This study examined kindergarten teachers’ developmentally appropriate beliefs, developmentally appropriate practices, and their opinions about the current state of the kindergarten curriculum through the lens of teachers’ beliefs. A sample of 107 kindergarten teachers participated in the study by completing the Teacher Questionnaire on-line. The survey instrument was comprised of three sections; The Teachers Beliefs Questionnaire, The Instructional Activities Questionnaire, and the Opinions Questionnaire. The findings showed that kindergarten teachers had concerns and were frustrated with the current state of the kindergarten curriculum. The respondents who were comfortable with the current state of the kindergarten curriculum had extenuating circumstances such as working in invitation-only school or using a Montessori curriculum. The findings also showed that kindergarten teachers’ beliefs and practices were not aligned. The kindergarten teachers tended to have developmentally appropriate beliefs, but they did not often engage in developmentally appropriate practices. It was also found that kindergarten teachers’ beliefs and practices overall were not significantly correlated. In addition, the findings showed that kindergarten teachers in Title I schools engaged in more developmentally inappropriate practices than did the kindergarten teachers who were not at Title I schools. Kindergarten teachers with more than 18 years of teaching experience engaged in more developmentally appropriate practices than kindergarten teachers with 0-5 years of teaching experience and kindergarten teachers with 6-17 years teaching experience. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2017. / July 13, 2017. / Belifs, Concerns, Developmentally Appropriate Practices, Kindergarten Teachers, Opinions, Practices / Includes bibliographical references. / Ithel Jones, Professor Directing Dissertation; Thomas Welsh, University Representative; Elizabeth Jakubowski, Committee Member; Angela Davis, Committee Member.

The state of Florida’s voluntary prekindergarten (VPK) program is delivered through a mixed delivery service program model. The prekindergarten program is offered to all four year olds on a voluntary basis in a mix of public school and non-school settings. VPK program providers can be public schools, community-based childcare centers, private nursery schools, and faith-based preschools. The purpose of the study was to compare the performance of three types of providers, faith-based, public school, and private, in terms children’s readiness for kindergarten. In addition, the study examined the extent to which VPK providers’ readiness rates were impacted by the numbers of English Language Learners, students with exceptionalities, and children from low-socioeconomic families in their programs. Data for the study was obtained from the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Early Learning. The study utilized data concerning VPK provider’s performance for the 2010-2013 academic years. Participating in the study were 4110 (2011), 4169 (2012) and 4234 (2012) private, public and faith-based VPK providers. Children who had participated in the VPK program were assessed at the beginning of their kindergarten year using the Early Childhood Observation System (ECHOS) and the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading (FAIR) instruments. Children’s readiness for kindergarten was determined based on their performance on these instruments, and those scoring at or above threshold score were considered ready for school. VPK providers’ readiness scores were derived from students’ performance on the instruments and expressed as the proportion of their students scoring at or above the school readiness threshold on the assessment instruments. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a series of analyses of variance (ANOVA). The ANOVA compared the mean readiness rates of the three types of VPK providers. Then, using the numbers of English Language Learners, students with exceptionalities, and students from low SES families as covariate measures, an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to compare the mean readiness rates of the three provider types. Regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between the covariate measures and mean readiness rates of the provider types. The ANOVA reveled a statistically significant difference in the mean readiness rates across provider types such that faith-based providers had higher readiness rates than did the public and private providers. The ANCOVA findings differed in that the mean readiness rates of the public-school prekindergarten providers were higher than those of the faith-based and private providers. The regression analysis revealed that there was a relationship between the providers’ readiness rates and the numbers of English Language Learners and students from low SES families. It was concluded that there were differences in the overall performance of each type of VPK provider as indicated by measures of children’s school readiness. Data for the 2012-2013 academic year suggested that the public school VPK providers were more successful in terms of preparing their students for kindergarten. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2017. / October 30, 2017. / kindergarten readiness, prekindergarten, prekindergarten providers / Includes bibliographical references. / Ithel Jones, Professor Directing Dissertation; Colleen M. Kelley, University Representative; Angela Davis, Committee Member; Lindsay Dennis, Committee Member.

The present study examined the relation between early educational experiences the year before kindergarten entry and students’ academic and social-emotional outcomes in kindergarten and first grade. Data were drawn from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–2011 (ECLS-K: 2011) (N ≈13,400). Associations of different types of early care arrangements prior to kindergarten entry were examined by using propensity score matching (PSM) analyses for trajectories of reading, mathematics, science, approaches to learning, self-control skills and externalizing behavior problems. In this study, types of pre-kindergarten early education included: center-based care, state-funded center-based care, Head Start, parental care, care provided in a home by relatives or non-relatives, and care in another home by relatives or non-relatives. The associations between the variables of interest were compared for children who had attended center-based care, state-supported center-based care, or Head Start and the reference group which included parental care, care in the home, and care in another home. The results indicated that the majority of children in the U.S. had experienced different types of early education and care arrangements during the year before kindergarten entry. Results of comparisons between the groups for children who had attended three different types of pre-kindergarten and their counterparts such as parental care, care in the home, and care in another home emerged differently in terms of children’s cognitive and social-emotional outcomes measured in the fall and spring of kindergarten and in the spring of first grade. The findings revealed that, in general, there were significant differences between scores obtained by children who had attended the three types of center-based care (i.e., center-based care, state-supported center-based care, and Head Start) and their peers who had been in some type of home based care arrangement (i.e., parental care, care in home, and care in another home). Specifically, the findings showed that children’s attendance in center-based care was associated with higher cognitive outcomes in the areas of reading, mathematics and science during the kindergarten year, in comparison to their peers who had been in parental care. Yet, these differences were negligible by the time the participants were in first grade. On the other hand, Head Start participation was associated with significantly lower scores on the cognitive measures of reading, mathematics and science, during the kindergarten year, when compared to children who had been cared for in another home by relatives or non-relatives. Further when it comes to comparisons between state-supported center-based care groups and their peers who had received parental care, former state-supported center-based care attendees had higher scores on the measures of reading and mathematics at the beginning of the kindergarten year. However, this was not the case by the end of kindergarten and first grade. In terms of children’s social-emotional outcomes, all of the significant differences on the social emotional measures between the focus and reference groups were for the fall and spring kindergarten assessments. There were no significant findings for the 1st grade social-emotional measures. Further, examination of the data with regard to the interaction between race and different types of early education revealed only one significant difference between race and participation in center-based care on the first-grade measure of externalizing problem behaviors. The findings provide information that should be of interest to researchers, teachers, parents, and policy makers in their efforts to understand the potential long-term consequences of children’s participation in different types of early education and care programs. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2018. / June 7, 2018. / academic achievement, early educational experience, social-emotional outcomes / Includes bibliographical references. / Ithel Jones, Professor Directing Dissertation; Yanyun Yang, University Representative; Diana Rice, Committee Member; Lindsay Dennis, Committee Member.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 254-265). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 51 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-51).

<p> The purpose of this study is to identify the frequency and type of math and spatial talk by family child care providers and assistants who speak Spanish to Latino children in the Northern California Bay Area. Two Spanish-speaking family child care providers and assistants were selected to participate in this study. Their language was audio recorded. The audio recorded data were transcribed, translated, and coded based on math and spatial categories. The findings show a greater frequency of spatial talk than math talk, specifically in the spatial categories of deictic terms and spatial location and direction. In the area of math talk, a higher frequency of math talk was found in the categories of cardinality, number symbol, counting, and conventional nominatives mirroring other studies. This study contributes to the research on Spanish-speaking family child care providers and assistants by identifying the frequency and specific categories of math and spatial talk provided in these family child care programs.</p>

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1993. / Includes tables. Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Celia Genishi. Dissertation Committee: Craig E. Richards. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-171).

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.