The purpose of this study was to add to the understanding of how teachers impact the emotional and behavioral development of kindergartners. This study looked at teacher beliefs, internal thought patterns about a student whose emotion regulation is immature, the behavior is disruptive, and challenging for his or her teacher. It examined multiple aspects of the teacher’s response to the student’s behavior in order answer the questions: Are the strategies used by the teacher for managing disruptive and challenging behavior consistent with her attachment style? How does this affect the academic trajectory of the student? Based on results of the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) and the Teacher Relationship Interview (TRI), the primary findings of the study indicate that most of the teachers participating in the study were engaging with a challenging student from a secure attachment classification. The STRS provided information about the teacher’s concern for the ability of the student to make an adequate adjustment to school. Those students with high conflict and low total scores were most likely to have behavior problems in 2nd grade. Also, the level of stress produced by the highly conflictual relationship was at times destabilizing for the teacher. Depending on whether the attachment status of the teacher was secure-continuous, secure-earned, or insecure, the ability of the teacher to be resilient in the face of the stress was affected.

Literature indicates that in past years a controversy has arisen as to the proper time and methods to begin the instruction of reading to young children. Most recent research indicates that authorities do not advocate formalized instruction by which whole classes or groups of children participate in a given program. however, recent literature also indicates a trend toward structured and formalized reading by public school teaching staff. While there is a great deal of research in the area of early reading, the research is not definitive. Consequently, a need remains for definitive research that can help in answering questions about when and how to instruct children in reading. This study was conducted with 185 kindergarten children. Eighty-nine of the selected children participated in Sullivan's Programmed Reading, Series E, in their kindergarten year. The remaining ninety-six children did not participate in Sullivan's Programmed Reading, Series E, in their kindergarten year. Rather they participated in a more traditional kindergarten atmosphere. Non-participating kindergarten children did begin instruction in formalized reading in their first grade year. The purpose of the study was to determine if children who participated in Sullivan's Programmed Reading, Series E, in kindergarten would indicate more growth than non-Participating children by the time both groups entered third grade. The study was designed to test three hypotheses stated in the null form. The first hypothesis was that there would be no significant difference in reading ability between children who participated in Sullivan's Programmed Reading, Series E, and those who did not by the time both groups of children entered third grade. This hypothesis was confirmed. The second hypothesis was that there would be no significant difference in reading ability of participating and non-participating children based on the the mother's highest educational level. This hypothesis was confirmed. The third hypothesis was that there would be no significant difference in reading ability of participating and no-participating children based upon the sex of those children selected. This hypothesis was not confirmed. The instrument used was the SRA (Science Research Associates) Achievement Series. Children were tested at the beginning of their second and third grade years. The difference between their second grade score and their third grade score was determined to detect if kindergarten participants in formalized reading would reflect more growth than non-participating children. The chi square method for analyzing data was employed to determine if differences in test performance between the groups of children were statistically reliable. The level of significance of testing differences was at the .05 level.

Children's popularity is of concern in this study and the effect on the child's sociometric status after a series on empathy teaching has been presented. An objective of the study was to see if children in the isolated or rejected sociometric status would change to popular and amiable status after being taught empathy skills. Another objective was to find an intervention program which would teach children empathy skills. in order to measure children's abilities in sociometric choice, a sociometric technique devised by Dr. Craig Peery at Utah State University was used. The empathy tool used to measure children's empathy skills was the Interpersonal Awareness Test from Carnegie-Mellon University by Helen Borke. A modified version of the Feshback and Roe slides was the empathy teaching tool. The children were given pretest and post-test on both the sociometric measurement and the empathy skill measurement. Kindergarten children from three schools in the Weber County School District were tested. They were all 5 to 6 years of age and were divided into control and experimental groups, 66 in the control and 81 in the experimental. The results of the study indicated little evidence that an intervention program of two months made a significant difference. It was found, however, that children of both control and experimental groups do increase scoring in an empathy test which measures pre and post testing. It was also found that children do change sociometric status to a greater extent in the experimental group than in the control and that popular children do score higher on the empathy test with isolate children scoring lowest. All children did increase in empathy scoring but not at a significant difference of .05.

Participants for this investigation were 146 kindergarten teachers and 436 parents of kindergarteners in Davis and Weber School Districts. Self-administered questionnaires were utilized, 1) to determine if teachers, mothers and fathers believe that parents could do more to prepare children for kindergarten, 2) to delineate what each group believes parents can do, 3) to investigate what mothers and fathers have done in preparing their children for kindergarten, 4) to explore what skills teachers, mothers and fathers credit as most important for children to possess upon kindergarten entry, and 5) to examine what skills these three groups feel should be emphasized in the kindergarten curricula. A variety of statistical analyses were used to compare teachers', mothers' and fathers' responses to the above questions. Major findings suggest that teachers differ significantly from do mothers and fathers in believing that parents could do more to prepare children for kindergarten. Additional differences were found in the nature of what the three groups felt parents could do, with parents mentioning intellectual skills significantly more often than teachers. Results also suggest that mothers more than fathers indicate that they take an active role in preparing their children for kindergarten. Teachers, mothers and fathers generally agree about which skills children should possess when they go to kindergarten. Listening, feeling confident, and following directions were found to be ranked highest in importance with writing and reading skills perceived as least important. All three groups held similar attitudes toward the kindergarten curricula, holding that a wide variety of skills are important and should be emphasized in kindergarten programs. The implications of current findings for parents and teachers are discussed.

This observational study examined the relationships among home literacy environments, classroom language-literacy environments, and lexical and early literacy skills for 101 (56 male, 45 female) preschool and kindergarten children between the ages of 48 and 69 months. Data for multiple regression analyses were collected from 14 classrooms across 7 early childhood education centers in central Florida using the Home Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ), the Early Language & Literacy Classroom Observation Toolkit (ELLCO), and the Kaufman Survey of Early Academic and Language Skills (KSEALS). Seven classrooms scored in the proficient-to-exemplary range on the ELLCO; 3 were rated as basic, and 4 were rated as limited. A statistically significant relationship (r = .20, p < .05) was identified between frequency of children’s visits to the public library and classroom quality ratings. The home literacy environment accounted for 8.1% of the variance in student Vocabulary scores (r = .29, p < .01) and 3.9% of the variance in Numbers, Letters and Words scores (r = .20, p < .05) above and beyond teacher and parent education levels. Correlations between ELLCO ratings and students’ K-SEALS subtest scores were statistically non-significant. Analyses revealed a statistically significant difference (t = - 4.75, p < .001) in ELLCO scores by age group. The number of children’s books at home was statistically related to vocabulary scores (r = .26, p < .01). Program costs were not statistically related to classroom quality (r = -.002, p < .996). It was suggested that early childhood professionals gather information about home literacy environments to assist in identifying at-risk students. Parents should be provided with resources to enhance children’s language-literacy experiences at home. Further, parents need assistance in evaluating and selecting high-quality early childhood education programs. The use of academic testing as an indirect measure of classroom quality was not supported. However, teachers’ educational backgrounds were related to classroom quality, highlighting the need for qualified providers. Early childhood teacher mentoring programs are needed to help improve classroom language-literacy curricula. Student assessments should be informed by the kinds of learning opportunities available to young children in their homes and communities.

The last fifteen years has seen an increase in the availability of calculators for use by schools and students. Educational authorities in Australia, the United States of America and the United Kingdom have come to recommend the student use of calculators from Kindergarten upwards. This recommendation has attracted continuing controversy, specifically regarding the use of, calculators in primary schools. Such controversy prompts an important question: What views do primary teachers themselves hold on this issue? This report examined the findings of a study into primary teachers' present attitudes toward the student use of calculators in primary mathematics classes. Data were collected from a questionnaire administered during 1990 to a sample of teachers undertaking their fourth year of study for a Bachelor of Education (Primary) at three university campuses in New South Wales, Australia. Those teachers who supported the primary student use of calculators believed that calculators are a technological tool for use in mathematics, that they increase childrens' confidence, they take the focus off computation in doing problems and that children use them outside the classroom. It was found that of these teachers, 55% supported the introduction of calculators before the end of Year 2. A total of 4% did not support their use at all in primary mathematics classes. This study concluded that there was not overall support from primary teachers for the introduction of the calculator into Kindergarten as recommended in the National Statement on the use of Calculators for Mathematics in Australian Schools / Master of Education

The role of gender in the social construction of literacy is investigated in some detail. Gender construction is examined by observing and analysing the literacy interactions of six kindergarten children (three boys and three girls) at school and in the home. The analysis shows the ways in which the girls and boys differ in attaining literacy skills, and also reveals the different interactions between the children and their families. The ways literacy is perceived in the home are also noted. The children responded in a much more uniform way in the classroom than they did in their individual home situations. The findings are significant for educational practice because they provide insight into how implicit structuring by teachers can affect the extent of participation of boys and girls in the classroom. The results indicate how analysis in the emergent state of literacy development is critical for a thorough understanding of gender construction. Significant theoretical insights are gained through a methodology using both a microanalysis and a macroanalysis. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

There is no doubt that the world is more flat and people are more multicultural and movable than 10 or 20 years ago. If you take a look at my case, I am a Spanish who meet a Taiwanese in New York and now I am forming a family in Taipei. During my childhood I didn’t learn any other language than my two natives’ languages (Catalan and Spanish), I started to study English with 20 years and since then I am still struggling trying to improve my language skills (English and Chinese). However, there is a way to avoid my long learning journey. As thousands of studies demonstrated, learning a language as a kid is a lot easier and faster than as adult, the main reason is because the brain’s cognitive flexibility decreases with age. Living in Taiwan for more than 2 years, I realized the importance that the Taiwanese parents give to the early education of their children and specially to learn languages, mainly English. For example, last April I went to the Toddlers Fair in the World Trade Center in Taipei, it was astonishing see that 70% of the Area was focused on books’ subscriptions with a lot of bilingual books. Another fact is that in almost any street you can find an English cram school or an English kindergarten. During my research I found that there is a lot of competition about English kindergarten, but I also found that there is no competition regarding other languages kindergarten besides the French and German section of the Taipei European School, with a prohibitive price. The lack of competition for trilingual kindergarten, plus the recent inflow of people with Spanish background that came to Taipei recently due to the ICDF program, makes me believe that there is a profitable niche to exploit in a trilingual kindergarten. Based in my estimation and the information obtained through the contact with the Spanish Speaking Countries’ embassies the approximate number of children between 0 and 6 years with one Spanish Speaking parent is around 100 (around 20 Embassies in Taiwan with an average of 5 children per embassy). Our target would be acquire around 40% of this market and use it as a hook to attract Taiwanese families interested in a multicultural experience for their children and other foreign families (targeting North American) interested in helping their children to boost their language skills. Hola Baby Kindergarten is a local Taiwanese company with 34 employees, 9 of them foreigners, created to help Taiwanese children to understand and learn from other cultures and to arouse interest to learning languages. The school is planned to be located in Tianmu neighborhood in Taipei with three different departments (Chinese, English and Spanish), each one in a different floor with different cultural decoration and motives to create three different worlds. Furthermore, each Department works independently in deciding their own individual activities under a general curriculum and monitored by a Committee formed by all the departmental heads and the Director. The parents are given a wide range of flexible plans to choose for their children, part-time or full-time. They may choose just one language plan for their children (Chinese, English or Spanish) or they may choose bilingual or trilingual schedule. However, even if the parents choose the one language schedule their children will also have a daily involvement in activities with other departments and cultures with the activity “Explore New Cultures”. Other factors we consider important in our school are the involvement of the parents in the children education, through the “Saturday Family Activities”; and to build up confidence to have an outgoing and sociable child through the “Monthly Theater Activities” and a curriculum full of fun and sharing activities.

Research continues to substantiate the influence of social, economic and family characteristics on students’ scholastic achievements. For example, children who are born in economically disadvantaged circumstances are more likely to score lower on tests that measure academic abilities than their same age economically advantaged peers (Brooks-Gunn and Markman, 2005; Rothstein, 2004). This dissertation examines the relationship between parenting interactions and young children's school readiness and initial academic success for a low-income, at-risk population in Georgia. The inter-disciplinary concept resiliency, defined as a process that encompasses positive adaptation within the context of significant adversity, frames the research (Arnold and Doctoroff, 2003; Henry et al 2005; Luthar, Cicchetti, and Becker (2000), p. 543). This dissertation utilized a subsample from a larger evaluation project, The Georgia Early Childhood Study, which looked at the effects of a state-funded universal Pre-K program. Participants in this study were at-risk children who attended either state lottery funded Georgia Pre-K or federally funded Head Start. Both qualitative and quantitative data were used. Quantitative data included norm-referenced test scores, teacher ratings, and parental surveys. Results show that at-risk children categorized as non-resilient scored lower on standardized assessments over a three-year period and were more likely to attend preschools of lower quality than their similarly economically advantaged counterparts. Qualitative data were used to gain an understanding of parental involvement that is not generally captured with traditional survey methods. The qualitative study encompassed in-depth interviews with parents of children classified as at-risk. The results show that parents report involvement in their child’s schooling, but that involvement among the non-resilient populations was more peripheral. Parents of children from the resilient group were more likely to use language that indicated involvement as a partner in their child’s education than parents from children in the non-resilient group. Parents from both groups, however, reported the difficulties they face in raising their children and were cognizant of the ways that being from a lower socio-economic group translates into parenting difficulties.

Empirical research on parents’ decision making process and parents’ actual criteria when considering preschool is critical when considering its relationship to early educational experiences and subsequent outcomes for children. Research has consistently demonstrated that the type and quality of preschool program children attend has implications for future academic success. A review of past research suggests parents often have difficulty assessing quality and include a wide range of considerations that include both practical and educational features of care. The current study utilized a transactional ecological framework to examine parent considerations and related family, child and cultural factors. A series of focus groups and interviews were conducted with parents to identify parent considerations and inform creation of a survey measure designed to assess these considerations. Surveys were then completed by 203 parents from varying socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds who had a child that qualified for state-funded preschool the following year. Parents were recruited from 20 centers including Head Start programs, private-for profit programs, religiously affiliated programs and one YMCA center. Exploratory factor analysis identified two highly correlated categories of considerations: 1) characteristics that designate several types of quality indicators and 2) characteristics that designate a program’s practical features. A series of hierarchical regressions indicated a combination of cultural, family and child factors are important when assessing parents’ considerations for pre-kindergarten. In particular, socioeconomic status, parents’ beliefs about childrearing and involvement and children’s prosocial skills and family structure were uniquely related to parental endorsement of quality and practical considerations. These findings have important implications for policymakers and practitioners.