Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Paraprofessional Training Materials, Program Implementation & Review, Breann Brewer

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

If ever you enter a special education classroom, you may encounter a few events. You may witness a classroom of impressive, almost automatic interactions, delivered in a way so eloquent that the students and staff seem to be in an effortless dance with one another. Or, you may witness a classroom that feels heavy with needs; needs of more staff, more help, more hands, and more time. This visual exercise demonstrates how the structure of a special education classroom sets the tone for student growth and success.

One pivotal part of a special education classroom is the paraeducators. Paraeducators, also …

Connection Before Correction: The Impact Of Restorative Practices On Students With Disabilities, Katrina Shirley

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Dissertations

As an alternative to zero tolerance discipline policies that focus on punitive, exclusionary, and often predetermined consequences for a disruptive behavior, many educators in schools across the United States have started implementing restorative practices (RP) in their classrooms. RP focus on building relationships and classroom community. Educators implement RP as a preventative behavioral strategy for community building, but also as a responsive strategy to handle conflict in order to repair harm and restore relationships. Current research on RP include quantitative studies, many resulting in a reduction of exclusionary discipline, or qualitative studies with participants in middle and high school. This …

Science Club, Danielle Gibson, Krista Andersen

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

Honors After School program for elementary age children to engage with scientific principles. Students performed hands-on experiments to explore various STEM fields. Each weekly lesson consisted of a different concept to be learned or explored by early elementary aged students.

The Primary Dilemma: Determining And Overcoming Barriers To A Focus On Prekindergarten Through Grade 3, Sarah Turner Lukas, Sarah Turner Lukas

Dissertations

In 2017, reporters of national data in regard to reading ability among American, fourth grade students indicated low proficiency and achievement gaps. These results were also consistent within the state and district under study. There is a need to increase the focus on prekindergarten and primary grade education taking place prior to the grades in which federally mandated, accountability assessments for student learning take place. The purpose of this study is to determine the potential barriers to a paradigm shift at the state and district levels from a focus on state-assessed grade levels to prekindergarten and primary grade levels. The …

School Entry Age And School Readiness., Robin Berry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, there was a change in School Entry Age (SEA) legislation. This dissertation analyzed the relationship between SEA and school readiness after the enactment of the new legislation. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to control for student demographics to ascertain the relationship between SEA and school readiness. Findings were as follows: older students scored significantly lower than younger students on the BRIGANCE Kindergarten Screen (BKS), students who had exposure to private child care outside of the home fared much better than students who were kept at home the year prior to kindergarten, and female students …