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

Early Childhood/Child Welfare Priority, Nancy Edick, Samantha K. Ammons, Melissa Cast-Brede, Ann Coyne, Karen Falconer Al-Hindi, Shari Hofschire, Lisa Kelly-Vance, Jay Killion, Sajda Qureshi, Bridget O. Ryalls, Peter Simi, Peter Wolcott

Foundational Documents

This is the executive summary of a white paper that describes the context, current capacity, areas of opportunity, and next steps for the UNO Early Childhood/Child Welfare Priority (ECCW). It responds to the need for comprehensive integrated systems of services designed to give all young children (birth through age eight) access to what they need in the early years to succeed in school and in life. In this context, UNO recognizes ECCW as critical to our metropolitan university mission. Further, we must come together with early childhood service providers, P-12 districts, parents, policy makers, other University of Nebraska campuses, community …

Preparing The Australian Early Childhood Workforce For Rural And Remote Settings: A Review Of The Literature, Nicole C. Green, Andrea Nolan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article presents the findings of a literature review of research on teacher preparation for rural settings. In the past there has been little or no preparation of teachers for rural teaching, with the emphasis placed on supporting beginning teachers once they commenced (Baills, Bell, Greensill & Wilcox, 2002; Howe, 2006); now there is a strong movement to prepare preservice teachers adequately before their first teaching appointment. However, what has become clear is that the focus of research has been predominantly on primary and secondary education. In our search we have not been able to identify a substantial body of …

Supporting Native Indian Preschoolers And Their Families Family–School–Community Partnerships, M. Susan Mcwilliams, Tami Maldonado-Mancebo, Paula S. Szczepaniak, Jacqueline Jones

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

In this urban midwestern public school district, families of Native Indian students, pre-K through grade 12, attend four multigenerational gatherings like this one during the school year—one of a number of events orchestrated by the Native Indian Centered Education (NICE) program. NICE is a program in the school district that partners with families to provide Native-centric educational opportunities for preschool children. Family events such as the storytelling activity in the opening vignette represent trends in early childhood education: building family-school-community partnerships to enhance learning and build family resources. The all- Native-Indian preschool program is unusual and rare in urban areas. …

High Stakes Play: Early Childhood Special Educators' Perspectives Of Play In Pre-Kindergarten Classrooms, Joanne Scandling Manwaring

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined Early Childhood Special Educators' perceptions of play as a developmentally appropriate practice in special education prekindergarten classrooms in one southeastern school district. Through purposeful sampling, eight prekindergarten special educators were identified because they held multiple teaching certifications and some held National Board certification. The participants had many years of experience in pre-kindergarten special education, and were professional development trainers, teacher mentors and or leaders in the prekindergarten special education community. These eight accomplished pre-kindergarten special education teachers were interviewed using an informal, semi-structured format about their beliefs concerning play, how they implement it in their classrooms as …

Family Income, Parent Education, And Perceived Constraints As Predictors Of Observed Program Quality And Parent Rated Program Quality, Julia C. Torquati, Helen Raikes, Catherine Huddleston-Casas, James A. Bovaird, Beatrice A. Harris

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Observed child care quality and parent perceptions of child care quality received by children in poor (below Federal Poverty Line, FPL), low-income (between FPL and 200% of FPL), and non-low-income families were examined. Observations were completed in 359 center- and home-based child care programs in four Midwestern states and surveys were received from 1313 parents whose children were enrolled in these programs. Multilevel structural equation modeling revealed that programs with higher proportions of low-income families tend to have lower observed quality than programs with a higher proportion of non-low-income families. Programs with more educated parents tended to have better observed …

Developing Child Friendly Environment In Early Childhood Education Classroom In Pakistan, Khush Funer Murtaza

Professional Development Centre, Gilgit

Among all levels of education, Early Childhood Education and Development (ECEd) is considered to be the most critical level for social (relationship to others), emotional (self-image and security), cognitive (thinking and reasoning) and physical development of children. Therefore, the teachers of early years need to play a significant role in the teaching and learning process through providing a friendly environment in their schools. The study employed a case study approach. Information was gathered through a combination of methods, which included classroom observations, field notes, document analysis, focus group and semi structured interviews. The focus group participants and the interviewees were …

Using Toys To Support Infant-Toddler Learning And Development, Gabriel Guyton

All Faculty and Staff Papers and Presentations

Being mindful of the basic principles of child development and the role of play, teachers can intentionally select toys to meet young children's unique needs and interests, supporting learning.

Early Career Teaching: Learning To Be A Teacher And Staying In The Job, Dawn Joseph

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article provides insights into the ways that teacher education programs might equip early career teachers beginning their professional identity. Situated in Melbourne (Australia), it discusses tertiary music education preparation for the profession and recognises the value and importance of having critical friends and mentors as a beginner teacher. By using narrative reflection both lecturer and graduate allow their voices to be heard as they make a contribution to understand the challenges new teachers face when building their professional identity and ‘staying in the job’. The discussion provided by the graduate, outlines her experience and engagement regarding the ‘positives’ and …

Video Modeling To Enhance The Conversation Skills Of Preschool Children Who Are At-Risk For School Failure, Lorie Mick

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the video-modeling method on language comprehension skills of preschoolers who are at-risk for school failure. The setting for this research was a preschool classroom in a low socioeconomic school district in southern New Jersey. Baseline data on the amount of comprehension questions the participants answer correctly after a typical storytelling session were compared to the results of the amount of questions they answer correctly after exposure to the intervention. In addition, the students' use of language, including mean length of utterance and vocabulary, was compared prior to and following …

Influence Of Teacher-Student Interactions On Kindergarten Children’S Developing Gender Identity Within The Pakistani Urban Classroom Culture, Almina Pardhan

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

In the current global push to explore the diverse and complex ways in which the school culture contributes to the shaping of young children's gender identity, early childhood teachers’ role in this process is an area of concern which has received limited attention. Furthermore, the schooling experiences of early years children in developing world contexts such as Pakistan remain largely absent. As such, this article discusses findings from a study investigating the role of women teachers’ practice in the construction of children's gender identities in the kindergarten classroom culture of one urban co‐education school in the highly gender‐segregated Pakistani context. …

The Massachusetts Early Education And Care Professional Development System Study: Year 1 Report, Anne Douglass, Lucinda Heimer, Winifred Hagan

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publication Series

The purpose of this report is to present the findings from the first year of the Massachusetts Professional Development System Study (MA PDS). This study examined the implementation of Massachusetts' new statewide model for professional development of the early education and care and out of school time workforce. The study was funded by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC).

This study examined the process of implementation of the new professional development system between August 2010 and June 2011. Implementation research is important because it provides insights into whether a new system is operating as intended and identifies …

A Critical Look At Four Multicultural Reform Efforts In One Urban College Of Education, Mary Gove, Dinah Volk, Kristine Lynn Still, Grace Hui-Chen Huang, Sashelle Thomas-Alexander

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

The article describes multicultural reform projects at an urban college of education including analyses of student's descriptions of their experiences in urban schools, the results of a faculty diversity self-study group and issues arising from culturally responsive pedagogy in an early childhood teaching class. The author's assertion that diversity education is an essential part of teacher education is discussed, and the importance of continuous critical analysis of teacher education is emphasized.

The Status Of Students With Special Needs In The Instrumental Musical Ensemble And The Effect Of Selected Educator And Institutional Variables On Rates Of Inclusion, Edward C. Hoffman Iii

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

The purpose of this study was to describe the current status of students with special needs in the instrumental musical ensemble and to examine the effect of selected educator and institutional variables on rates of inclusion. An online survey was designed by the researcher and distributed electronically to 600 practicing K-12 instrumental music educators in the states of Idaho, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Rhode Island. While 13.6% of the total school-aged population nationwide received special education services, demographic data provided by respondents revealed that students with special needs accounted for 6.8% of all students participating in bands, orchestras, …

A Comprehensive Inventory Of The Orfalea And Asi Children's Center Library, Allison J. Biggers

Psychology and Child Development

No abstract provided.

School Readiness: Parent Perceptions, Behaviors, And Child Ability Related To Ethnicity And Socioeconomic Status, Courtney N. Baldwin

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This project used data from the School Readiness Survey (SR) of the 2007 National Household Education Surveys Program collected by the National Center for Education Statistics Institute of Education Science. A subsample of 1,712 to 2,622 subjects who participated in the survey was used for this project. The purpose of the study was to examine parent perceptions, behaviors, and reported child ability related to school readiness and the effect ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) had on each comparison. Variables from the existing data were matched to one of the five domains of School Readiness: Health and Physical Development, Social and …

Examining The Moral Development Of Young Children And Their Naturalistic Displays Of Empathy Through Service-Learning Experiences In Preschool, Elizabeth Paris

HIM 1990-2015

Moral development in preschool is a component of social and emotional development, which also includes self-regulation, interpersonal skills, and school readiness. While service-learning has demonstrated significant benefits to the social-emotional development of older students, very little research has examined the effects of service-learning with young children. The purpose of this study was to create an academic curriculum that would provide preschool children (3 to 5 years old) with a developmentally-appropriate approach to service-learning, and determine if such a curriculum had a measurable effect on naturalistic empathy. Children in two classrooms received a preliminary empathy score based on number of empathetic …

Classroom Applications Of A Trial-Based Functional Analysis In An Early Childhood Education Setting, Jennifer Laura Jensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Functional analysis has proven to be an effective way of determining the function of problem behaviors. However, this process can consume a great deal of time and resources. Also, the majority of analyses are conducted with subjects greater than six years of age with unfamiliar persons conducting the analysis. Therefore, there is a need to examine a method that will expend less time and resources, and to determine if this new method will be effective with subjects in an early childhood setting. The current study examines the ability of classroom teachers to conduct a trial-based functional analysis within an early …

Basic Concepts In Early Education Programs For Children With Hearing Loss In Listening And Spoken Language Classrooms, Katherine L. Powell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Mastery of basic concepts is an academic building block for preschool children in early education programs. Research shows that understanding basic concepts (e.g. top, under, fast, now, all, behind, full and short) is important for academic success and higher order thinking. Experts in the field of concept acquisition agree on six strategies for teaching basic concepts. These strategies include: using positive examples and negative examples, highlighting critical features of concepts through continuous conversion, isolating the concept, the order in which the examples are presented, and teaching generalization. This study investigated the extent to which nine preschool teachers of children with …

Does A Co-Learner Delivery Model In A Mathematics Methods Course Affect Pre-Service Teacher Candidates’ Self-Efficacy In Teaching Mathematics?,, John J. Ribeiro, Denise Demagistris

Teacher Education

This study is related to a previous study (Ribeiro, 2009) that examined teachers’ perceptions of teaching self-efficacy. In the first study the sample consisted of two groups of teachers that took the same professional development course in mathematics. The comparison group took the course in their school district with other teachers and the experimental group took the course with pre-service teachers in a university classroom. After completing the course, both groups were measured in three dimensions of teaching self-efficacy: student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom climate. Findings indicated that although both groups had significant gains in self-efficacy toward teaching mathematics …

Promoting Resiliency Among First-Generation College Students, Jessica C. Fentress, Rachel M. B. Collopy

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

On a momentous day in May, six unlikely students walked across the graduation stage of a competitive, private university to receive their bachelor’s degrees. All six were participants in our study of successful first-generation college (FGC) students. Extensive research investigated the high attrition rates of FGC students and enumerated obstacles that led them to drop out.

Our research took a different approach. Through in-depth interviews, we explored the way resilient FGC students navigated around obstacles and what supported their success. By definition, resilient individuals succeed despite characteristics that predict their failure. Stories from this study offer practical implications for advisers …

A Qualitative Study On African American Males' Perceptions Of Reading, Phyllis Marie Stallings

Wayne State University Dissertations

African American male students begin experiencing failure when they enter fourth grade. At this grade, the curriculum becomes more focused, students are expected to complete high-stakes standardized tests, teachers become more distant, and students are expected to become independent learners. Many African American male students are not ready for this transformation. They may not have developed the reading skills needed to understand text books for social studies and science, and are deficient in regard to the math skills needed for problem solving. Understanding which factors are contributing to African American male student failure is important, especially in determining if these …

Objective Physical Activity And Sleep Characteristic Measurements Using A Triaxial Accelerometer In Eight Year Olds, Susan Ann Harrington

Wayne State University Dissertations

Background: Secular trends demonstrate that young children are less active and sleep less. Inequity in an individual's energy balance is known to have poor health outcomes. Academic achievement, academic behavior, and weight status are proxy indicators for health and psychosocial outcomes in this study. Current guidelines in place for sleep and physical activity in childhood are the result of data collected in the form of self-reports. Quantification and qualification of physical activity dimensions and sleep characteristics are essential not only for the purpose of clearly establishing parameters but also for the intent of verifying optimal health outcomes and evaluating interventions …

The Effects Of School Home Communication And Reading Fluency In Kindergarten Children, Farjana Khan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many researchers have documented that reading fluency scores continue to be a national concern for the United States and have suggested that early reading failure has long-term detrimental effects on society. However, much less is known regarding specific interventions that could reduce this concern. Investigators in other studies have suggested the development of early school-home partnerships to improve reading scores. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a systematic school-home intervention to improve reading fluency scores. Following the theoretical foundation of emergent literacy theory and Joyce Epstein's framework, the research question focuses on the association …

Exploring Problem Based Learning To Promote 21st Century Learning Skills In Full Day Kindergarten, Jillian M. Tsoukalas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The kindergarten program at the study site transitioned from half day to full day, yet the curriculum was not updated to accommodate the full day schedule, or to include best practices. In order to prepare learners for their future in education, activities were implemented to determine how problem based learning can promote acquisition of the 21st century learning skills. The purpose of this qualitative study was to create and implement an effective, full day curriculum that promotes 21st century learning skills for kindergarten students. This project, rooted in constructivism which allows for active and social learning, supplements the existing half …

Connection Between Early Childhood Teachers' Beliefs And Practices Regarding Play, Robin L. Ploof

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research indicates play contributes to children's learning and development. The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) changed early care and education by limiting time for play in early childhood classrooms. There is a gap in the literature concerning early childhood teachers' current beliefs about play and how those beliefs are connected to their practices. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the connections between early childhood teachers' beliefs regarding play and their practices in the early childhood classroom. Lave's situated learning theory formed the conceptual framework for this study recognizing the early childhood classroom …

Stories Of God's Love (Kindergarten), Shauna M. Adams, Lisa Grabiel, Debra Ciambro Grisso

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

This kindergarten program offers a leaflet-style format that proclaims Bible stories as well as contemporary stories that relate to the life of a kindergarten child. Seasonal lessons deepen the child’s understanding of holy days, holidays and liturgical seasons.

Stories of God’s Love is the first new program following the Guidelines for Materials developed by the Subcommittee on the Catechism of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Incredible Years Dina Dinosaur Program Evaluation, Amanda Holzapfel

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this program evaluation was to determine the effectiveness of the Incredible Years (IY) Dina Dinosaur Child Training Program in the Early Childhood Special Education Classroom (ECSE) at the GFW Elementary School, a small town school. The Dina Dinosaur Program is designed to promote children’s social, emotional, behavior and academic skills through social skills and problem solving curriculum. This program has been found to be appropriate for children with ADHD, language and/or developmental delays and mild autism spectrum disorders, which were all present in the ECSE classroom at GFW Elementary. All of the ECSE teachers and paraprofessionals had …

Solo But Not Separate: Preparing 21st-Century School Library Professionals Who Can "Go It Alone", Becky Pasco

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Preparing school librarians for a diverse array of 21st-century educational environments is a daunting task. Faculty in school library preparation programs send candidates out into sparsely populated rural areas, dense urban settings, and everything in between. Some candidates will provide services and resources in updated, modern facilities, while others will operate in tiny, tattered little corners. Some new professionals will ply their trade in technically rich arenas, while others will work in technically starved settings. Regardless of place and space, resources and services must be developed and delivered in a proactive and productive manner for the P—12 community. School library …

Preschoolers' Use Of Technology In The Classroom, Re, Darlene M. Estes-Del Re

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Almost from birth, children are immersed in a technologically rich world yet they often enter preschools that offer little to no use of technology. Preschool learning is tied to more traditional forms of reading and writing; this may be inconsistent with the ways children are learning at home and will learn in elementary school. Despite growing interest in creating learning environments that better mirror the technological experiences of the home, there is a significant gap in current research about how learning is affected in preschool environments designed with multiple forms of technology. This qualitative single case study was designed to …

Literacy Instruction In Three Preschool Programs: A Multiple Case Study, Cherrie Lovejoy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many preschool students enter kindergarten without the oral language and phonetic awareness skills necessary for academic success. Qualitative research is also limited about the instructional practices preschool teachers use to improve the literacy skills of their students. The purpose of this study was to explore how teachers used developmentally appropriate instructional practices to improve the literacy skills of preschool students. The conceptual framework was based on the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky in relation to language development. A multiple case study research design was used. Participants included 6 teachers from 3 different preschool programs in an urban school district in …