Our textual and photographic analyses revealed three findings. First, administrators saw themselves as embedded within a larger system of barriers characterized by low positionality within an educational caste system that is marked by pervasive …

Discourses Of Creativity In Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum, Beatrix Bocazar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The concept of creativity is ubiquitous in educational reports, policies, and curricula in the minority world. Many of these texts consider creativity an economic imperative and a key element of change for every knowledge domain of the 21^st century. This study is anchored in a Critical Discourse Analysis theoretical framework and represents an inquiry of creativity in kindergarten curricula. The aims of this inquiry were to identify creativity common sense beliefs and theories and to examine which ones have been employed in which curricula, and with what implications for children, teachers, educators, and society. I designed a qualitative case …

Teaching Academic Concepts In A Play-Based Preschool Environment: A Case Study Of Guided Play Across Three Classrooms, Lisa M. Hansen

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study examined interactions between preschool children and teachers during guided-play activities. These interactions were studied through observations and interviews in a case-study format. Classrooms were observed for 1 hour per week over the course of 4 weeks. Teachers were interviewed following each observation. All three preschool classrooms were located in northern California and belonged to the same chain of schools. A total of six teachers and 75 students participated in the study.

Three main research questions drove the course of the study. The first research question examined the types of interactions between experienced preschool teachers and students during …

Perspectives Of Rural Nebraska Community Leaders On Pre-Kindergarten In Public Schools, Bradley G. Stauffer

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The investigator in this study explored perspectives of rural Nebraska community leaders on pre-kindergarten in public schools. Thirty rural Nebraska community leaders were interviewed, 10 from each of three different communities ranging in population from around 1,000 to 2,500. For this qualitative study, the investigator asked two primary research questions related to the impact of pre-kindergarten on:

1. Child development
2. Community development

Six main themes were derived from the interviews:

1. Child Development
2. Community Development
3. Changes in the Family and Society
4. Funding
5. Equity
6. Educating the Community

The literature review focused on the efficacy of pre-kindergarten and early childhood education. Three seminal research …

An Examination Of California Home-Based Early Childhood Educators’ Self-Determination To Attain A Higher Education Degree, Shirley Collins

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine, identify, and describe the perceived impact of the self-determination attributes of autonomy, competence, and relatedness on the persistence and retention of California licensed home-based early childhood educators who attended higher education degree programs.

Methodology: This study utilized a concurrent triangulation mixed-methods approach to gain an understanding of the impact of self-determination on California licensed home-based early childhood educators’ persistence and retention in college. Three hundred members of the San Diego County Family Child Care Association and/or the California Family Child Care Network were invited to participate in this …

Parental Influences, Environment, And Self-Concept As Key Factors In Child Vocational Development, Kristi H. Simone

Major Papers

Early childhood vocational research has been limited within the field of Education. Other forms of vocational research focuses on mature teens and young adults. This Major Research Paper focuses on the seminal literature of children to the age of twelve. Two participants from a University in Ontario were qualitatively interviewed. Both participants were females, from upper-class homes and European descent.

Exploring The Value Of The Bachelor's Degree For Teachers In The Early Childhood Education Field: A Research Synthesis, Melissa A. Hogan

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The implementation of standardized testing has changed education in the United States resulting in a content ripple effect from the higher grades down to preschool-aged children. To match that ripple effect early childhood education can be evaluated and reformed accordingly by exploring many factors that make up the early childhood education system. This manuscript addressed one factor, early childhood teacher preparation, through a synthesis of literature related to the potential benefits of earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Development and Education, or a BS. The theories of early brain development were explored first and then …

Exploring Kindergartners' Understandings Of Gender : Responding To Picture Book Read Alouds With A Focus On Fairy Tales, Karen Marie Maher

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation explores four of my kindergartners’ understandings of gender across one academic year with an in-depth study of responses to a series of picture book read alouds including Cinderella variants. Critical literacy offered opportunities for these young students to critique inequities within social practices (Au & Raphael, 2000; Vasquez, 2014, 2017); whereas, poststructuralist feminism framed the inquiries into the locations of deeply ingrained gender identities (Blackburn, 2005, 2006; Blaise, 2005a, 2005b, 2014; Villaverde, 2008). This critical analysis of literature provided a means for the kindergartners to uncover underlying messages of power and inequity by interrogating whose voices were heard …