<p> Over two-thirds of youth participate in a structured sport, making it a vital context in which transactional relations with cognitive development can occur. Yet, little is known about how these constructs inform one another across childhood. Most previous studies have focused on health benefits of sport participation, or on demographic and family characteristics as predictors of participation. Though some previous literature has explored the cognitive impacts of sport participation during childhood, as well as whether early cognitive skills may predict later sport participation, critical gaps remain. Specifically, there is a need to investigate the extent to which there are longitudinal relations between these constructs as well as the nature of those associations throughout childhood. Thus, this dissertation examines whether: (1) participating in sports during preschool predicts kindergarten cognitive outcomes (i.e., executive functioning, math, language, literacy), (2) executive functioning and pre-academic skills (i.e., math, language, literacy) at 54 months predict participating in a structured sport (open-skilled, closed-skilled) in third and fifth grade, and (3) if there are bidirectional relations between executive functioning and academic outcomes (i.e., math, language, literacy) and structured sports (open-skilled, closed-skilled) in third and fifth grade. Findings from this dissertation indicated that associations between sport participation and cognition in children are complex, such that the direction of these associations likely depend on developmental period and conceptualization of sport. In particular, there may be positive transactional relations between early sport and cognitive skills, but not in middle childhood. Further, the results suggest that there may be bidirectional relations between open-skilled sport participation and executive functioning across childhood. In addition, almost all associations between closed-skilled sport participation and cognitive skills were nonsignificant. Thus, open-skilled sport participation may demand more cognitive resources than closed-skilled sport participation. Results from this dissertation reinforce the need to use intensive longitudinal data analysis to continue exploring transactional relations between sport participation, executive functioning, and academic skills. Finally, it is vital to reconsider how we evaluate sport participation in children and to include context-specific measures of participation that likely influence relations between these constructs. </p>

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In the United States, approximately 400,000 children reside in foster care, and most have been exposed to caregiver abuse, neglect, or abandonment. A majority of foster children suffer the effects of damaging circumstances including poverty, violence, inferior health care, and substandard housing. Consequently, young foster youth frequently struggle to accomplish developmental tasks such as establishing secure attachment relationships, cultivating preacademic skills, and acquiring social-emotional competence. The purpose of this research was to determine the impact of Peace4Kids, a nonprofit community-based organization, on young foster youths’ social-emotional development and pre-academic skills. Data collected from parents, teachers, and administrators during semi-structured interviews documented children’s experiences as they attended the organization’s Saturday Core Program. Participants noted that as foster children participated in a variety of curricular and co-curricular experiences at Peace4Kids, their social, emotional, and academic development were positively impacted. Parents, teachers, and administrators reported that the organization’s culture of consistency, trust, and accountability promoted secure attachment relationships among foster youth, staff members, and peers at the Saturday Core Program. Participants iterated that secure relationships provided a foundation for foster children to subsequently acquire social and emotional capacities, including persistence, conflict resolution, self-regulation, and autonomy. As youth in foster care developed social-emotional competencies, pre-academic skills such as literacy and numeracy emerged. This study’s findings indicate that a comprehensive approach is necessary to address the unique needs of foster children who have experienced prior trauma. Additionally, this research study contributes to a growing body of work that explores the role of attachment relationships in group and organizational settings.

The purpose of this systematic review of using digital activity schedules as an intervention in individuals with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disabilities is to determine to what extent the current research shows it to be an effective intervention. For articles to be included in this review, they had to use a digitally presented activity schedule, the activity schedule could not be a task analysis of a single activity or a group visual schedule, and the intervention must have been carried out with individuals with autism or intellectual disabilities. Studies meeting the inclusion criteria totaled 17 studies with a total of 58 participants included. The studies focused on the effects of using digital activity schedules to teach leisure skills, independent living skills, and academic skills across various age groups. Settings of the intervention, ages of participants, varying participant characteristics, and What Works Clearinghouse quality indicator standards in each study are examined. Results show that interventions were heavily concentrated in early childhood age groups, teaching leisure activities, and were often combined with other concurrent interventions. Future research should focus on more interventions implemented with individuals in secondary education, independent living skills, and rigorous methodological standards as defined by the What Works Clearinghouse quality indicators.

The management style being used by school personnel in Texas and across the nation today is predominately that of a bureaucracy. This model was organized around the industrial revolution that was exercising authority at the turn of the century. Writers and researchers have pointed out that such a model is not capable of providing students the knowledge and skills they will need to enter an increasingly demanding society. One management style relatively new to the educational arena today is that of Total Quality Management. This study reports the results of the impact of the training in those principles by measurement of student test scores.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of cooperative learning in a liberal arts mathematics course and to examine any gender-related differences in the effects of cooperative learning in terms of achievement, composition of the cooperative groups, mathematics anxiety, attitudes toward mathematics, attendance, and retention. The quasi-experimental design compared a control section using individualized learning methods with three treatment sections using cooperative learning methods based on the Learning Together model of Johnson and Johnson (1991). The compositions of the three treatment groups varied: heterogeneous ability/heterogeneous gender, heterogeneous ability/homogeneous gender, and self-selected. The Academic Skills Assessment Program (ASAP) was used as a pre-test to show that the groups were equal. The Revised Math Attitude Scale and the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS) were used as pre- and post-tests to measure changes in attitudes and anxiety. Achievement was measured by individual and group course grades. Group grades were determined by taking 67% of a student's individual exam score plus 33% of the group's average on the exam. Cooperative learning and composition of groups had no significant effect on achievement. The differences between individual and group grades were insignificant, and the group grading method benefited the grades of only five students. Attendance had a large effect on achievement, and the ASAP score and the Math Attitude Post-test were significant predictors of achievement. / The MARS post-test was negatively correlated with individual course grade. While no significant gender-related differences surfaced, some trends appeared. The ASAP, MARS, and Math Attitude pre-test scores were equal, however, females achieved slightly higher course grades than males. In each of the four research groups the individual course grades were higher for females than for males. Also, females had a larger decrease in mathematics anxiety with a drop of 22 points compared to the males' drop of 10 points. Males and females each improved their attitudes toward mathematics by only one point, however, in three of the four research groups, females had smaller attitude changes than males, and two of the cooperative learning groups had decreases in their attitude scores.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.

The overall aim of the study was to determine whether an intervention programme, based on an integrated positive brain programming- and brain gym exercise programme, could be used to improve the academic skills of learners with a limited intellectual ability. A literature review was used to provide an overview of the learner with a limited intellectual ability, learning barriers to cognitive processes, as well as elements which have a positive influence on the learning receptiveness and academic skills of learners with a limited intellect. An empirical study consisting of a quasi-experimental study was conducted over a period of eight weeks. The sample in this study consisted of fourteen learners in the intermediate phase of a school for learners with severe mental delay in Kempton Park. They were randomly divided into an Experimental and a Control Group. Measuring instruments that were used for pre- and post testing were the ESSl Reading- and Spelling tests. The UK Graded reading test and the UK Speed Reading test, as well as the VASSl Mathematics efficiency tests. The empirical study led to the following conclusions: an intervention programme, based on an integrated positive brain programming- and brain gym exercise programme, is an effective technique to improve the academic skills of learners with a limited intellectual ability; the academic skills that improved most were word recognition, and then numeracy followed by spelling. Reading speed was the skill that improved least, however it was still better that that of the Control Group. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.

The overall aim of the study was to determine whether an intervention programme, based on an integrated positive brain programming- and brain gym exercise programme, could be used to improve the academic skills of learners with a limited intellectual ability. A literature review was used to provide an overview of the learner with a limited intellectual ability, learning barriers to cognitive processes, as well as elements which have a positive influence on the learning receptiveness and academic skills of learners with a limited intellect. An empirical study consisting of a quasi-experimental study was conducted over a period of eight weeks. The sample in this study consisted of fourteen learners in the intermediate phase of a school for learners with severe mental delay in Kempton Park. They were randomly divided into an Experimental and a Control Group. Measuring instruments that were used for pre- and post testing were the ESSl Reading- and Spelling tests. The UK Graded reading test and the UK Speed Reading test, as well as the VASSl Mathematics efficiency tests. The empirical study led to the following conclusions: an intervention programme, based on an integrated positive brain programming- and brain gym exercise programme, is an effective technique to improve the academic skills of learners with a limited intellectual ability; the academic skills that improved most were word recognition, and then numeracy followed by spelling. Reading speed was the skill that improved least, however it was still better that that of the Control Group. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.

The Admissions and Information Office of the Pontifical Catholic University of Perú, through its Evaluation Section, is responsible forthe design and application of tests that must be given by any applicant who wants to follow higher education. This article describes the process of developing these testing tools, and introduces a general reflection –based on gained experience– about the new challenges we face in the field of evaluation of skills in higher education. / En la PUCP, la Oficina Central de Admisión e Informes, a través de la Sección Evaluación, es la unidad encargada del diseño y aplicación de las pruebas que se aplican a casi la totalidad de los postulantes a los estudios universitarios. En el presente artículo se describe el proceso de construcción de estos instrumentos y se presenta una reflexión general a partir de la experiencia obtenida y los nuevos retos en el ámbito de la evaluación de habilidades en la formación universitaria.