This dissertation studies how immigrant-origins mother combine their mothering with their civic engagement. Framed from the theoretical lenses of critical motherhood studies, it zooms in into the everyday lives of four migrant mothers looking to get a better sense of how they create and share knowledge about their daily experiences, and of how they build senses of home and community for themselves, their children, and others in their communities. It aims to shed light on ways to be civically engaged that go beyond voting and protesting. While civic life is usually understood in dictionaries as having to do with the rights and duties of citizens, the civics and mothering praxis that emerges from this study is a praxis rooted in love and care. Methodologically, this study combines multimodal, participatory, and poetic tools with Latina and Chicana feminist approaches to testimonio, to co-narrate the portraits of motherhood that are at the heart of this dissertation. Through storytelling that is attentive to ways of knowing and being that are rooted in our communities, these portraits aim to theorize mothering as action and to open space for mothers to express their voices and agency. Therefore, taking the lead from the immigrant-origin mothers with whom I work, this study proposes that the ordinary ways in which they impact the civic life of their communities through their labor of love sets the ground for a conception of citizenship that links transnational communities and exists across borders. What they do also stresses a dialectical praxis of civics that happens between mothers and their children, who are active agents and political beings; a praxis with implications that has political and theoretical implications for how we conceive motherhood, and that can also directly impact early childhood education and research. Throughout, the aim of this dissertation is to make care a central principle of research by creating spaces for support and healing in which mother’s agency and creative is valued. Research as a form of civic engagement that opens spaces to nurture and include our body-mind-soul connection.

The aim of this systematic literature review is to present and compare the implementation of inclusion in the early childhood education system and its implication for children in Hungarian and German preschools. The thesis contains two research questions, with the following questions: What similarities and differences can be observed between the two education systems regarding inclusion? What implications does inclusion have on the children’s everyday life in the early childhood education? The articles used for the research underwent a selection process for the purpose of the research, in accordance with specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. During the selection, in the form of peer-reviewed, scientific papers, qualitative and quantitative studies. The systematic analysis pointed out that the inclusive early childhood education systems of Hungary and Germany have a similar structure, but they differ significantly from each other in some aspects. Furthermore, the results highlighted the positive effects of inclusive early childhood education on children.

Intervening early is important to minimize persistent difficulties in language and related domains in young children with or at-risk for language impairment (LI; Rescorla, 2009). Because language is first learned in caregiver–child interactions, parent-implemented interventions are potentially an important early intervention for children with or at-risk for LI. Previous meta-analyses have examined outcomes of parent-implemented interventions for children with primary and secondary LI, but have not included children at-risk for LI due to low SES. A systematic review of the literature identified 25 randomized controlled trials of parent-implemented language interventions examining linguistic outcomes for young children. Studies included 1734 participants (M = 3.7 years) with or at-risk for LI due to low SES. Results of these meta-analyses indicated modest improvements in expressive vocabulary and small improvements in expressive language for children with or at-risk for LI. The effect size for expressive vocabulary outcomes was significant for shared book reading interventions (g = 0.37, 95% CI [0.15–0.59]) and interventions implemented in play and/or routines (g = 0.50, 95% CI [0.05–0.95]). The effect size for expressive language was significant (g = 0.42, 95% CI [0.19–0.65]), but not for receptive language (g = 0.07, ns), and the effect size for receptive vocabulary was not significant (g = 0.18, ns). Sub-group analyses for expressive vocabulary and expressive language indicated moderate to large significant effects for children with or at-risk for primary LI and smaller, non-significant effects for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Findings are generally consistent with a previous meta-analysis (Roberts and Kaiser, 2011), indicating parent-implemented language interventions may have positive effects on linguistic outcomes for young children with or at-risk for LI. Limited measures of parent training procedures and varied measures of parent outcomes limited the analysis of how child outcomes were achieved.

This article details the experiences of four teacher education faculty members as we navigated the consequential implementation of a state-mandated high stakes teacher performance assessment in our educator preparation program. By shifting our perspective from simply complying with an assessment mandate to considering how we can leverage implementation of high stakes performance assessment as a vehicle for program inquiry, we were able to gain significant insight into our practice.

This column describes creating a classroom culture for engineering.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there is a significant difference in the academic and behavioral performance of students who had attended Putnam County’s prekindergarten program and students who qualified for, but had not attended Putnam County’s prekindergarten program. The researcher examined individual student data of specific students in three grade bands (elementary, middle, and high school). The grade levels included 3rd grade, 7th grade, and 9th grade. The data analyzed were students’ individual GPA, ACT Explore scores, MAP Universal Screener scores, number of days absent, and number of discipline referrals of students who had attended Putnam County’s prekindergarten program and students who qualified for Putnam County’s prekindergarten program, but had not attended. The population of this study consisted of 1,118 students in Putnam County, Tennessee. The researcher used end-of-year GPA, ACT Explore scores, fall and spring MAP universal screener scores in Math and Reading, absenteeism rates as defined by total number of days missed out of 180 instructional days, and end-of-year discipline referral rates. The researcher gathered this data from various resources such as individual student reports (MAP scores) and PowerSchool, which is Putnam County’s Student Information System. The data was then analyzed using a series of independent sample t-tests. Significant differences were found in all grade levels in GPA, MAP Reading, and MAP Math scores with students who had attended prekindergarten in Putnam County performing better than those who qualified for prekindergarten but had not attended. Significant differences were also found in 9th grade ACT Explore scores with students who had attended prekindergarten in Putnam County performing better than those who qualified for but had not attended. In regard to days absent and discipline reports, the only significant findings were found in 3rd grade with students who had attended prekindergarten in Putnam county missing fewer days than those who had not attended. This study concluded with recommendations that further specified focus should be applied to state-funded prekindergarten programs.

The most powerful influence on student achievement is the classroom teacher and the most effective instructional strategy teachers can use to increase student learning and achievement is effective feedback (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). The research on teacher feedback in kindergarten classrooms is scarce therefore this study helps reduce the void in the literature on the importance of teacher feedback in kindergarten classrooms. The purpose of this study was to examine effective teachers’ perceptions of the amount and kind of feedback they provide to their students and to determine if their perceptions match the feedback they actually provide. The participants in the study were four teachers from a public elementary school in middle Tennessee. Each teacher received the rating of effective teacher according to their 2015-2016 state-wide teacher evaluation. This study is based upon Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory which proclaims student learning can be increased when teachers provide the necessary support to complete a task at a level higher than their current level of functioning. Teacher feedback is an effective and efficient instructional strategy to bridge the gap between students’ actual level of understanding and the level required to become independently successful. It is important, therefore that teachers become knowledgeable of feedback that will encourage rather than discourage independent learning. The qualitative design of this study included observing and analyzing teacher feedback during whole group instruction in kindergarten classrooms. The researcher collected data on four observed levels of teacher feedback: feedback about the task, feedback about the process, feedback about self-regulation and personal feedback about the self. Teachers’ perceptions of the kinds of feedback they provide most frequently did not match observed levels of feedback. The participants perceived themselves to provide more feedback about the process and self-regulation which are the most effective levels of feedback to increase student achievement. Their perceptions did not match observed levels of feedback provided to their students. The results of this study may be used as a catalyst for districts to provide professional development to instruct teachers how to effectively use the four levels of teacher feedback to increase student academic progress.

This dissertation investigated teacher perceptions about adaptive skill training within an early childhood comprehensive development classroom for students with intellectual disabilities. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding about adaptive skills from a teacher's perspective. The aims of the study were to help educators understand the role of comfort level, importance of adaptive skills, planning for adaptive skills, and connecting adaptive skills to an academic outcome. A quantitative, cross-sectional design was used, and an online survey was completed by 254 special education teachers. The participants that completed the survey were 93% female and on average had 14 years of teaching experience. The survey gathered teachers' opinions about adaptive skills. It was reported that teachers felt adaptive skills were important to teach in the classroom environment. The teachers also reported that toileting was the most important adaptive skill. The survey also found that teachers explicitly teach adaptive skills on a daily basis. The survey also revealed that instruction might improve if access to a structured curriculum was more readily available and age appropriate. It was reported that there were very limited opportunities for educators to attend professional development about adaptive skills. These findings communicated that adaptive skills seem to be important to educators, and the lack of availability for structured curriculums should be addressed to further meet the needs of students with intellectual disabilities.

This study investigated the use of spatial language by preschool teachers and children (ages 3-5 years) in 12 preschool classrooms to see if there are gender differences in the length and amount of spatial language used toward and by preschool boys versus preschool girls. Frequency counts and duration were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U tests and correlations. Mann-Whitney U tests showed that duration of the teachers’ use of spatial language towards preschool boys versus girls (p = .03) and preschool boys’ versus girls’ use of spatial language (p = .04) were statistically significant, p < .05. The frequency of spatial language was not statistically significant for either teachers or preschoolers. Correlation analyses revealed various statistically significant relationships among frequency and duration variables. The study of gender differences in spatial language should continue to investigate further what may be causing girls not to use spatial language for long period of times.

America has no majority race in the population of five-year-olds and younger (Wazwaz, 2015). Our society struggles to manage the changing face of America as seen in riots, protests, racially-motivated comments, and bullying to name a few examples. Students also face great difficulty reading and discerning what is factual and determining credible sources in the digital age. Critical literacy has the potential to teach students about their changing world, tolerance and acceptance of others, and how to read critically through literature with controversial topics. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods research examined 156 East Tennessee early childhood teachers’ (ECED) perceptions, knowledge, practices, and resources of critical literacy, differences between ECED majors and elementary education majors, and lower ECED (Pre-K-1) and higher ECED (2nd-3rd grade) teachers in their perceptions, knowledge, practices, and resources of critical literacy.. A four-point Likert scale survey was emailed to early childhood teachers in six upper East Tennessee school districts to collect quantitative data. Comparisons were made between the ECED and elementary education majors and the lower and higher ECED groups using MANOVAS, ANOVAS, and t tests. No statistically significant differences were found. The survey was followed by qualitative interviews with 5 volunteers from the quantitative study who answered specific protocol questions regarding critical literacy. Grounded theory also determined emergent themes of environment, parent support, ranking of topics, personal beliefs, and contradictions. This research found that although some teachers are unfamiliar with critical literacy, there is a desire to implement some of its practices. However, more book resources are needed as well as support from parents and administration. Teachers in this sample demonstrated that they are not comfortable with disrupting the commonplace thinking which includes topics such as same-sex relationships. Suggestions for future research, potential training, and professional development are included.