Education Commons^™

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 …

Advancing A Transactional Ecology Model Of School-Based Positive Youth Development Programs For Children, Cheryl Bowen (Mcelvain)

Teacher Education

Knowing that children thrive in a multi-systems approach to mental health development, a growing number of schools often promote their vision through mission statements that include school-based youth development programs claiming to improve social and academic outcomes for all students (Greenberg et al., 2003). However, there is scant empirical evidence investigating effective school-based “wraparound” mental health services for low income, Latino children and their families (Cabrera, 2013; Gándara, 2017). This quasi-experimental, mixed methods case study utilizes a sample of 415 low-income children and their parents living in northern California to test the hypothesis that school-based youth development programs can potentially …

Assessment In Early Childhood Intervention: The Importance Of Training, Carrie C. Burks

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

Information collected from multiple domain child developmental assessments, known as five area assessments, are being used in early intervention for high stakes purposes such as program monitoring. As a result, it is important to examine variables that may affect test administration fidelity and its impact on obtaining valid data. The purpose of this study was to survey early intervention service providers in the state of Kentucky to determine possible independent variables that may affect their comfort level in administering five-domain tests. Surveys were made available to all early intervention service providers within the Kentucky First Steps early intervention program. Data …