Showing papers in "Early Education and Development in 2011"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the efficacy of a self-regulation intervention with 65 preschool children using circle time games, and found that participants in a treatment group significantly improved behavioral selfregulation and early academic outcomes.
Abstract: Research Findings: The present study examined the efficacy of a self-regulation intervention with 65 preschool children. Using circle time games, the study examined whether participating in a treatment group significantly improved behavioral self-regulation and early academic outcomes. Half of the children were randomly assigned to participate in 16 playgroups during the winter of the school year. Behavioral aspects of self-regulation and early achievement were assessed in the fall and spring. Although there was no treatment effect in the overall sample, post hoc analyses revealed that participation in the treatment group was significantly related to self-regulation gains in children who started the year with low levels of these skills. Children in the treatment group also demonstrated significant letter-word identification gains compared to children in the control group. Practice or Policy: The findings from this study provide preliminary evidence for the efficacy of the intervention in terms of improvin...
261 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the implications of adopting an explicit UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)informed approach to engaging children as co-researchers.
Abstract: Research Findings: Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), children have the right to express their views on all matters affecting them and to have those views given due weight. This right applies in the context of research; however, examples of young children being engaged as co-researchers remain rare. Practice or Policy: This article examines the implications of adopting an explicit UNCRC-informed approach to engaging children as co-researchers. It draws on a research project that sought to ascertain young children's views on after-school programs and that involved a university-based research team working along with 2 groups of co-researchers; each composed of 4 children aged 4 to 5. The article discusses the contribution made by children to the development of the research questions and choice of methods and their involvement in the interpretation of the data and dissemination of the findings. It suggests that, although there are limits to what young children can and wil...
191 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the role of demographic risk factors in the development of children's behavioral regulation and found that children from low-income families began pre-kindergarten with significantly lower behavioral regulation than their more economically advantaged peers.
Abstract: Research Findings: The present study examined the role of demographic risk factors in the development of children's behavioral regulation. We investigated whether being from a low-income family and being an English language learner (ELL) predicted behavioral regulation between prekindergarten and kindergarten. Results indicated that children from low-income families began prekindergarten with significantly lower behavioral regulation than their more economically advantaged peers. Furthermore, English-speaking children from low-income families exhibited a faster rate of behavioral regulation growth than low-income ELLs. English-speaking children from low-income families narrowed the gap with their more economically advantaged English-speaking peers by the end of kindergarten, but ELLs from low-income families did not. Practice or Policy: Discussion focuses on the importance of understanding the effects of being an ELL and being from a low-income family for the demands of formal schooling.
141 citations
TL;DR: Testing the premise that children's effortful control (EC) is prospectively related to their academic achievement and to specify mechanisms through which EC is related to academic success highlighted the importance of considering social and emotional processes when attempting to improve academic achievement.
Abstract: Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to test the premise that children's effortful control (EC) is prospectively related to their academic achievement and to specify mechanisms through which EC is related to academic success. We used data from 214 children (M age at Time 1 [T1] = 73 months) to test whether social functioning (e.g., social competence and externalizing problems) mediated the relations between EC and academic achievement. Children's adult-reported and observed EC were assessed at T1. Parents' and teachers' reports of social functioning were obtained 2 years later (T2), whereas teachers' and children's reports of academic achievement were obtained 4 years after T2 (T3). Children's T2 social functioning fully mediated the relation between T1 EC and T3 academic achievement in a structural equation model. Practice or Policy: Findings highlight the importance of considering social and emotional processes when attempting to improve academic achievement and have implications for curricu...
117 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an intervention was designed to market the science center by introducing children to 1 science tool, the balance scale, which was expected to increase children's use of the science area and their knowledge about the scale.
Abstract: Research Findings: This paper reports on children's use of science materials in preschool classrooms during their free choice time. Baseline observations showed that children and teachers rarely spend time in the designated science area. An intervention was designed to “market” the science center by introducing children to 1 science tool, the balance scale. Baseline measures showed that children did not know the scale's name or function. The intervention was expected to increase children's use of the science area and their knowledge about the scale. Children's voluntary presence and exploration in the science area increased after the balance scale intervention compared to in comparison classrooms. Furthermore, children who participated in this intervention demonstrated improved knowledge about the scale's function, whereas students in the comparison group did not. Practice or Policy: Adults can increase children's autonomous exploration of science tools and materials, and their knowledge about them, by of...
107 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the consistency between early childhood teachers' self-reported curriculum beliefs and observations of their actual interactive behaviors with children in classrooms and found that most frequently observed teacher behaviors in the classroom were giving directions to children, responding to children's initiations, and engaging in non-interactive classroom management activities.
Abstract: Research Findings: This study examined the consistency between early childhood teachers' self-reported curriculum beliefs and observations of their actual interactive behaviors with children in classrooms. Also tested was the hypothesized moderation by teacher and classroom characteristics of the association between beliefs and practices. A total of 58 preschool teachers completed a survey describing their professional backgrounds and curriculum beliefs. Their classroom practices were observed using a newly developed instrument that documented teacher interactions with children. Most teachers in this sample strongly endorsed child-initiated learning beliefs, although their beliefs about teacher-directed learning varied considerably. The most frequently observed teacher behaviors in the classroom were giving directions to children, responding to children's initiations, and engaging in non-interactive classroom management activities. Overall, teachers' curriculum beliefs and observed classroom practices wer...
105 citations
TL;DR: The role of language and private speech in the development of behavioral self-regulation has been studied in this article, and the relation between behavioral selfregulation and children's experiences with other symbolic systems, such as music, have not yet been explored.
Abstract: Research Findings: Although the role of language and private speech in the development of behavioral self-regulation has been studied, relations between behavioral self-regulation and children's experiences with other symbolic systems, such as music, have not yet been explored. Eighty-nine 3- and 4-year-old children (42 of whom had been enrolled in Kindermusik music and movement classes, and 47 demographically similar children who had not experienced structured early childhood music classes) completed a battery of laboratory self-regulation tasks and a selective attention task during which their private speech was reliably transcribed and categorized. Children currently enrolled in Kindermusik classes showed better self-regulation than those who were not currently enrolled (d = .41), and they also used more relevant private speech during the selective attention task (d = .57), a verbal strategy that was positively related to performance. Children exposed to the music program were also more likely to engag...
102 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the effect of parenting quality on the academic functioning of young homeless children using data from 58 children ages 4 to 7 and their parents during their stay at an emergency homeless shelter.
Abstract: Research Findings: Effects of parenting quality on the academic functioning of young homeless children were examined using data from 58 children ages 4 to 7 and their parents during their stay at an emergency homeless shelter. Parenting quality, child executive function, child intellectual functioning, and risk status were assessed in the shelter, and teacher reports of academic functioning were obtained when the children began kindergarten or 1st grade. As hypothesized, parenting quality was associated with children's academic success, and this effect was mediated by executive function skills in the child. Parenting quality also had a moderating effect on risk, consistent with a protective role of high-quality parenting among children with higher risk levels. Concomitantly, children with higher risk and lower parenting quality appeared to be more vulnerable to academic problems. Practice or Policy: In homeless families, parenting may play an especially important role in academic success through multiple ...
91 citations
TL;DR: McDermott et al. as mentioned in this paper examined whether approaches to learning significantly mediated relations between cognitive flexibility (a component of executive functions) and school readiness in Head Start preschoolers and found that one component of approach to learning (attention/persistence) significantly mediated the relation between the cognitive flexibility and the school readiness.
Abstract: Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine whether approaches to learning significantly mediated relations between cognitive flexibility (a component of executive functions) and school readiness in Head Start preschoolers. A total of 191 children from 22 Head Start classrooms were directly assessed on cognitive flexibility and school readiness. In addition, teachers rated children's approaches to learning in 3 domains (competence motivation, attention/persistence, and attitude toward learning) using the Preschool Learning Behaviors Scale (P. A. McDermott, L. F. Green, J. M. Francis, & D. H. Stott, 2000). Results of multilevel mediation analyses revealed that 1 component of approaches to learning—attention/persistence—significantly mediated the relation between cognitive flexibility and school readiness. These results suggest that part of the effect of cognitive flexibility on school readiness may be related to cognitive flexibility supporting children's approaches to learning. Practice or...
80 citations
TL;DR: This article examined associations among Anglo acculturation, Latino enculturation and maternal beliefs, mother-child emotion talk, and emotion understanding in 40 Latino preschool-age children and their mothers.
Abstract: Research Findings: We examined associations among Anglo acculturation, Latino enculturation, maternal beliefs, mother–child emotion talk, and emotion understanding in 40 Latino preschool-age children and their mothers. Mothers self-reported Anglo acculturation, Latino enculturation, and beliefs about the value/danger of children's emotions and parent/child roles in emotion socialization. Mother–child emotion talk was observed during a Lego storytelling task. Children's emotion understanding was measured using 2 age-appropriate tasks. Correlations showed that mothers' Latino enculturation was associated with mothers' stronger belief in guiding children's emotions and children's lower emotion understanding. Anglo acculturation was associated with mothers' lower belief that emotions can be dangerous and children's better emotion understanding. Mothers with a stronger belief in guiding children's emotions more frequently labeled emotions. Mothers with a stronger belief that emotions can be dangerous less freq...
76 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined teachers' implementation of Banking Time, a set of techniques designed to promote positive, supportive relationships through 1-on-1 interactions between teachers and children, finding that teachers with higher levels of professional development support were more likely to implement Banking Time with children in their classes.
Abstract: Research Findings: Banking Time is a set of techniques designed to promote positive, supportive relationships through 1-on-1 interactions between teachers and children. Web-based training resources were made available to 252 preschool teachers who received different levels of support as a component of a professional development intervention, and the purpose of this study was to examine teachers' implementation of Banking Time. Teachers with greater levels of professional development support were more likely to implement Banking Time with children in their classes. Teachers were more likely to choose to implement Banking Time with children who had lower social-emotional skills (e.g., more problem behaviors). Teachers developed greater relational closeness with children who participated in Banking Time than with children who did not participate. Practice or Policy: The implications of these preliminary findings for fostering supportive teacher–child relationships are discussed.
TL;DR: It is found that effortful control was positivelyrelated to teacher–child relationship quality, which in turn was positively related to school attitudes, which was mediated by teacher– child relationship quality.
Abstract: Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of children's effortful control and quality of relationships with teachers to school attitudes longitudinally in an ethnically diverse and economically disadvantaged sample. Data were collected as part of a larger intervention project during mid-fall, winter, and late spring (ns = 823, 722, and 758, respectively) for 2 cohorts of 3- to 5-year-olds (collected during 2 different school years). Children's effortful control was assessed in the fall with parents' and teachers' reports and 2 behavioral measures. Teacher–child relationship quality was assessed mid-year with teachers' reports of closeness and conflict. Attitudes toward school were assessed in late spring using teachers' and students' reports of school avoidance and liking. Effortful control, in general, was positively correlated with teacher–child closeness and school liking and negatively correlated with conflict and school avoidance. Using structural equation modeling and...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the validity of a direct measure of behavioral regulation, the Head-to-Toes Task (HTT), in Taiwanese 3.5-4.5 year olds.
Abstract: Research Findings: Behavioral regulation (the integration of attention, working memory, and inhibitory control) is critical for school readiness and early academic achievement. In Taiwan, however, where academic success is highly valued, there is a dearth of assessments available to measure young children's behavioral regulation. The present study examined the validity of a direct measure of behavioral regulation, the Head-to-Toes Task (HTT), in Taiwanese 3.5- to 4.5-year-olds. The goals were to (a) investigate the nature and variability of HTT scores and (b) explore relations between HTT scores and early math and vocabulary skills and teacher-rated classroom behavioral regulation in the spring of the preschool year. Results indicated that the HTT captured substantial variability and was significantly related to early math and vocabulary skills after controlling for age, mother's education level, and teacher-rated classroom behavioral regulation but was not significantly related to teacher ratings of clas...
TL;DR: LeBuffe et al. as discussed by the authors examined parent-teacher agreement and reliability of the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) English and Spanish forms in a large sample of impoverished, ethnically diverse preschoolers.
Abstract: Research Findings: Social-emotional competence is especially important for children living in poverty, and effective assessment of social-emotional skills is critical. This study examined parent–teacher agreement and reliability of the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA; P. A. LeBuffe & J. A. Naglieri, 1999) English and Spanish forms in a large (n = 7,756) sample of impoverished, ethnically diverse preschoolers. Both forms were reliable. Parents reported greater social-emotional protective factors and behavioral concerns than teachers. Parent–teacher agreement was moderate (rs = .20–.28) and consistent with previous research. Parent–teacher agreement was higher when both informants completed the survey in the same language. Agreement was highest for average-functioning children, according to a standardized assessment of cognition, language, and motor skills that was also administered. Parents rated low-functioning children more favorably than did teachers; teachers rated high-functioning children m...
TL;DR: This paper examined the relationship between preschool children's social outcomes in the classroom (including hyperactivity, aggression, and social skills) and their media viewing habits (including the amount of television they watched and whether they watch videos/movies that are rated as inappropriate for young children).
Abstract: Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between preschool children's social outcomes in the classroom (including hyperactivity, aggression, and social skills) and their media viewing habits (including the amount of television they watch and whether they watch videos/movies that are rated as inappropriate for young children). The participants were 92 low-income pre-kindergarten-age children for whom we obtained parent reports of media viewing habits and teacher reports of classroom behavior. The results suggested that viewing of inappropriate content was associated with higher hyperactivity and aggression scores and a lower social skills rating, whereas the amount of viewing was not related to these classroom outcomes. Policy: There has been a great deal of focus on how both the amount and content of television viewed affects social development in middle and later childhood. These studies have helped influence the development of guidelines for parents of young children ...
TL;DR: In this article, a study with 4 early childhood programs in a medium-size city in Canada investigating young children's and educators' perspectives on engagement and learning possibilities outdoors was conducted.
Abstract: Research Findings: This article reports on a study undertaken with 4 early childhood programs in a medium-size city in Canada investigating young children’s and educators’ perspectives on engagement and learning possibilities outdoors. A rights-based methodology including participant observations and interactive activities with children as well as focus groups and discussion groups with educators reveals the diversity and richness of young children’s learning opportunities in the natural outdoor space. Educators also talk about forming more egalitarian and fulfilling relationships with children in outdoor activities. The value educators placed on play in natural spaces led to the creation of opportunities for play outside and motivated educators to support children’s interactions outdoors by mediating policy and societal fear of the risk of outdoor play. Practice or Policy: The results of the study highlight the value of a learning community for early childhood educators so that they might support children’s full use of outdoor space and the critical role of adult allies in advocating for rights-based programming.
TL;DR: In this paper, a study was conducted to shed light on how children perceive the differences between their early childhood setting and primary school and what they felt they learned when they started primary school.
Abstract: Research Findings: The aim of this study was to shed light on how children perceive the differences between their early childhood setting and primary school and what they felt they learned when they started primary school. The children's playschool teachers were co-researchers, participating in the data generation, as well as participants in the study. The study was premised on a view of children as strong and competent actors in their own lives and a belief that the voices of children should be heard and taken seriously. Children's perspectives were elicited through group interviews and children's drawings a few months after they started primary school. Practice or Policy: The results of this study indicate that the children had the experience, knowledge, and ability to reflect on both their playschool experience and the transition to primary school and therefore that their voices should be heard and listened to by adults, thereby enabling children's perspectives to influence policy and practice.
TL;DR: The role of assistant teachers in classroom management and teaching was examined in a nationally representative sample of 3,191 state-funded pre-kindergarten classes as discussed by the authors, where most classrooms had at least 1 paid assistant teacher, and classrooms with multiple assistants were more likely to be in Head Start.
Abstract: Assistant teachers are a ubiquitous yet virtually overlooked part of the early education workforce. Assistant teacher education level and its relationship to various classroom characteristics and the roles lead teachers feel assistants play in classroom management and teaching were examined in a nationally representative sample of 3,191 state-funded prekindergarten classes. Research Findings: Most classrooms had at least 1 paid assistant teacher, and classrooms with multiple assistants were more likely to be in Head Start. Lead teachers in public schools were more likely to have a bachelor's degree or higher, to be paired with an assistant with a high school degree, and to report fewer release hours for planning (alone or shared with assistants) than teachers in Head Start. Hierarchical multiple regression indicated that assistant teachers were rated as most useful to teaching duties when the classroom was in a Head Start setting, when the discrepancy between the lead and assistant teachers’ education was...
TL;DR: This article investigated how neighborhoods and neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage impact school readiness over time using the Early Development Instrument (EDI) for three populations of kindergartners in 2001, 2003, and 2005 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Abstract: Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to investigate how neighborhoods and neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage impact school readiness over time School readiness was measured using the Early Development Instrument (EDI) for 3 populations of kindergartners in 2001, 2003, and 2005 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada EDI results revealed that mean scores for the EDI domains of (a) physical health and well-being and (b) communication and general knowledge have been decreasing over time, although this varied according to neighborhood A derived summary measure of socioeconomic disadvantage at the neighborhood level was significantly associated with declining scores in the EDI domain of physical health and well-being Practice or Policy: These findings suggest a need for policy and programs that address the underlying determinants of poor school readiness scores, such as socioeconomic disadvantage at the neighborhood level
TL;DR: This article examined the relation between contextual risk, maternal negative emotionality, and preschool teacher reports of negative emotion dysregulation of children from economically disadvantaged families, and found a direct pathway linking family adversity to child negative emotions dysregulation and indirect pathways for both family and neighborhood adversity through maternal negative emotions.
Abstract: Research Findings: This study examined relations between contextual risk, maternal negative emotionality, and preschool teacher reports of the negative emotion dysregulation of children from economically disadvantaged families. Contextual risk was represented by cumulative indexes of family and neighborhood adversity. The results showed a direct pathway linking family adversity to child negative emotion dysregulation and indirect pathways for both family and neighborhood adversity through maternal negative emotionality. Practice or Policy: The results suggest the importance of conceptualizing distal and contextual aspects of the ecology of disadvantage as well as more proximal caregiving variables in interventions targeted for young children showing negative emotion dysregulation.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the effects of early childhood educators' participation in an in-service training program on the aggressive and prosocial behaviors of preschool-age children, and found that the children in the experimental group used significantly more prosocial behaviours following the inservice training.
Abstract: Research Findings: This study examined the effects of educators' participation in an in-service training program on the aggressive and prosocial behaviors of preschool-age children. Seventeen early childhood educators were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. A total of 68 preschool children, 4 from each educator's classroom, also participated. The educator–child play groups included boys and girls. Educators in the experimental group received in-service training on how to facilitate peer interaction; educators in the control group received training on adult–child dyadic interaction strategies. Videotaped interactions of small-group play were coded to capture the frequency of children's use of aggressive and prosocial behaviors. Decreases in aggressive behaviors were found for boys but not for girls. Compared to the control group, the children in the experimental group used significantly more prosocial behaviors following the in-service training. Follow-up studies measuring the stability ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored how stakeholders in a large urban pre-kindergarten program struggled to implement an assessment tool that aligned the normative academic achievement expectations found among their teachers and administrators with the absolute measures of this construct found in their state policymakers' high-stakes standards-based accountability reforms.
Abstract: Research Findings: The emergence of standards-based accountability reforms in early childhood education has created new challenges for the field. This article presents findings from a case study that explored how stakeholders in a large urban pre-kindergarten program struggled to implement an assessment tool that aligned the normative academic achievement expectations found among their teachers and administrators with the absolute measures of this construct found in their state policymakers' high-stakes standards-based accountability reforms. Analyzing the tension that emerged in this process of alignment highlights the challenges early educators face as they fold their child-centered programs into these larger high-stakes standards-based kindergarten through grade 12 education systems. Practice and Policy: The findings from this study illuminate the need for early childhood education programs to understand how high-stakes standards-based accountability reforms define student achievement. Furthermore, as ...
TL;DR: In this paper, a 3-path mediation path model was tested with the relations between parental expressivity and child adjustment outcomes mediated through child physiological regulation and behavioral regulation, and there was evidence to suggest that physiological regulation was 2 mediating mechanisms by which parental high positive/low negative expressivity may influence adaptive skills.
Abstract: Research Findings: Parental expressivity, child physiological regulation (indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia suppression), child behavioral regulation, and child adjustment outcomes were examined in 45 children (M age = 4.32 years, SD = 1.30) and their parents. With the exception of child adjustment (i.e., internalizing and externalizing problems and adaptive skills), which were assessed with parents' ratings, all variables were observed behaviorally or physiologically. A 3-path mediation path model was tested with the relations between parental expressivity and child adjustment outcomes mediated through child physiological regulation and behavioral regulation. Despite low power to detect the mediated effect, there was evidence to suggest that physiological regulation and behavioral regulation were 2 mediating mechanisms by which parental high positive/low negative expressivity may influence adaptive skills. Thus, parental expressivity may shape children's physiological regulation. And physiological ...
TL;DR: The position of tamariki Māori, the indigenous children of Aotearoa, in relation to the impact of colonization on their rights, including a focus on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the current educational policy arena, is considered in this article.
Abstract: Research Findings: This paper considers the position of tamariki Māori, the indigenous children of Aotearoa (a Māori name for New Zealand), in relation to the impact of colonization on their rights, including a focus on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the current educational policy arena. It then provides an explication of a Māori perspective of tika and tikanga, Māori rights as enacted through a Māori worldview. We then proceed to offer some illustrations from our recent research projects in Aotearoa New Zealand of ways in which teachers are engaging with tamariki and whānau Māori (Māori children and families) in endeavors that give expression to pedagogical enactment respectful and reflective of tikanga Māori (values and cultural practices). Practice or Policy: It is concluded that there are possibilities for early childhood pedagogies that enable a re-narrativizing of Māori ways of being, knowing, and doing in affirmation of children's rights to identity possibili...
TL;DR: This article evaluated the effects of a family literacy program on the early English reading development of speakers of English as a first language (EL1s) and English language learners (ELLs).
Abstract: Research Findings: The present study evaluated the effects of a Family Literacy program on the early English reading development of speakers of English as a first language (EL1s) and English language learners (ELLs). The study included a linguistically and culturally diverse sample of 132 kindergarten children and their parents. Families in the experimental group participated in a 9-week intervention program that was designed to promote early literacy in the home, whereas those in the control group did not receive the intervention. Both the experimental and control groups included EL1 and ELL children. Dependent variables included children's gains in alphabet knowledge, conventions of print, and meaning. Results indicated that ELL children in the experimental group made greater gains in their knowledge of the alphabet and their ability to infer meaning from print than EL1 children in the experimental group and both ELL and EL1 controls. There were no language group differences in children's gains in conve...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated relations among preschool teachers' sense of community, classroom language and literacy instructional quality, and children's gains in vocabulary and print concept knowledge during an academic year.
Abstract: Research Findings: This study investigated relations among preschool teachers' (n = 75) sense of community, classroom language and literacy instructional quality, and children's (n = 398) gains in vocabulary and print concept knowledge during an academic year. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) results indicated that teachers' language and literacy instructional quality significantly predicted children's gains in print concept knowledge. Also, HLM results revealed significant interactions among teachers' sense of community, language and literacy instructional quality, and vocabulary and print concept knowledge gains. Higher levels of teachers' sense of community were associated with greater gains in children's vocabulary and print concept knowledge when children were in classrooms with higher quality language and literacy instruction. Practice or Policy: Findings underscore the importance of evaluating both language and literacy instructional quality and teachers' sense of community when considering high-...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the efficacy of the 2nd strategy: offering wage incentives to encourage in-service training and to reduce job turnover in early childhood teachers and caregivers, and found a priori low levels of staff turnover among those who selected into the CRI program.
Abstract: Research Findings: Aiming to raise the quality of early childhood teachers and caregivers and to reduce turnover, government and professional associations are pursuing 2 intervention strategies. The 1st mandates higher credential levels, as seen with Head Start and state preschool reforms. Here we examine the efficacy of the 2nd strategy: offering wage incentives to encourage in-service training and to reduce job turnover. We followed 2,783 preschool center directors, teachers, and classroom aides who participated in California's Child-care Retention Incentive (CRI) program during a 3-year period. County-designed programs offered differing combinations of wage supplements and professional development to participants who pursued college-level training. We found a priori low levels of staff turnover among those who selected into the CRI program. This conditioned the modest program effects that we observed and revealed the segmented character of the early childhood labor force, which appears to shape selecti...
TL;DR: The authors examined the extent to which maternal sensitivity in infancy and toddlerhood is associated with children's social and relational competence and problems in the early years of schooling as well as the extent that this association is mediated by children's effortful control abilities.
Abstract: Research Findings: This study examined the extent to which maternal sensitivity in infancy and toddlerhood is associated with children's social and relational competence and problems in the early years of schooling as well as the extent to which this association is mediated by children's effortful control abilities. Data from 1,364 children (705 boys, 659 girls), their mothers, and teachers from the longitudinal National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development were used. Maternal sensitivity was assessed by coding semistructured videos of mother–child interactions; effortful control was assessed by maternal report; and children's social competence, problems, and relationships with teachers and peers were assessed by school observations and teacher report. Structural equation models examined the extent to which there was an association between maternal sensitivity and children's social and relational competence and problems as well as the extent to wh...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the possibilities and quandaries for young children's active citizenship through analysis of the participation of a class of children aged 5 to 6 years in a social justice storytelling program.
Abstract: Research Findings: Concepts of children's citizenship are highly contested. Contemporary policy and rhetoric increasingly includes the concept of citizenship in relation to children, yet there is considerable ambiguity as to what children's citizenship actually means. Unlike other marginalized groups, it is not children claiming citizenship rights for themselves but adults claiming rights for children on their behalf. Practice or Policy: This paper draws from a doctoral study that inquired into possibilities for young children's active citizenship through analysis of the participation of a class of children aged 5 to 6 years in a social justice storytelling program. Possibilities and quandaries for young children's active citizenship are proposed from critical and poststructuralist readings of young children's comments and actions in response to unfair treatment of others experienced through live storytelling. Implications of these possibilities and quandaries are suggested for those who work with young c...
TL;DR: In this article, student participation in a summer program bridging the 1st and 2nd grade academic years was recorded to examine selection and efficacy issues related to a summer school implementation in the Pacific Northwest.
Abstract: Research Findings: Multiple student cohorts were longitudinally tracked and student participation in a summer program bridging the 1st- and 2nd-grade academic years was recorded to examine selection and efficacy issues related to a summer school implementation in the Pacific Northwest. The estimation of regression discontinuity models uncovered evidence of a local average treatment effect. At the cutscore for program admission, participating students had estimated summer oral reading fluency gains approximately 0.40 SD larger than those of nonparticipants. Further examination of the literacy outcomes among the sample of cutscore eligible students revealed that struggling readers who participated in the summer program increased their level of reading fluency relative to struggling readers who declined an invitation to participate. However, the advantage gained by cutscore eligible participants was not sustained over the subsequent academic year. Practice or Policy: These results suggest that supplemental s...