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.

No description available.

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.

No description available.

This study examined the meaning and role of play in Ghanaian early years settings, focusing on the beliefs of stakeholders, the expression of play in the Ghanaian early years curriculum and classroom practices. Framed within a sociocultural theory of play, this study followed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, which involved the initial collection of quantitative data followed by a qualitative data. In the initial quantitative phase, a survey scale, referred to as the Early Years Play and Learning Perception Scale (EYPLPS), was developed and used to collect data from 292 stakeholders (147 parents, 105 teachers and 40 head teachers). A preliminary comparison of the mean differences among the stakeholders using ANOVA indicated that the teachers and head teachers perceived play as a form of learning more favourably than the parents. This difference was further explored using cluster analysis to determine whether the stakeholders' education status might be a factor in explaining the group means differences. The cluster analyses revealed five distinct clusters characterized by participants' status and level of education - highly educated parents, teachers and head teachers; moderate educated teachers and low educated parents. The five clusters were compared on the play-learning belief score using ANOVA. The results revealed that the scale score was statistically significantly lower for low-educated parents compared to high-educated teachers, high-educated head teachers and high-educated parents, indicating low-educated parents were less likely to associate play and learning than these other groups. There was, however, no statistical significant difference between the scale scores of low-educated parents and moderate-educated teachers. The results suggest the significance accorded play depends on the stakeholder's level of education, with stakeholders reporting higher levels of education endorsing play as an opportunity for learning and acquiring social skills as well as academic skills. With the EYPLPS scores providing the basis for sample selection, four early years settings were selected as cases for in-depth qualitative inquiry using interviews, observations, photographs and analysis of curriculum. An analysis of the curriculum revealed that the curriculum does not emphasise play-based learning. It does, however, support the idea of children learning by doing. Therefore, the curriculum promotes activities that involve children's participation as an effective approach to teaching and learning. Interviews revealed that play first of all resonated with fun and happiness in stakeholders' perceptions. The majority of those interviewed perceived play as a way of maintaining children's interest in lessons, and as a break from learning. Classroom practices that emphasise teacher-directed academic activities and the stakeholders' unanimous appreciation of the use of rhyme and song in classrooms illustrate this point. Rhymes and songs were used at the beginning of lessons and also as an interlude when children appeared tired and bored during lessons. Other examples of how stakeholders perceived play included play as storytelling, a way of keeping children occupied, as a recess activity and as a form of learning. The findings are discussed from a sociocultural perspective, drawing a picture of the cultural meanings attributed to the model of childhood, play and learning in Ghana.

This program evaluation studied Effective Behavioral and Instructional Support Systems (EBISS), a Response to Intervention (RTI) initiative focused at changing district leadership behaviors to close the policy-research-practice gap and improve students' reading outcomes at third grade. A pre/post quasi-experimental comparison using a matched group design evaluated the four-year initiative. EBISS districts (n = 25) were matched to non-EBISS districts n = 25) by important district variables of: (a) size (small, medium, and large) and (b) region (coast, central, east, south, and valley), (c) students receiving Free and Reduced Meals (FARM), (d) students who were white and non-white, (e) students who were male and female, (f) years of teacher's experience, and (g) third grade Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (OAKS) scores. The aim of this research was to answer two questions. The first asked whether the performance of students in non-EBISS and EBISS districts were significantly different when measured by their percent of students passing the third grade reading OAKS in 2006-07 (EBISS pre-treatment year) and 2010-11 (EBISS post-treatment year). The second question analyzed whether EBISS districts with high implementation scores made statistically significantly different gains from EBISS districts with low implementation scores on their percent of students who passed the third grade OAKS reading assessment from 2006-07 to 2012-11. The results of the first research question indicated no significant differences for group (p = .312) or time (p = .488) between EBISS and non-EBISS districts scores on the OAKS reading test at third grade. Similarly, the second research question results indicated no significant differences (p = .452) between EBISS districts with high and low implementation scores on the OAKS reading scores at third grade. Findings are discussed in relation to: (a) the challenge when measuring administrator effectiveness based on distal outcomes, (b) confounding variables that affected internal and external validity, and (c) how this study informs the future design of evaluation research, in the pre-implementation year of an initiative, so variables that are know to be effective in improving student outcomes can be replicated.

The nation has placed a spotlight on improving graduation rates for all students. The current study analyzed retrospective, longitudinal student data from the fifth largest school district in Oregon to create an Early Warning Indicator System (EWS) to identify students on track to graduate and those who are not. This study creates an EWS system using the student demographics and the ABC’s of (a) attendance, (b) behavior, and (c) coursework to identify students who are on track and those who are not. I employed logistic regression model to build a prediction model using middle school data (N = 2,041) that examined predictors established in sixth through eighth grade with high school graduation. The dependent variable, four-year graduation was coded as graduate or non-graduate. The independent variables were (a) gender, (b) race, (c) ELL status, (d) SPED Status (e) attendance rate, (f) ODR’s, and (g) number of F’s in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Attendance rate was the strongest predictor of high school graduation. Overall the model predicted graduates with 89.7% accuracy and non-graduates with 33.6% accuracy with the total model predicting 69.5% of graduates and non-graduates.

The Early College High School (ECHS) provides high school students with the opportunity to earn college credit while they are still in high school. The school in the study, the Metro East Web Academy, is one such school and currently has an ECHS population of 119 students. After close examination of the five aspects of the theoretical framework, the one area in need of closer scrutiny was the area of supports. Through this study, three main supports were examined: tutoring through Mt. Hood Community College, an advisory class that is not a required aspect of the ECHS program, and college information sessions. A survey was delivered to the 119 current students in the early college program and to 49 current graduates of the program. Various demographic groups did utilize supports to greater and lesser degrees: first year students did not access the tutoring center at the same rates as second or third year students; no students in any demographic groups chose the advisory or AVID and TRIO as the most helpful college support, and second language speakers did indicate that time management was a greater challenge to college success than did their non second language speaking peers.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University