Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Metacognitive Reading Strategy And Emerging Reading Comprehension In Students With Intellectual Disabilities, Natasha Cox-Magno, Peter Ross, Kathleen Dimino, Andrea Wilson

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

This article ventures to address the gap in special education practices by providing a metacognitive reading strategy to support the emerging reading comprehension skills of kindergarten students with intellectual disabilities. Historically, students with intellectual disabilities have low reading comprehension skills that can impede their overall academic success. There is a gap in practice regarding the identification and effective use of evidence-based reading comprehension instructional strategies for students with intellectual disabilities. Guided by Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s constructivist theories, the purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a metacognitive reading strategy on the emerging reading comprehension (ERC) skills of …

Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports In Transitional Kindergarten Through Second Grade Classrooms: Year Three And Beyond, Anne Driscoll-Mink

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the effects of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) on students in transitional kindergarten (TK) through second grade before implementation and after implementation of PBIS at platinum level elementary schools.

Methodology: A mixed-methods study will be used to examine the effects of PBIS on students in TK through second grade before implementation and after implementation of PBIS at platinum level elementary schools in southern California. The quantitative method was used to gather archival data on pre PBIS implementation and post PBIS implementation to determine if there was a difference in …

Implementing Nh Child: A Comprehensive Approach To Professional Learning To Reach All New Haven Early Childhood Educators, Emily Sharrock, Courtney Parkerson

All Faculty and Staff Papers and Presentations

New Haven Children’s Learning District (NH ChILD) envisions a city where all children have access to high quality early learning experiences. In order to turn this vision into reality for the 14,800 children ages 0-8 living in New Haven, NH ChILD is working to increase the number of spaces in high quality programs while simultaneously improving the quality of early learning experiences in existing programs. The following paper outlines NH ChILD’s beliefs, commitments, and plan for action with respect to NH ChILD’s citywide efforts for in-service professional learning.

Easy As Abc?, Allison Bickerstaff

Quest

Professor Introduction: The Profile Essay

Research in progress for English 1301: Composition 1

Faculty Mentor: Lisa Roy-Davis, Ph.D.

The following paper represents research work begun by students in English 1301, the first course in the two-semester composition sequence at Collin College. Students in English 1301 are introduced to the concept of academic research by learning to ask research-focused questions and then use the library resources to find sources that provide answers.

In the following profile essay, Allison Bickerstaff merges her research-based understanding of the elementary education field with her subject’s experiences of teaching at a local elementary school. By focusing …

The Critical Need For Mental Health Education To Be Mandated In New Mexico's Public Schools, Bonnie L. Murphy

Shared Knowledge Conference

Based on a review of research and best practices in mental health awareness and skills, this inquiry project argues for state legislative policies that would require mental health awareness and skills in the K-12 curriculum. Mental health affects individual accomplishments in every stage of people’s lives beginning in early childhood and throughout the life cycle. Prevention and treatment of mental illness plays a key role in the ability of an individual to cope with loss and develop resiliency and perseverance in challenging times and to make better decisions that improve the individual’s life and the lives of those around them. …

Leadership Effectiveness In Curriculum Adoption For A Kindergarten, Bo Peng

All Theses And Dissertations

This study of leadership effectiveness focused on adoption, implementation, and evaluation of kindergarten curriculum. The researcher evaluated leadership effectiveness through the processes and outcomes of the team’s decision-making. Research questions were: How does the kindergarten leadership team make decisions about adoption of kindergarten curriculum? How does the kindergarten leadership team evaluate the quality of kindergarten curriculum? How does the kindergarten leadership team evaluate student learning in the three curriculum areas of Chinese language, English language and science? How does the curriculum they have adopted align with the CKEG national standards for kindergarten curriculum in China? The program evaluation, guided by …

Infographic: High Frequency Words Used By Young Students In Australia, Dominique Russell

Teacher infographics

New research explores the words most frequently written by students in Australia in their first three years of schooling. Today’s infographic looks at the words that were written at a high frequency, unique to each year level.

Reading Comprehension Instruction For Young Students With High Functioning Autism: Forming Contextual Connections, Karen S. Engel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Central coherence is the ability to perceive and connect salient information in a context such as a narrative text. Weak central coherence theory describes a detail-focused cognitive style of processing information that overlooks connections. This style of processing is a shortcoming of individuals with autism compared to typically developing individuals (Frith, 2003). A six-session instructional intervention to foster coherence processing and reinforce thinking strategies was administered to first and second graders while a control group received an irrelevant treatment. There were 10 students with high functioning autism in each condition, mean age 7.06 years, 18 males and 2 females. It …

Using Measures Of Quality To Improve The Learning Outcomes Of All Children, Dan Cloney

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

There is compelling evidence that high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs can act to narrow achievement gaps attributed to social inequality. This evidence is typically observed in model programs, designed by experts and offered to vulnerable families outside the market. In everyday settings, where market forces may price families out of certain programs or poor local availability may preclude attendance, ECEC programs do not appear to deliver these significant gains or close these gaps. There is a need to continually improve quality in all ECEC settings to deliver on the potential of early education. It is unclear, however, …

Using Measures Of Quality To Improve The Learning Outcomes Of All Children, Dan Cloney

Dr Dan Cloney

There is compelling evidence that high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs can act to narrow achievement gaps attributed to social inequality. This evidence is typically observed in model programs, designed by experts and offered to vulnerable families outside the market. In everyday settings, where market forces may price families out of certain programs or poor local availability may preclude attendance, ECEC programs do not appear to deliver these significant gains or close these gaps. There is a need to continually improve quality in all ECEC settings to deliver on the potential of early education. It is unclear, however, …

Building Successful P-3 Initiatives: Foundations And Catalysts For Systems Change, Lindsey Brianna Patterson, Beth L. Green, Callie H. Lambarth, Mackenzie Burton, Diane Reid

Early Childhood

Across the United States, there is a growing recognition that early education and K-12 systems require transformative changes to address racial, ethnic, linguistic and economic disparities in school readiness and success.

Prenatal-through-Grade-3 (P-3) initiatives address these disparities by coordinating, strengthening and aligning fragmented support systems for families and children from birth through third grade.

These increasingly popular initiatives:

• Are based on accumulating evidence that standalone early childhood and school-based programs are not sufficient to sustain long-term success for children facing early childhood inequities
• Take a collective impact approach that brings families, early childhood providers, K-12 staff and other partners together …

Pre-Kindergarten And Kindergarten Teachers' Perceptions Of The Student Growth Portfolio Model In Tennessee, Amanda Pickens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this quantitative study was to discover perceptions of pre-K and kindergarten teachers within public schools in Tennessee regarding the appropriateness of the student growth portfolio model. This study explored teachers’ perceptions of the appropriateness of the math standards, English language arts standards, and the scoring guide included within the SGPM. A quantitative survey was used to understand pre-K and kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of the appropriateness of the 2017-2018 student growth portfolio model. There were 16 pre-K teachers and 51 kindergarten teachers who participated in the survey. Single sample t-tests were used to analyze responses. Research indicated that …

The Relationship Between English Language Proficiency And Academic Achievement For English Language Learners, Laura Grisso

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative correlational research study was to test the threshold hypothesis as it applied to the performance of English language learner students on the Oklahoma Core Curriculum Test (OCCT) in third grade reading and the Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State for English language learners assessment, also known as the ACCESS for ELLs. The OCCT assesses student performance on third grade reading content and the ACCESS for ELLs assesses the English language proficiency levels in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This study specifically proposed to analyze the relationship between the ACCESS for ELLs reading …

The Relationship Between Toddlers' And Their Primary Caregivers' Perspectives On Gender, Marc Strawderman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative case study was to discover the relationship between the views of gender between toddlers and their primary caregivers and between those toddlers and their teachers at an early childhood education center, or daycare center, in south-central Pennsylvania. The Child-Rearing Sex-Role Attitude Scale (CRSRAS) and Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale (SRES) assessed and evaluated how the adults perceive gender. The Sex-Role Learning Index (SERLI) had the toddlers gender-type toys. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the adults’ scores on the CRSRAS and SRES, and explanation building was used after that to link the adults’ perceptions to the toddlers’ …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of A Mindfulness-Based Social Emotional Learning Program On Kindergarteners’ Risk For Social, Academic, And Emotional Problems, Molly Alvin

Doctoral Dissertations

This intervention study explored the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based social emotional learning program, Calmer Choice, on kindergarten students’ risk for social, academic, and emotional problems. The study used a quasi-experimental design with two measures collected as pretests and posttests for students in an intervention group and students in a wait-list control group. Kindergarten teachers completed the Social Academic Emotional Behavior Rating Scale (SAEBRS; Kilgus & von der Embse, 2014) and the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment-mini (DESSA-mini; Naglieri, LeBuffe & Shapiro, 2014) for each student at these two time points. The intervention, Calmer Choice, consisted of 16 lessons taught twice a …

A Correlational Study Of 5th Students' Handwriting Legibility And Scores On Writing Samples In A Northwest Georgia School, Julia Houston

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study explored the relationship between legibility in handwriting scores and compositional scores of students in grade five in one Northwest Georgia school. The ability to recall and write the letters automatically may impact the composing skills of students engaged in the writing process. Handwriting, often considered a motor skill in young children, may have a greater impact on literacy learning than is often considered. The strong connection to literacy learning along with the importance as a skill in communications both contribute to the importance of this study. Data was collected from one elementary school in Northwest Georgia. The school …

Correlation Between Instructional School Culture And Student Achievement In An Urban District, Wayman Graham

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The Teachers Talent Toolbox needed a tool that could compile usable information on any given learning institution through data collection and analysis and provide usable qualitative and quantitative data that could be used to identify the causes of low achievement and provide necessary interventions within the school to improve student outcomes. To answer this need, the Instructional Culture Index/Insight Survey was developed by the New Teacher Project in 2016 and has been widely used and implemented in many schools and districts. This survey instrument was validated and deemed reliable by the RAND Corporation also in 2016. The purpose of this …

Explanatory Case Study: Transitions Of Highly Mobile Students From Military Families To Public Non-Military Elementary Schools, Courtney Williams

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The purpose of this explanatory case study is to review the supports provided by public elementary schools for highly mobile students from military families. When military families are uprooted and move to new locations, the children are forced to form new social ties as well as adapt to a new curriculum and learning objectives. The research questions that were addressed in the research for this study included: (a) How are issues of military mobility addressed at the study school sites so students are academically and socially successful? (b) What problems are noted by school staff when working with highly mobile …

Applying Critical Thinking Skills For Successful Pilot Projects, Shawna Flaherty

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Piloting is an approach that can be used when introducing a desired change. It allows for smaller scale trial and leaves room for modification prior to full implementation. When applicable, this approach can be a proactive way to avoiding any potential issues or conflicts relating to the change. As a graduate student in the Critical and Creative Thinking program at UMass Boston, I have explored the concept of pilot projects for three years, planning and implementing, and revising 3 pilot projects. These pilot projects include: Meeting of the Mind’s, a space in which members of the community are invited to …

La Sección De Preescolar Del Colegio Espíritu Santo En Villavicencio Un Lugar Para Desarrollar La Conciencia Global De Una Manera Divertida., Ximena Gafaro Mrs, Diana Carolina Zapata Miss, Adriana Marcela Pardo Mrs

ICOT 18 - International Conference on Thinking - Cultivating Mindsets for Global Citizens

LA PINEJA Reggiana es la sección de preescolar del Colegio Espíritu Santo; una institución en Villavicencio Meta, Colombia con 38 años de fundada que atiende una población de 800 estudiantes desde preescolar a grado 11. Está ubicada en una granja en un entorno natural exuberante de 72.000 yardas cuadradas, a 15 minutos de la ciudad. Desde 2011, ha desarrollado un proyecto pedagógico inspirado en la Propuesta Pedagógica de Reggio Emilia , utilizando el Pensamiento Visible para promover las habilidades de pensamiento crítico y creativo. Este Jardín Infantil está ofreciendo un entorno natural para la indagación que promueve proyectos que desarrollan …

From Head To Head Or Heads Together? Cultivating Information Literacy In Early Childhood, Marilyn Way, Kerry Boland

ICOT 18 - International Conference on Thinking - Cultivating Mindsets for Global Citizens

From Head to Head or Heads Together? offers an interactive workshop sharing effective evidence-based pedagogical approaches to Information Literacy (IL) in the early years, particularly in redressing disadvantage. IL skills are 21^st Century skills needed by children and families to ensure inequities are challenged. Being able to find, evaluate and apply information for personal benefit is a key attribute in today's knowledge economy. IL goes beyond developing functional skills to creating attributes that enable lifelong learning. However, simply having access to digital technologies and online resources does not always equate to developing these attributes.

The 2015 Australian Early Development …

An Action Research Investigation Into An Early Childhood Digital, Storytelling-Based Solution, Jessica Smith

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The development of literacy skills prior to the classroom has been established as essential for future school and life successes. However, the present achievement gap between lower-socioeconomic neighborhoods and their higher-income counterparts illustrate vast dissimilarities in early childhood provisions for quality reading materials and instructional aides. In an effort to bridge the educational breach, a collaborative, storytelling-based program entitled Kid Forward was introduced to five nationwide families as a means of assistance for early childhood literacy development. Through the use of demographic surveys, interviews completed before and after the program implementation, and exit surveys, the action research study examined early …

What Happens When The Seesaw App Is Used In A Kindergarten Classroom?, Alison Ryan

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

Parent-teacher relationships can make or break a student’s academic career. It is possible that taking advantage of parents’ media-connectedness to form positive relationships may be more effective than more traditional methods like hand-written notes, phone calls, or emails. In this study the researcher sought to understand what happens in a kindergarten classroom when one technology in particular was used facilitate communication: Seesaw (a digital portfolio app used to post pictures and videos of children as well as communicate with parents using its private messaging feature). Data was collected through parent surveys, observations, and interviews of parents, students, and teachers. Analysis …

Children's Mental Health: Reimagining Teacher Preparation, Karolina Camacho

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Current research sheds light on the importance of the mental health of school-age children and researcher’s efforts continuously point out that there is need for more to be done to support children with mental health needs, in the context of the classroom, in the United States. Particularly focusing on children with internalizing behavior under Emotional Disturbance, this paper will provide reasoning as to why these children have a need for prevention and intervention services, the reality of the lack of general knowledge teachers have on children’s mental health, and the need for elementary school teachers to have children’s mental health …

Academic And Social Effects Of Waldorf Education On Elementary School Students, Christian Zepeda

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

As society becomes more critical of public education, alternative education systems are becoming more popular. The Waldorf education system, based on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, has increased in popularity and commonality each decade. Currently, 23 Waldorf institutions exist in California. With this increase in popularity, it is important to analyze and examine the effectiveness of this education philosophy. An examination of Waldorf education, through research and interviews of Waldorf teachers and administration, will provide parents and teachers with an understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, Waldorf education provides a positive environment for students, yielding positive effects but this …

Learning To Teach: Observing And Reflecting, Nancy Nager

All Faculty and Staff Papers and Presentations

This video series, “Learning to Teach,” provides a platform for professional development in early childhood education. It introduces viewers to compelling early childhood classroom footage accompanied by facilitated discussions about observations and teaching practices. You will get a hands-on look at how beginning teachers learn to closely observe children and engage in reflective conversations about children, materials, the classroom environment and themselves.

Descriptive Inquiry At Bank Street: Building Intellectual Community While Responding To Accreditation, Jessica Charles

All Faculty and Staff Papers and Presentations

Over the 2016-17 academic year, Bank Street Graduate School faculty and staff participated in a school-wide Descriptive Inquiry process to examine their programs and pedagogy. As part of the process, faculty met regularly to share their practices and to strengthen their well-established programs in teacher and leader preparation, museum education, and child life. Dean Cecelia Traugh initiated this process, drawing on her extensive experience implementing Descriptive Inquiry in higher education settings, in order to help faculty reflect on their practice, improve program quality, and build organizational coherence.

Pipeline To Failure: Social Inequality And The False Promises Of American Public Schooling, Adia Wilson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My experience as a New York City public school student was absolutely electrifying, though filled with many trials. While my mother would have preferred to put me in private school, having access to some of the world’s greatest institutions and resources offered unique opportunities and exposures. The performing arts provided me with an outlet to express myself and build skills and confidence. In particular, dance education kept me occupied and disciplined in a large city full of danger. Every so often, I witnessed hostile, or even violent exchanges between students, or students and staff. While some of my schoolmates became …

Empathy Institutionalized: Sociocultural Dialogue As A Strategic Peacebuilding Initiative, Emily Owens

Bridge/Work

A common adage used in psychological exploration tells us that “If you want to know the end, look at the beginning.” While typically employed to emphasize the importance of upbringing and environment on personal outcomes, this phrase can be equally applicable in examining the ways in which society has developed over time to produce our polarized sociopolitical culture of today. This work explores from an integrative psychosocial perspective the potential that exists in working to define a new “end” by shaping a new “beginning,” through going directly to the institutions that comprise our own beginnings— schools. Through a combined research …

The Purpose Of Education: What Should An American 21st Century Education Value?, Krista Shilvock

Empowering Research for Educators

A survey taken by 511 respondents dealt with such issues as past and current educational practice preparation, educational purposes in America, core class subjects, and soft skill teachings. Its results revealed a public opinion believing the primary goal of education as teaching students to adapt to any situation they find themselves in. Other results include a lack of preparation in current practices for life beyond education, although workforce preparation is adequate. Also, soft skills ought to see a curriculum of their own and taught explicitly to students in education instead of implicitly enforced, hoping parents alone taught these skills previously. …