A central problem in community colleges' developmental education programs concerns the over-emphasis on basic skills instruction to the possible exclusion of higher order thinking. Although the ability to read, write, and compute establishes an indispensable foundation for future academic success, basic skills instruction alone does not teach students how to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate ideas--all of which are imperative in the global, knowledge-based economy where creative thinking constitutes the primary form of capital. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to synthesize creativity research and developmental education by investigating the significance of creative thinking in developmental courses taught at Florida Community College at Jacksonville's Kent Campus. To fulfill the study's purpose, the researcher employed a qualitative research design and methodology through which she explored the perspectives and practices of twelve participants selected through stratified purposeful sampling. Representing different disciplines, the participants varied in their instructional classification (full-time versus part-time) and developmental teaching experience. Having designed a basic interpretive qualitative study, the researcher, as a human instrument, sought to understand the participants' perceptions regarding the importance of promoting creativity in developmental courses; the characteristics of classroom environments that facilitate creative thinking; as well as the instructional approaches and methods that foster such thinking. By triangulating the data collection through interviews, observations, and document analyses and by obtaining member checks of the interviews from the participants, the researcher endeavored to enhance the trustworthiness of the findings. Presented in the rich, thick description distinctive of qualitative analysis, the study revealed that the enthusiastic, caring, and learner-centered participants possessed the personality characteristics necessary for the cultivation of creative thinking among students. Despite being intended to promote the acquisition of basic skills, many of the participants' approaches and methods, particularly the use of personalized instruction, verbal praise, cooperative learning, and figurative language, could also be employed to establish learning environments that facilitate creative thinking. Upon reviewing the data, the researcher made recommendations designed to contribute to the limited body of knowledge about the synthesis of creativity research and developmental education. / text

<p> Korean American students seem to excel in academics as soon as they enter formal schooling. How are Korean American parents preparing their children for kindergarten? This qualitative research case study's foundational theory is based on Sue and Okazaki's (1990) concept of relative functionalism, which proposes that "cultural practices ... maximize skills in gaining education" (p. 913). Five Korean American parents (one father, four mothers) were interviewed and discussed topics that could help answer the study's research questions: (a) how do Korean American parents perceive what school readiness means? and (b) how do Korean Americans decide what activities to engage their children in when preparing them for kindergarten?</p><p> As there exists no published research that documents the activities Korean American parents engage their children in with intentions of preparing them for formal schooling, literature in this study focused on the history of Korean American culture's valuation of education, relevant circumstances of Koreans living in the U.S., their childrearing priorities, and the effects of acculturation on Korean American educational values.</p><p> Themed findings include overall parental expectations of their children's academic goals, the perceived definition of school readiness, primary caregivers, and priorities for children's competencies. The fact that the Korean American culture is grounded in the philosophy of Confucianism, which includes the expectation that children should uphold family honor and the belief that success is achieved through effort, may help to explain why this study's participants placed high importance on their children's social&ndash;emotional competencies and on behaving "well."</p><p> As the primary caretaker in the family, Korean American mothers base their decisions regarding their children's activities on feedback received from friends from church, as well as from the broader local Korean community. Significant findings include that participants reported starting their children in academic training when they were as young as two years old, and that children are being raised as bilinguals in dualistic cultures. If shared with educational practitioners, this research could help to better support the home&ndash;school relationship with Korean American parents. Parents of non-Korean American students may also use Korean American educational practices to better support their own children to become more school ready prior to entering kindergarten, as well as throughout their educational careers.</p>

<p> This study examined the effects of a self-regulation strategy, self-talk, on the improvement of executive function. Executive functions are a set of cognitive processes that underlie goal-directed behavior. These processes guide, direct, and manage thinking, emotional responses, and behavior. High executive function has been correlated with academic achievement. Early childhood teachers play an important role in helping young children learn to regulate thinking and behavior. This mixed-design experimental study demonstrated the ease of including self-talk in the daily curriculum through the use of children's literature. The 53 participants were third-graders in an elementary school setting. The Teacher Form of the Delis Rating of Executive Function (D-REF) measured executive function as pre- and posttest for the control and experimental groups. A 2 x 2 split-plot ANOVA calculated the effects of the group assigned and executive function. Students in the experimental group were interviewed following the intervention to obtain student perceptions of self-talk and its impact on learning. Results indicated that students in the self-talk classes showed significant improvement in executive function skills. The findings offer useful insight to the benefits of self-talk in the elementary school setting.</p>

<p> Early numeracy skills are a critical component of daily preschool instruction, according to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM; 2002); however, there is variability in how mathematics-driven instruction is implemented in the preschool classroom (Graham, Nash, &amp; Paul, 1997; Brown, Malfese, &amp; Molfese, 2008). Research indicates that children from low income backgrounds who qualify for Head Start programs do not make comparable growth in early numeracy skill development when compared to children from higher SES levels (Puma, et. al., 2012). The objective of this dissertation was to evaluate a selected mathematics curriculum utilized by the Happy Faces Head Start1 program, after program data indicated that children&rsquo;s mathematics achievement was below established targets (Happy Faces Head Start, 2012). Results indicated that the curriculum, <i>Mathematics: A Creative Curriculum Approach, </i> which was implemented in rural Head Start classrooms did not show significant gains in math skills compared to children in the control group. </p>

<p> This qualitative ethnographic collective case-study of two Nigerian Early Childhood Education (ECE) practitioners focused upon the practitioners&rsquo; reflections over a three-day period in February 2014 (and then a 3-month period from February through April 2014) of their first 18-months of implementing constructivist curriculum after participating in a week-long workshop in October 2012 on constructivist education theory and practice. The reflections were framed by seven questions, and their sub-questions, addressing their impressions of the most efficacious sections of the workshop, what worked and did not in their classrooms, their frustrations and successes, and their recommendations for further workshops for additional ECE practitioners. The practitioners responded to the inquiries in three different formats, as follows: the face-to-face discussion of the seven formal interview questions, a three-month journal (from February 2014 through April 2014) with the formal interview questions, and informal afternoon chat sessions that were more free-ranging. A comparison among the answers, mediated by NVivo10 (2012) software thematic sorting, revealed differences in the quantity and emphasis of the answers to the questions, varied by written and verbal responses. The most surprising finding and one that qualifies as a central phenomenon was that without sufficient parent education and support that the smooth transition from the Rote systems to the constructivist curriculum could be slowed down and even halted at the school site, as the parents voiced their concerns that the students were not going to be well-educated under this new curriculum. In further workshops, it is now apparent that parental education and engaged support must be presented and discussed so that ECE constructivist curriculum can be more widely implemented in Lagos, Nigeria and elsewhere.</p>

This research adopted the concept Hegemonic Masculinity and inquired how this kind of gender practice influenced early childhood teachers’ pedagogy, in order to interpret the gap between the real teaching practice and the ideal gender equity promoted in the elementary schools in B.C. for current years. Combining my growing and teaching experience in the traditional patriarchal society, I interviewed four elementary school teachers and observed their classes. The results presented: (1) hegemonic masculinity within students’ conversations and parents’ educational attitudes became a barrier to teachers who took gender-neutral pedagogy; (2) hegemonic masculinity emphasized gender binary in teachers’ daily language and teaching materials; (3) teachers’ expectations to students reflected the needs and requirements of the male-dominant society. I also collected teachers’ efforts to avoid hegemonic masculinity and promote gender equity with formulating three stories and my analysis. / Graduate / 0518 / 0515 / xinyanfa@uvic.ca

<p> The purpose of this study was to investigate validity and reliability evidence of Smart Start-Second Edition (Zittel, Kim, &amp; Wessel, 2014) (Smart Start-2) in preschoolers with and without a disability. Thirty-two preschoolers with a disability and 28 preschoolers without a disability participated in the study. The mean age of all participants, preschoolers with a disability, and preschoolers without a disability were 50.98 months (<i>SD</i> = 7.86, range 37 &ndash; 64), 53.28 months (<i>SD</i> = 7.28), and 48.35 months (<i>SD</i> = 7.78), respectively. Each participant was asked to perform 12 fundamental movement skills. The participants&rsquo; fundamental movement skills performances were filmed and examined with Smart Start-2 and Test of Gross Motor Development-Second Edition (Ulrich, 2000) (TGMD-2) by three trained raters. For validity evidence of Smart Start-2, correlations between data of Smart Start-2 and TGMD-2 were examined with Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients. Intra-rater reliability and inter-rater reliability were also examined using a proportion of agreement, modified kappa coefficient, and intraclass correlation coefficient. Large correlations between data of Smart Start-2 and TGMD-2 were found for total score (<i>r</i> = .89, <i>p</i> &lt; .01), for sum of scores on locomotor skills (<i>r</i> = .92, <i>p</i> &lt; .01), and sum of scores on object control skills (<i>r</i> = .92, <i>p</i> &lt; .01). Across three raters, the average proportions of agreements for intra-rater using Smart Start-2 on all participants, preschoolers with a disability, and preschoolers without a disability were .92, .91, and .91, respectively. Across three raters, the mean of modified kappa coefficients for intra-rater reliability using Smart Start-2 on all participants, preschoolers with a disability, and preschoolers without a disability were .83 (<i>SD</i> = .09, range .52 &ndash; 1.00), .83 (<i>SD</i> = .09, range .60 - .96), and .83 (<i>SD</i> = .10, range .52 &ndash; 1.00), respectively. The mean of intraclass correlation coefficients for intra-rater reliability using Smart Start-2 on all participants, preschoolers with a disability, and preschoolers without a disability were .96 (95% confidence interval: .94 - .97), .96 (95% confidence interval: .90 - .97), and .96 (95% confidence interval: .93 - .98), respectively. </p><p> The average proportion of agreements for inter-rater using Smart Smart-2 on all participants, preschoolers with a disability, and preschoolers without a disability were .86, .87, and .86, respectively. The mean of modified kappa coefficients, across three raters, for inter-rater on all participants, preschoolers without a disability, and preschoolers without a disability were .71 (<i> SD</i> = .11, range .42 - .89), .72 (<i>SD</i> = .10, range .42- .87), and .69 (<i>SD</i> = .10, range .45 - .89), respectively. The mean of Intraclass correlation coefficients for intra-rater reliability using Smart Start-2 on all participants, preschoolers with a disability, and preschoolers without a disability were .93 (95% confidence interval: .89 - .96), .95 (95% confidence interval: .89 -.97), and .89 (95% confidence interval: .72 - .95), respectively. However, a one-way repeated measures ANOVA showed significant differences of the total scores of Smart Start-2 between raters. <b></b>The major findings of this study support evidence of concurrent validity and intra-rater reliability and inter-rater reliability of the Smart Start-2 for assessing FMS for preschoolers with/without a disability using 3 trained raters.</p>

With more than 50 percent of mothers in the workforce by their child’s first birthday, maternity leave’s influence on mothers’ well-being and the mother-infant interaction has implications for millions of employed mothers and their children. In this study, I used data from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care to examine the relations between variation in maternity leave benefit, length of leave, maternal well-being and mother-infant interaction within the context in which mothers make decisions to return to employment after childbirth. These associations depend on a number of important contextual factors including mothers’ subjective beliefs about the costs of employment, family structure and financial situation, mothers’ separation anxiety, and their commitment to work, all of which have important implications for both family and policy. The financial benefit that mothers use during leave varied positively with their socio-demographic characteristics. Paid leaves were related to shorter leaves and to fewer depressive symptoms, but had no direct relation with parenting stress or sensitivity. Mothers’ beliefs about the costs of employment, family structure and finances moderated the effects of paid leave. No direct association emerged between leave length and either maternal well-being or sensitivity, but interactions between leave length and both separation anxiety and work commitment indicated that long leaves are beneficial for only a sub-group of mothers. Results from this study indicate that individual differences are important in understanding the relations among leave type, leave length, maternal well-being and sensitivity. Consequently, effective maternity leave policy should be flexible to accommodate the varying needs of new mothers. / text

This study explores a teacher’s perceptions and teaching practice with culturally and linguistically diverse children and families. A qualitative case study, it follows one in-service pre-kindergarten teacher at a public school. To provide rationales of the study, the researcher adopt culturally responsive teaching, funds of knowledge, developmentally appropriate practice, anti-bias multicultural education and English as a second language learning theories as the conceptual framework. Data were collected through formal interviews, informal conversations, and observations and analyzed using the constant-comparative method. The findings display the results of the study in three aspects: creating a cohesive multicultural community, helping culturally and linguistically diverse children’s English development utilizing their home languages and cultures, and establishing reciprocal relationships with those families. The study finds that a cohesive multicultural community can be created by building caring relationships among community members, by reflecting the children’s cultural and linguistic backgrounds in teaching practice and by practicing anti-bias multicultural education. This study shows the ways of helping the children’s English development according to five themes: understanding the children’s different English abilities, creating a class environment reflecting the children’s home languages and cultures, matching language mates, collaborating with bilingual teachers, and utilizing children as the language experts. This study also finds that reciprocal relationships with culturally and linguistically diverse families can be established by understanding diverse families’ backgrounds, by increasing cross-cultural communications, and by utilizing family resources in her teaching practice. This study reveals that the children’s learning experience can be enhanced when integrating their cultural and linguistic knowledge into class learning. The presented examples and descriptions in this study demonstrates the explicit and practical ways of how teachers can cultivate the children’s cultural and linguistic knowledge base, reflect this knowledge base in their class learning, help the children’s English development, and establish reciprocal relationships with families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Thus, this study will be a source of detailed practical information for teachers, teachers’ educators, and educational administrators in early childhood education. / text

<p> Due to narrowly defined quality measures, teacher preparation in Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio and LifeWays pedagogies is not recognized in many state ECE professional development systems. The problem is compounded by Quality Rating and Improvement System&rsquo;s child care program ratings, which rely on teacher qualifications as a component of program ratings. Limitations, due to philosophical dissimilarities pertaining to the spirit of the child, ill-fitting measurements of quality, and policy exclusion make it difficult for alternative pedagogy communities to meet qualifications or to obtain scores that count. This is exacerbated by narrow definitions regarding national versus regional accreditation in teacher preparation programs. U</p><p> sing a transformative, mixed-methods approach, this study asks, &ldquo;What is the role and relevance of alternative pedagogy teacher preparation to the professional development system, and where does it fit in the current policy landscape nationwide?&rdquo; As a follow up question, the study seeks to answer, &ldquo;What is the process for change?&rdquo; Through the use of surveys, interviews, and a cultural context model, a way forward is mapped. </p><p> Registry policy makers in 28 states and 46 teacher preparation directors, across three types of alternative-pedagogy teacher preparation programs, assisted in data collection, resulting in a recognition baseline. Public sources were used to triangulate a composite snapshot of this national policy situation, demonstrating appropriate policy inclusion in six out of 17 states&rsquo; career pathways and/or data collection in ECE workforce registries. Cumulative data revealed alternative pedagogy teacher recognition levels across the country and revealed how relevant policies evolved to become system inclusive. The study concludes by inviting community representatives to respond and to share their experiences and thoughts. Actionable study outcomes, community-developed recommendations, and an advocacy map were circulated in three of four alternative pedagogy communities. </p><p> Using a cultural equity paradigm, the study elucidates power relationships between alternative pedagogy teacher preparation and national/state efforts towards ECE professional development and quality improvement policy systems, illuminating where federal and state policy/initiatives are shaping, responding to, and limiting the alternative-pedagogy teacher preparation pipeline in the United States. Recommended courses of action encourage policy collaboration and a cultural shift from policy power over, to power with policy.</p>