Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Fostering Children’S Academic Development Through Movement-Based Learning Environments, Hannah Martin

Graduate Teacher Education

Abstract

This study investigated how play and movement affect young children’s learning in order to provide educators with teaching strategies that are effective and developmentally appropriate in supporting the whole child. Academics, standardized testing, and school readiness have been buzzwords in education since No Child Left Behind was enacted in 2001. The term “school readiness” has been interpreted to indicate worksheets, memorization, and direct instruction to increase academic scores on standardized tests (Klein, 2015). The Common Core Standards for reading have dramatically increased in recent decades, including the expectation that children leaving kindergarten be comprehensive emergent readers (Carlsson-Paige, Bywater-McLaughlin, & …

The Impact Of Social-Emotional Development In Preschool, Gena Jadwin

Graduate Teacher Education

The development of children’s cognitive and social-emotional learning is of significant importance in education, specifically in early childhood education. Early childhood administrators, educators, and support staff have noticed an increase in the amount of students displaying underdeveloped or lacking social-skills within preschool classrooms. This paper will analyze and summarize research to explain the relationship between social-emotional skills and temperament, classroom environment, and educational outcomes in preschool aged students. It was found through research that a lack of social-emotional understanding and skills was impactful to a child’s future emotional responses and academic achievement. In order for leaders to best prepare teachers …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Early Childhood Education Preparation And Experiences Of California Certificated Elementary School Educators Assigned To Transitional Kindergarten, Elizabeth A. Golchert

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This dissertation represents original, independent research that is a contribution of new knowledge to the field of educational practice. As a new phenomenon in the California public school system, transitional kindergarten (TK) is now bringing about a closer look by researchers at legislative practices, TK program implementation, local school district policies, teacher preparation, and teacher implementation of best practices related to the education of children of approximately four years of age. The purpose of conducting this study was to broadly examine these topics, but more specifically, investigate the problem of children being assigned to teachers who do not have the …

Teacher Perceptions Of The Digital Badge In Kindergarten Reading Attainment, Amy Cooper

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

Educators are consistently seeking appropriate measures of assessment and guidance tools in the 21st century. Tools in classrooms today are lacking the needs relevant to digital natives. Digital badges are a form of assessment, achievement, and accomplishment that show competencies and growth. This phenomenological research study was conducted to examine the experiences of seven teachers and three principals in a suburban school in a Northeastern state regarding the implementation of the digital badge in early literacy. The analysis of the data showed digital badges as intrinsically engaging, preferred over report cards, with a strong impact on instruction and relationships, validating, …

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 …

A Qualitative Case Study Of Teachers’ Perceptions And Practices In Social Justice Education And The Perceived Implications For K‒2nd Grade Children, Tina M. Lageson

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This qualitative case study explored the perceptions and practices of three teachers who teach social justice concepts in kindergarten and 2nd-grade classrooms in an urban school district in the Northwest region of the United States. The research sought to answer the following central questions: (a) What do teachers perceive about how instruction on social justice concepts impact early grade learners in classroom settings? (b) What do teachers perceive about how this instruction influences learner perceptions regarding their role in society? Through a three-phase data collection approach that included teacher and parent interviews, teacher observations with observation debrief, and student artifact …

A Study Of The Effects Of Metacognitive Instruction On Reading Comprehension In The Primary Classroom, Sara Wing

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine if a relationship existed between metacognitive instruction and students’ growth rate for fluency, accuracy, self-correction rates, and comprehension in reading. The research question that guided this study was: To what extent is there a relationship between metacognitive instruction using Reciprocal Teaching method and increasing student success for first-grade emergent readers as evidenced by Curriculum-based Measurements and STAR Accelerated Reader tests. Constructivism theory was used to develop an understanding of learning that asserts student learning happens when students make meaning for themselves. The sample for this study was a convenient of 16 first-grade …