<p> The need for strong school principals is great as more and more U.S. schools struggle to meet the requirements of federal regulations and as districts search for school leaders who can effect systemic and sustainable organizational change. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012) predicts that the U.S. will need an additional 10%, or 23,100 more principals between 2010 and 2020 at a time when the number of available principals is shrinking. In addition to needing more principals, U.S. schools also need more principals who are highly effective. Unfortunately, the turnover rate for principals is drastically high, close to 50% (ERS, 1998) in all schools, and higher still in high-poverty schools (Branch, Hanushek, &amp; Rivkin, 2008; Gates, Ringel, Santibanez, Guarino, Ghosh-Dastidar, &amp; Brown, 2006). High turnover rates, coupled with a diminishing pool of principals, an increasing need for more principals, and the now popular trend of using temporary or turnaround principals, illustrate the school leadership crisis that is enveloping our educational system (Norton, 2002). An open question in the field is how and whether effective school leaders can be purposefully cultivated. Drawing on literatures in the fields of efficacy and school leadership, school leadership development, and optimism, this constructivist study applied qualitative research methods to explore how one novice school leader in an urban PK-5 elementary school learned to lead over an extended period of time, one-and-a-half years. The study investigated the contextual and mediating variables that influenced this novice principal&rsquo;s choice-making in a watched school in need of improvement. Data collection consisted of regular interviews and observations. By capturing the voice and experience of one principal, this study contributes to the fields of efficacy in school leadership, optimism, and school leadership development a rich example of a principal learning to lead in practice (Darling-Hammond et al., 2007). The study also contributes a new construct, an initial articulation of &ldquo;assumed possibility&rdquo; as a theoretical stance. School leader&rsquo;s enactment and execution of vision are still burgeoning fields of study and this study offers a glimpse into one leader&rsquo;s attempt to transform his school.</p>

<p> As defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL, 2012), social-emotional learning (SEL) involves the acquisition of skills necessary to: identify and manage one&rsquo;s emotions, relate to and establish relationships with others, and make positive and healthy decisions. With only 40% of kindergarten students demonstrating the social-emotional skills needed to be both academically and socially successful upon school entrance (Yates et al., 2008), explicit instruction targeting SEL is needed. As this instruction requires systems-level implementation and decision-making practices, members of these decision-making bodies can include several different school personnel, who may have varying levels of familiarity and previous use of SEL programs. Because the school principal is responsible for overseeing the implementation of school-wide programs (NYS Education Department, 2014), obtaining information regarding their familiarity and use of SEL programs, as well as their decision-making practices is needed. Consequently, the present study examined the extent to which principals participate in SEL decision-making practices; the selection procedures and decision making methods they use to select SEL programs; and their levels of familiarity, past use, and current use of CASEL approved SEL programs. The relationship between principal demographic characteristics and familiarity and use of SEL programs was also evaluated using survey methods. Analysis of descriptive statistics, frequency data, and three multiple regression analyses indicated that most NYS elementary school principals participate in SEL program decision-making. Additionally, they use a variety of methods for learning about programs and deciding upon programs. Overall, however, NYS elementary school principals have little familiarity, past use, or current use with CASEL-approved programs, suggesting a need for increased dissemination and professional development regarding these programs and resources.</p><p>

<p> The influence of sign language comprehension on reading has been well-documented in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary-aged deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HOH) children and adults. There is limited research into the predictive nature of sign language comprehension on literacy outcomes in D/HOH children in preschool and early elementary school, however. This research addressed this gap by investigating group differences between D/HOH children who primarily communicated through sign language alone and D/HOH children who primarily communicated through sign supported spoken language on measures of American Sign Language (ASL) comprehension, sign supported English (SSE) comprehension, letter/word recognition, and reading comprehension. The relationship between ASL comprehension and SSE comprehension on word identification and reading comprehension was also examined. A longitudinal design was utilized and data analyzed with linear mixed models. Participants were D/HOH children 4-6-years-old at the beginning of the study and followed for two years. </p><p> Children who communicated primarily through sign language alone had significantly higher comprehension of ASL than children who communicated primarily through sign supported spoken language. There were no significant group differences in growth of ASL comprehension, however. There were no significant group differences in comprehension of SSE, letter/word recognition, passage comprehension or growth pattern in these skills. Both ASL comprehension and SSE comprehension predicted letter/word identification and passage comprehension final status whereas only SSE comprehension predicted growth pattern. When word identification was examined in addition to the language predictors, the random effects of the model could not be estimated so statistical inferences for the predictive utility of ASL comprehension on reading comprehension above SSE comprehension and word identification could not be drawn. </p><p> Implications for service delivery in early intervention, progress monitoring of language skills, instruction, and personnel preparation are discussed. Because of the significant variation in language development initial status, further research is recommended into sources of individual variation in language outcomes. Future longitudinal research is needed to examine the age range from early childhood through elementary school, include multiple measures of linguistic competence, and identify the influence of new hearing technology and language experience. Furthermore, intervention studies aimed at improving language development are warranted given its relationship with literacy.</p><p>

<p> 2-Shapes (Stuebe, 2017), an art-based antecedent intervention, was introduced as an intervention to regulate disruptive behaviors in this study. The researcher was interested in discovering whether this art-based antecedent activity could help manage self-regulation in a K3 student during group time. The goal of this art-based antecedent study was to provide a meaningful intervention to a child that supports self-regulation, improves self-awareness, and supports intrapersonal and interpersonal thought processes to manage changing conditions. The results of the study revealed the importance of completing a thorough Functional Behavioral Assessment followed by a Functional Analysis to understand the function of a class of disruptive behaviors exhibited by a K3 child. The interview process prior to any assessments may answer many of the questions researchers have about the function of target behaviors and should be completed thoroughly with a great deal of thought and detail. This study demonstrated the need for addressing these steps in determining an appropriate intervention. Results from a Functional Analysis performed after the data collection process determined that the function of the disruptive behavior was attention and that this intervention, if proven effective, would have been addressing the function of attention and therefore would have been an effective treatment for the identified child. </p><p>

In the context of early childhood education, in England and internationally, ideas and practices of ‘readiness’ have been of interest within research, policy and practice for some time. Much critical research, scholarship and activism has focused on exploring developmental aspects of this phenomenon arguing for: more ‘appropriate’ standards of ‘readiness’ against which to judge children’s learning and development; closer relationships between schools, preschools and communities that produce culturally responsive concepts of ‘readiness’; and the critical examination of the relationship between early childhood and compulsory school education. Within this body of work there is significant emphasis on developing and articulating alternative ideas and approaches that can unsettle dominant, normalizing practices of teaching and learning. Within these critical explorations of ‘readiness’ however, there is an avenue of scholarship that, seemingly, is as yet unexplored – one that addresses the concept of ‘readiness’ itself and asks how it may be possible to conceptualize ‘readiness’ in a way that is consistent with, and responsive to, complex processes of teaching and learning. This is not just a shift in practice, or in policy narratives, but is an ontological and epistemological change – a reconceptualization of ‘readiness’ that takes as its starting point a fundamental assumption of the positive and productive force of difference, in learning and in life. This thesis explores the ontological and epistemological shifts required to move away from ideas of ‘readiness’ that attach progression to a mechanistically linear movement. It develops and articulates an approach that embraces the emergent and unpredictable nature of learning, from which a concept of ‘readiness’ emerges which works with open, non-linear and emergent dimensions of education as necessary aspects of the complex systems within which we work. The thesis works with the concept of a ‘diffractive methodology’, exploring the concept of ‘readiness’ through ideas and theories drawn from complexity theory, from the immanent philosophy of Deleuze, and Deleuze and Guattari, and through onto-epistemological ideas of materiality and the entanglement of matter and meaning explored in particular by Barad. Methodologically, this study works within the space opened up by recent developments within ‘post-qualitative’ approaches to research. Working with concepts of ‘sensation’ and ‘affect’ it engages critically with often taken for granted concepts and practices such as: assumptions concerning empirical/theoretical research; ideas of ‘data collection’ and ‘data analysis’; and the production of knowledge in and through experience. Deleuzian philosophy (among other influences) is approached in this methodological context as an open system, as opposed to a totalizing structure. Concepts including ‘sensation’ and ‘affect’ are approached as potentialities, the methodological value of which is affirmed through the ways in which they have been productively put to work in the context of this study in order to produce spaces in which it is possible to think and act in ways that challenge conventional structures. What is developed in this thesis is a concept of ‘readiness’ as an ‘active-affective-ethical-relation’, as opposed to a fixed and normalizing identity. It is argued that, through this reconceptualization of ‘readiness’ as a central concept within early childhood education, other taken for granted concepts are unsettled, in particular ideas and practices of assessment. In exploring these concepts, the original ideas produced within this thesis, in relation to both early childhood education and research methodology, aim to contribute to the creation of more ethical and inclusive spaces of early childhood education and educational research.

Esta dissertação propõe uma reflexão a respeito das tensões contemporâneas em torno dos conteúdos na educação infantil. Tem como fio condutor a seguinte questão: “Conteúdos na educação infantil: Sim? Não? Talvez? Quais? Desde quando? Como? Por quê?”. Para respondê-la, metodologicamente, foi realizada pesquisa bibliográfica sobre propostas curriculares amplamente difundidas na educação infantil brasileira, desde a Lei 5.692/71 até os dias de hoje. Algumas são escolhidas para análise, observando como elas vêm abordando a questão relativa aos conteúdos, tanto no que diz respeito à seleção, quanto à articulação dos mesmos, a saber: Marinho (1978), Rizzo (1982), Kramer et al. (1989), Deheinzelin (1994), Hernández (1998), Hernández e Ventura (1998), Barbosa e Horn (2008), Referencial Curricular Nacional para a Educação Infantil - Brasil (1998), Edwards, Gandini e Forman (1999), Junqueira Filho (2005) e Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para a Educação Infantil - Brasil (2010). Pela análise, a pesquisa constata que as propostas curriculares oscilam entre a adoção e seleção e a negação e exclusão dos conteúdos, sendo ainda possível identificar diferentes concepções de conteúdo subjacentes a cada uma delas, o que leva à investigação das diversas significações atribuídas pela pedagogia ao conceito de conteúdo. No panorama contemporâneo, essa coexistência de diferentes entendimentos sobre o conceito de conteúdo é fator determinante das tensões que dividem a educação infantil. Na busca por uma alternativa crítica e dialógica, a presente pesquisa aposta na possibilidade de ressignificação deste conceito, demonstrando como o conceito de conteúdo ressignificado pode produzir outras respostas às questões que, neste momento, se apresentam e nos desafiam. / This essay proposes a reflection about the contemporary tensions around the contents in early childhood education. Its guiding questions are: "Contents in early childhood education: Yes? No? Maybe? Which ones? Since when? How? Why?". It was done a bibliographic research to answer them over the curricular proposals widely spread in the Brazilian early childhood education, since “Lei 5.692/71” until now. Some of them are chosen to be analyzed, observing how they have approached the issue of the contents, both as regards to their selection, as to their articulation, named: Marinho (1978), Rizzo (1982), Kramer et al. (1989), Deheinzelin (1994), Hernández (1998), Hernández and Ventura (1998), Barbosa and Horn (2008), Referencial Curricular Nacional para a Educação Infantil - Brasil (1998), Edwards, Gandini and Forman (1999), Junqueira Filho (2005) and Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para a Educação Infantil - Brasil (2010). Based on the analysis, the research perceives that the curricular proposals oscillate between the adoption and selection, and the denying and exclusion of contents. It is also possible to identify different conceptions of content underlying each one of them, which leads to the investigation of the several meanings attributed to the concept of content by pedagogy. In the contemporary panorama, this coexistence of different understandings of the concept of content is a determining factor of tension that divides early childhood education. Searching for a critical and dialogical alternative, this research bet on the possibility of “resignification” of this concept, demonstrating how the concept of content “resignified” can produce other answers to the questions that currently challenge us.

<p> This qualitative, phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of four state licensed kindergarten teachers with regard to classroom assessment. The purpose of the inquiry was to gain understanding of classroom assessment and its intersection with teacher's practices. The study question was, "What are the lived experiences of state licensed kindergarten teachers with regard to classroom assessment?" A critical theory theoretical framework structured and guided the study. </p><p> &bull; Using the reduction methods as suggested by Van Manen (2014) allowed the researcher to enter a space of openness and understand the teachers' lived experiences with classroom assessment practices. The use of this phenomenological process resulted in the unveiling of four major themes <i>teacher agency, the absence of developmentally appropriate practice, teachers feelings/knowing of assessment and the damage from early childhood assessment</i>.</p><p> Research on early childhood education assessment and teacher practice is a timely endeavor as more children enter schools, daycares, or other means of childcare. Policy makers just like early childhood "creators" of assessment tools need to be mindful of the children first; and acknowledge and understand the place that children and teachers hold when they are making decisions of such importance.</p><p>

<p> African American children&rsquo;s public school education outcomes differ from those of their White, non-Hispanic peers. This dissertation used the data from The Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey for the Kindergarten Class of 2011 (ECLS-K: 2011) to explore the question: What factors during a child&rsquo;s kindergarten through third-grade years contribute to disparate test scores, opportunities, and outcomes? There is a large body of research citing a gap between African American students and their White, non- Hispanic peers in later years of schooling. This study utilized data collected from students, parents, teachers, and administrators from a child&rsquo;s entry to kindergarten through the completion of third grade. The results were interpreted through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Most CRT work has been qualitative. This study aimed to identify areas in which follow-up qualitative work could enrich the findings of the quantitative work and offer insight beyond the deficit models that are routinely provided to explain the gap. </p><p> Findings suggest that there is a slight gap between African American students and their White, non-Hispanic peers in reading and math scores on kindergarten entry. Those differences increased over a 4-year period. The data also suggest poverty played a factor in this disparity. The beliefs about kindergarten readiness between teachers and parents were aligned, and African American parents&rsquo; beliefs were more aligned than were those of the parent population as a whole. Teachers reported closer relationships with White, non-Hispanic students and higher levels of conflict with African American students, although this did not seem to correlate directly with reading and math test scores. </p><p> The research results indicate that there needs to be an increase in culturally relevant pedagogical training for preservice and inservice teachers. Early education programs need to be closely examined for practices that exclude or disadvantage children who are not from White, middle class backgrounds. The curriculum needs to build on the skills the students possess, rather than considering those without the desired skills deficient. Finally, intervention programs need to be evaluated as the data in the study indicate that reading gaps were less than math.</p><p>

Submitted by Maria Auxiliadora da Silva Lopes (silopes@ufba.br) on 2014-07-31T17:48:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Paula Silva da Conceição.pdf: 1088889 bytes, checksum: 6fd4830717f37f23c873c7b0805bc0a9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora da Silva Lopes (silopes@ufba.br) on 2014-07-31T17:49:20Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Paula Silva da Conceição.pdf: 1088889 bytes, checksum: 6fd4830717f37f23c873c7b0805bc0a9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-31T17:49:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Paula Silva da Conceição.pdf: 1088889 bytes, checksum: 6fd4830717f37f23c873c7b0805bc0a9 (MD5) / Os últimos anos têm sido marcado em nosso país, por uma vigorosa reflexão crítica sobre a construção de uma educação democrática, cujo currículo e cuja prática pedagógica levem em conta a heterogeneidade de culturas e classes sociais e promovam o desenvolvimento das crianças na plenitude das múltiplas expressões lúdicas. O presente estudo visa argumentar e compreender as proposições e os debates teóricos sobre a presença do lúdico no Currículo da Educação Infantil, além de elaborar indicativos pertinentes e relevantes sobre a vivência do lúdico na educação sistematizada das crianças. Nesse contexto, esta dissertação tem como principais bases teóricas os estudos de Huizinga (1993), Kramer (1989), Kshimoto (1994), Luckesi (2000), Macedo (2002), Morin (2000), Piaget (1990), Porto (2002), Vygotsky (1998), entre outros. A opção metodológica foi pela pesquisa bibliográfica, por ser um método que referencia pressupostos teóricos, bem como estabelece relações entre conceitos sistematizados, favorecendo o debate, a explicitação e a pertinência dos sistemas de idéias analisadas. O exercício metodológico ancorou-se numa hermenêutica semiológica dos textos trabalhados, sem com isso nos impedir de transcender às fontes de inspiração analítica. / ABSTRACT Recent years have been marked in our country by a vigorous critical reflection on the construction of a democratic education, whose curricula and teaching practice which takes into account the heterogeneity of cultures and social classes and promoting the development of children in the fullness of the multiple expressions playful. This study aims to argue and understand the propositions and the theoretical debates about the presence of play in the curriculum of early childhood education, and develop relevant and pertinent indications about the experience of play in the systematic education of children. In this context, this paper's main theoretical studies of Huizinga (1993), Kramer (1989), Kshimoto (1994), Luckesi (2000), Macedo (2002), Morin (2000), Piaget (1990), Porto ( 2002), Vygotsky (1998), among others. The method chosen was the literature search, it is a method that references theoretical as well as establishing systematic relations between concepts, encouraging discussion, explanation and relevance of systems of ideas discussed. The exercise methodology anchored in a semiological hermeneutics of the texts worked, without thereby prevent us to transcend the analytic sources of inspiration.

Master of Science / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Bronwyn Fees / For young children and their families, transitions between classrooms are a normative part of the child care experience, yet these types of transitions are seldom studied. In the United States, there are approximately 144,000 child care centers for children birth to five years of age (Child Care Aware, 2014). Nearly 60% of infants and toddlers participate in some form of nonparental child care arrangement (Iruka & Carver, 2006). In particular, how parents experience their child’s transitions between classrooms within child care centers is not well understood. Children aged birth to three years face challenges when separating from trusted caregivers and forming new relationships. This study explored the unfolding of perceptions of five families as their children turned two-years-old and moved between a one-year-old to a two-year-old classroom in the same child care setting. Drawing from a systems approach, the parental perception of the transition was examined in relation to their children’s experience. Structured interviews took place with families before, during, and after their children’s transition to the new classroom. Mothers were interviewed in four out of the five cases, and one couple chose to participate in the interviews together. Families reported unique concerns such as worry regarding the child’s adjustment or concern about how the child would be accepted in the new peer environment, based on certain factors of influence including past experiences with transitions and the temperament and behavior of their child in the child care setting. However, parents regarded the transition positively due to the perceived benefits of a classroom with older peers and advanced learning opportunities. Parents expressed this positive viewpoint to their children through conversations. Interviews suggested that the way parents perceived the transition was closely connected to the child’s behaviors in the new environment as well as the quality of relationships formed with the teachers and peers. The findings indicate the importance of individualizing the transition experience for families, remaining mindful of the family system during the transition, and implementing strategies to support the relationship building process. Keywords: qualitative, transitions, two-year-old, early childhood education, parents