Recent and ongoing research has demonstrated the alarming likelihood of children from low-income homes and from ethnic minorities to read at much lower reading levels than their peers. Additionally, reading ability is related to the earliest of emergent literacy skills, which can be measured in young children before they enter formal schooling. The home environment, including the available resources, support for literacy and school, and the parent-child relationship, plays an important role in promoting the development of emergent literacy skills. More research is needed, however, to inform programs and researchers about the specific relationship between the home environment and emergent literacy development. The current study was conducted using a sample of 122 preschool children enrolled in ERF enriched preschool classrooms in one school located in a Southwestern state. The study investigated the power of three variables of the home literacy environment (HLE) (i.e., Family Reading and Writing, External Resources, and Daily Activities) to predict three emergent literacy outcomes (i.e., receptive oral language, alphabet knowledge, and name writing) using canonical correlation analysis (CCA). The study also used commonality regression analysis to examine the shared and unique variance in these emergent literacy outcomes accounted for by the variables of the HLE and the parent-child relationship. The results of the CCA did not find the variables of the HLE to have a statistically significant relationship with the emergent literacy outcomes. Missing data techniques were used to account for incomplete data, and he results were closer to obtaining statistical significance when the more advanced method of multiple imputation was used to account for missing data, with the p-value decreasing from .751 with listwise deletion to between .094 and .504 with multiple imputation. The second analysis of the study, the commonality regression analysis, did find home variables to account for unique and shared variance in the emergent literacy outcomes, particularly in preschool name writing. Specifically, the External Resources scale of the Familia Inventory (Taylor, 2000) uniquely accounted for the smallest amount of variance (i.e., .1 percent) in name writing, while the scores of the PCRI uniquely accounted for the largest amount of variance (i.e., 3.4 percent). When combined together, however, the predictor variables accounted for larger amounts of variance in name writing ability. The Familia Inventory scale of External Resources accounted for the smallest amount of variance when combined with the other predictor variables (i.e., 21.5 percent) while the scores on the PCRI accounted for the largest combined amount of variance, accounting for 31.4 percent of the variance in name writing ability. These results complement and extend on existing research. The findings, limitations, and implications of the results of this study are discussed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [160]-165). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves : [46]-52).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Minnesota, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-201)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [160]-165). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Simon Fraser University, 2007. / Theses (School of Interactive Arts & Technology) / Simon Fraser University. Senior supervisor: Dr. John Bowes -- School of Interactive Arts & Technology. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.(Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences))--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Summary in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references.

Is it possible for a student to create an information resource that helps someone in need? In a two month span, the student author conducted research into the availability of environmental articles and collected over 250 academic papers and grey literature. Library tools and services provided by The University of Arizona Libraries on Southwestern Environmental and Health Issues specifically targeting Native American communities were used to near exclusivity. Locating articles for the database was done quicker than expected by a Library Science student (the author) who had some previous familiarity with academic databases such as PubMED™ and Web of Science™. The database itself was designed in Drupal as a Deep Web (not public) Internet project and completed before schedule. Over the course of this research it was discovered that by properly utilizing library resources its possible for motivated students at the collegiate level to create a database of articles that could aid underserved groups with their understanding of desired specialized issues.

Children who have experienced developmental, social, or economic risks may benefit more from attending high-quality preschool intervention programs than their more advantaged peers; thus, programs that have delivered high-quality experiences may have served as a protective factor for these children to help reduce the achievement gap that has existed at school entry. The overarching purpose of this dissertation was to examine best practice in providing systemic early literacy interventions as a protective factor against school failure for young at-risk children. The three studies comprising this dissertation included analyses of systemic early literacy interventions for young children at risk of reading and school failure due to (a) developmental delays, (b) low socioeconomic status, or (c) English language learner status. Consistent with previous literature, the researcher found that children participating in a responsive early literacy intervention program were better prepared for kindergarten than were non-participating peers. Responsive early literacy interventions were defined as purposeful instruction designed to meet the educational needs of children by implementing an embedded-explicit or balanced approach to teaching. Attendance in high-quality early education programs - especially for children from disadvantaged backgrounds - was linked to lasting effects on indicators related to student achievement.