Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education Commons^™

The Effects Of Public Prekindergarten Participation On Kindergarteners' Early Literacy And Reading Skills, Brenda Coley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

High quality prekindergarten programs that provide students with core academic skills have been found to increase subsequent student reading achievement. However, students across the United States continue to show deficiencies in reading skills, a problem which may stem from a lack of participation in early childhood education. The study district offered a prekindergarten program, but the impact on later reading achievement was unknown. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effects of a prekindergarten program on the subsequent reading skills of kindergarten students. The constructivist learning theories of Whitehurst, Lonigan, Piaget, and Vygotsky provided foundation. Research questions …

Teacher Mathematics Language: Its Use In The Early Childhood Classroom And Relationship With Young Children's Learning, Emma Whitman

Dissertations

Early mathematics instruction has been linked to children's later outcomes in both literacy and mathematics. One important component of this instruction, teachers' mathematics language in the early childhood classroom, has been connected to children's mathematical gains. However, this work is lacking in both scope and depth. The objective of this study was to provide a review of the use of math language by early childhood teachers and address the issues neglected in the current literature. The study looks at: the type of content that teachers' mathematics language emphasizes, the mediating effects of settings on the mathematics language that is used, …

The Perspectives Of Preschool Teachers On Instructional Coaching, Melanie Smith Clough

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers describe instructional coaching. Instructional coaching has become a leading form of professional development in educational settings, yet there is a lack of empirical evidence that explains and clarifies it. One aspect of instructional coaching that is not known is how teachers perceive it. In order to gain understanding about instructional coaching, the perspectives of the teachers could provide valuable insight to benefit those involved in the practice. Instructional coaching and the schools where coaching takes place are complex in nature. Through the use of one-on-one interviews, an in-depth look at …

Engaging In Social Justice With Toddlers, Susan M. Nasiombe

Capstone Collection

This study was created as a way to highlight and begin filling a large void in academic information regarding the ways caregivers engage in social justice with the toddlers they care for. Through an online survey, participants were asked to explain their role and experience as caregivers, give their definition of social justice, share the social justice resources they use to help inform their engagement with toddlers, and list the limitations and barriers they face in achieving their goals in this area. Participants were also asked to assess their value of various elements commonly used to engage toddlers in social …

California Community Colleges Child Development Laboratory Schools, Shari Yates

Dissertations

Community colleges in California are the primary source for preparing the early childhood care and education (ECE) workforce. The California child development lab school mission is to prepare ECE practitioners, provide a laboratory where college students can study and research child development/education, and offer a service to children and families. There are many benefits that are derived from laboratory schools but many community college lab schools have been reduced and/or closed over the past three years. The purposes of this Delphi study were (a) to examine the most pressing issues, problems and barriers facing California community colleges child development labs …

How Do Administrators Of New York City Early Intervention Programs Conceptualize And Implement Family-Centered Care?, Jennifer M. Longley

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Family-centered care, the mandated delivery approach outlined under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part C, is considered best practice in providing services to families with children under three with special needs. It has been shown to benefit children and families through numerous positive outcomes. Yet, family-centered care is not implemented in all programs universally, and significant variation exists in how programs deliver family-centered services, to the detriment of families. Much of that variation can be attributed to programmatic leadership, as administrators establish the philosophy, policies, practices, and organizational climate of an agency.

This project intended to build on the …

Early Childhood Educators' Perception Of Oregon's Professional Development System: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Ingrid Anderson

Dissertations and Theses

Since 2011, the state of Oregon has embarked on a comprehensive educational policy change to create a unified birth to twenty educational system. As part of the birth to age five early childhood and family investment strategy, mandated participation in Oregon professional development system is required for all early childhood educators working in Office of Child Care licensed programs. To date, research on early childhood educators' experience in professional development systems has focused primarily on experiences with regulatory systems. This hermeneutic phenomenological study explored how four early childhood educators made meaning of their experiences of professional engagement in Oregon's state …

Program Evaluation Of Behavior Management Training For Preschool Teachers: Teacher Outcomes, Danielle Marie Young

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Teachers are required to manage difficult behaviors within their classrooms with limited support and resources. Additionally, there is not a lot of research that has been completed looking at teacher attitudes or how children’s behavior impacts them personally. The current study looks at teacher outcomes based upon an evidence-based teacher training program. The teacher training was implemented at the Western Kentucky Head Start. Teachers’ job stress and self-efficacy were measured before the training, after the training, in the fall, and in the spring. In addition, standardized observations were completed, looking at classroom climate and management, in the fall and spring …

Executive Function In Early Childhood: Qualitative And Quantitative Patterns Of Development Among Students Within A Montessori Classroom, Ashley Darcy

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

This mixed methodology study observed five executive function components (working memory, attention, planning, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control) in a Montessori preschool environment for three to five year olds. The purpose of the study was to understand patterns of development for three, four, and five year olds in a natural environment. There were five findings found after analysis: 1) a cluster of components of working memory/planning/attention, 2) patterns of frequency of components, 3) the role of interest in EF components, 4) patterns within each of the five components and 5) patterns of data triangulation between the parent, teacher, and researcher. …

Beware: Teachers Who Blog, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

A recent case from Pennsylvania, Munroe v. Central Bucks School District (2014), raises fresh questions about the free speech and expression rights of public school teachers as they use the Internet. In Munroe, when a board terminated a high school teacher’s employment for making controversial postings about her students and colleagues on her personal blog—postings that proved disruptive—a federal trial court rejected the educator’s claim that she was dismissed in retaliation for exercising her right to free speech.

Before reviewing the facts and judicial opinion in Munroe, it is worth noting that blogs (a term coined in the late 1990s …

Developing Mastery In Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, And Morphemic Awareness: A Multiple Case Study Of Preservice Early Childhood Educators, Ruth Facun-Granadozo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of early childhood preservice teachers in a southeastern university as they worked for mastery of phonemic awareness, phonics, and morphemic awareness. Mastery was set at 90% accuracy in a series of tests, which required them to perform different tasks related to the said concepts. One aim of the study was to investigate the preservice teachers’ description of their experiences as they worked for mastery of phonemic awareness, phonics, and morphemic awareness. Another aim was to examine how working for mastery of said concepts influenced their perceptions of preparedness …

A Suryey Of Music Therapists' Use Of Music To Facilitate Reading Development In Children, Cynthia Cross

Masters Theses

This study utilized Naturalistic Inquiry methods to investigate how music therapists use music elements to impact reading development in school-aged children. Eleven Board-Certified Music Therapists were interviewed providing information regarding music therapy interventions, reading skills targeted, theoretical influences, and professional influences. Transcripts of interviews were analyzedto determine themes, coÍtmon use of language related to the subject, common perceptions, and techniques and uses for music to impact reading development. In general subjects did not report specifically using music elements to target reading behavior. Rather, most subjects identified reading objectives determined by classroom teachers and developed music interventions to accommodate those objectives. …

In Search Of Relevance And Sustainability Of Educational Change : An International Conference At Aga Khan University Institute For Educational Development, Aga Khan University, Institute For Educational Development

Books

No abstract provided.

The Identification Of Variables And Factors Related To Preservice Teacher Candidates’ Passing A State Teacher Certification Examination At An Hbcu, Melanie Frizzell, Noran L. Moffett

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

This study sought to examine the outcome of teacher education candidates’ performance on a state content exam. Seventeen participants from the class of 2012 were identified for the study of which 12 participants fully participated in the study. This study utilized data collected from the participants through the Teacher Quality Enhancement Subcontract Grant Summer/Fall/Spring 2011-2012 Workshop Series held at the private HBCU. The research design used a QUAN- QUAL-QUAN to triangulate the data through three methods of data collection: GACE early childhood education (ECE) data, GACE ECE survey questionnaire and class of 2012 member interviews. The findings from the survey …

The Effects Of School Autonomy On Students' Reading Achievement In Early Grades: A Dose-Response Treatment Approach, Esther Ferreira Dos Santos Carvalhaes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

School autonomy is at the core of influential educational policies aimed at improving school effectiveness and students' academic performance both in the United States and abroad. Initiatives that promote a transfer of authority from higher levels of the school system to local schools, such as the charter school movement and School-Based Management (SBM), have become increasingly popular in the last two decades. These initiatives operate under the premise that local stakeholders (principals, teachers, and parents) understand their students' needs better than higher-level administrators, which enables them to make better educational decisions regarding students' academic success. However, despite the prominence of …

Child Maltreatment: What Attitudinal Factors Of Commitment, Confidence, And Concern Predict Reporting Practices Of Preservice Speech-Language Pathologists?, Alan Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The pervasiveness of child maltreatment is a global issue, although its impact on the United States is markedly severe. The mortality rate for children four years of age and younger continues to rise annually, with an especially alarming increase present for children with disabilities. Although inservice and preservice educators, including speech-language pathologists, are mandated to report suspected maltreatment, several obstacles appear to hinder their actions. Understanding the factors that predict an individuals' likelihood of reporting malfeasance may help minimize maltreatment occurrence and child mortality. Preservice speech- language pathologists attending accredited programs in the United States were surveyed regarding their attitudes …

A Grounded Theory Study Of The Experiences Of Early Childhood Educators Implementing Action Research As A Professional Development Method, Donna James

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this systematic grounded theory study was to gain insight through the experiences of early childhood educators and their perceptions as they implemented action research as a professional development method. This study focused on the process of implementing action research as a professional development method and strived to answer questions related to the possible future use of this model in other educational settings while describing educator experiences, perceptions and beliefs. Data collection included interviews, observations, and journals. Detailed procedures for analysis were employed during the study with three phases of coding: Open, Axial, and Selective. Data was analyzed …

Providing The Fuel (And Passing The Flame), Todd Pagano

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

At the risk of opening with a cliché statement- at the heart of the most effective mentor is a burning passion. The fuel for this passion is a desire to convince, not just try to, but actually convince your mentee that you care about their success (be it in the classroom, career, or personal life). I am guilty of believing in, and living by, this cliché. However, despite passion being my primary motivator, I am not unwilling to admit that rationale for mentoring can sometimes transcend this ethically normative line of thinking. I believe that there are also sometimes quantitative, …

A Mixed Methods Approach To Examining The Getting Ready Intervention For Supporting Young Children With Challenging Behaviors, Miriam E. Kuhn

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Families and preschool teachers of children with persistent challenging behaviors are taxed daily by difficulties presented in care and management of such children in their homes and early education settings. This study utilized a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach in three phases to better understand a collaborative partnership model of intervention, Getting Ready (Sheridan, Marvin, Knoche, & Edwards, 2008), for supporting preschoolers with challenging behaviors attending Head Start or state-funded pre-kindergarten programs. Preschool teachers received professional development and individual coaching to help them improve partnerships and collaboratively plan with parents to promote children’s growth, and enhance parent-child interactions.

In Phase …

An Exploratory Critical Study Of Questioning Strategies Posed By Early Childhood Teachers During Literacy Blocks, Angela H. Baker Ms.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive types and functions of questions orally posed by early childhood teachers in kindergarten through 3rd grade during a 90-minute literacy block. The cognitive types of questions were determined by the criteria established using Hess’ Cognitive Rigor Matrix (Hess, Jones, Carlock, & Walkup, 2009). The functions of the posed questions were determined by criteria based on the work of Costa (2001), Hughes (as cited in Fusco, 2012), and Lowery (as cited in Fusco, 2012). This study examined questioning strategies used by 12 early childhood teachers from a Northeast Tennessee School District. …