This study examined the perceived impact and satisfaction levels of early intervention services of families living in the Appalachian region of northeast Tennessee. Families living in Hawkins and Johnson counties in the northeast region of Tennessee whose children with disabilities had recently exited an early intervention program participated in the study. The primary sources of data collection were personal interviews based on the Beach Center Family Quality of Life (FQOL) Scale (Beach Center on Disability, 2003), the Family Functioning Style Scale (FFSS) (Deal, Trivette, & Dunst, 1998), and member checks. The FQOL contains 5 subscales: Family Interaction, Parenting, Physical or Material Well-Being, Emotional Well-Being, and Disability-Related Supports. Each subscale includes items unique to the subscale that participants examined and ranked (Low, Medium, or High) as to how important, how satisfied, and the priority for support regarding each item. The study focused on and addressed 1 of the 4 categories of family-based practices; strengthening family functioning (Trivette & Dunst, 2000). The findings of this study revealed that families, overall, were highly satisfied with the early intervention services received. The findings suggest that families in Hawkins and Johnson counties valued and found the need for family interaction important. The levels of support regarding individual subscales revealed some variations but maintained consistency within group majority expectations and family requirements. It can be concluded that the perceived impact of early intervention services met the needs of each individual participant in the area of family interaction and the satisfaction level was ranked high.

The collaborative efforts between school psychologists and early educators can prepare children for success. Since the first decade of life is such a critical time period, early childhood interventions from birth to the early school grades are receiving widespread attention today as one of the most effective ways to prevent learning difficulties and to promote children’s development and well-being(Reyonlds, 2004). School psychologists should promote the fact that "making schoolsready for all children" contributes to systems integration among schools and early childhood programs (Bagnato, 2006). This study is important to further examine the roles of current school psychologists and to study their collaborative work with early intervention. Early childhood intervention is defined as the provision of educational, family, health and/or social services during any of the first eight years of life to children who are at risk of poor outcomes because they face socio-environmental disadvantages or have developmental disabilities (Reynolds, 2004). Federal law acknowledges the importance and need for early intervention as The Economic Opportunity and Community Partnership Act of 1974 and subsequent amendments to the law required Head Start programs in each state to serve a minimum of 10% children with disabilities (Hooper & Umansky, 2004). When children are not meeting milestones, early intervention increases the likelihood of success and a more positive later outcome.

Cross-sectional and geographical data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics were combined with school-district level data from the Census Bureau’s F-33 Survey of Local Government. Use of this unique dataset, allows for the examination of the longterm effects of preschool participation while controlling for the quality of schooling encountered post-program. Former Head Start participants report better health status than individuals with no preschool experience or experience in preschools other than Head Start. Individuals who attended these other preschools outperformed the Head Start group when it came to high school graduation and overall educational attainment. No differences were detected in regard to the groups’ employment status and income. School quality did not appear to be a strong determinant of future success. Neither did it appear to explain the fadeout effect found in many other studies. Long-term effects did not vary much by Head Start region indicating that program quality is of similar quality across the nation. Some differences in benefits were found between rural and urban programs. Respondents who attended Head Start in urban and suburban areas report better health status than their rural peers. Individuals from rural areas were more likely to graduate from high school and have higher incomes than people from urban areas. Intergenerational benefits were also examined. Children whose mothers attended Head Start as a child are more likely to be eligible for the program than children whose mothers had no preschool experience. Among the eligible population, children of Head Start mothers are statistically more likely to actually attend the program than children whose mother did not attend Head Start.

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This study tested a mediated-moderator model that was developed to explore whether age of entry into a Head Start Program moderated the relationship between maternal depressive symptomology and child cognitive and social outcome. In addition, the mediating role of maternal social support was examined. The study sample included 43 low-income mothers and their pre-school aged children who were enrolled in a large Head Start program in Southwest Virginia. Maternal depressive symptomology was measured using the CES-D and perceived social support was measured using the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSS). Child cognitive data included scores on two working memory tasks and the PPVT. Child social outcomes were assessed using the Social Skills Scale and the Classroom Conduct Scale developed for use with Head Start Populations. Results of the study did not support a moderating role for age of entry to Head Start. Level of maternal education was found to predict both child working memory skill and receptive language ability, and high levels of maternal depressive symptomology were found to predict child social skills. In addition, exploratory analyses were conducted to examine gender differences in the relations between variables when girls and boys were analyzed separately. A significant interaction effect was found for gender and maternal education in predicting preschool receptive language ability. Preliminary data suggests that boys may be more highly impacted by maternal factors than are girls. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed. / Ph. D.

In the new federal legislation, No Child Left Behind, two of the main themes direct attention to accountability and achievement gaps within subgroup populations. Early intervention may address both of these issues. Specifically, this means quality preschool education. While many agree that preschool education offers much to young children, school leaders have a responsibility to present data to support the effectiveness of preschool programs. This is a report of an evaluation of the effects of a state-funded preschool program on students' language acquisition measured with the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening-Kindergarten at the end of the program; total English, word analysis, understanding elements of literature, and understanding a variety of resource materials measured with Virginia's Standards of Learning test in grade three; and instructional reading level measured with the STAR Reading Assessment in grade four. The performance of students who attended the Early Start Preschool Program in Suffolk Public Schools was compared with the performance of students who were eligible to attend but did not attend the program. Two-way ANOVAs with analyses of simple main effects following significant interactions were applied to the data from ten samples of preschool children (five samples that attended the Suffolk, Virginia, preschool program and five samples that did not attend) for each year between1998 and 2002. There were few significant findings in this evaluation, and they were scattered across cohorts and dependent measures in no systematic order. Attending Early Start may have an effect on the literacy learning of children; however, this study did not provide the evidence that one would like to see in support of those effects. There are some findings, however, that point to some effects of attendance, particularly on rhyme awareness, concept of word, grade three total English, and grade three understanding elements of literature. These are tentative findings, at best, because they were not found consistently across cohorts. / Ed. D.

This study describes the long-term reading achievement of a group of children identified by teachers in 1994 as low-achieving students in reading. Four research questions guided the study, and the 165 participants came from 12 elementary schools in Montgomery County, Virginia. They were selected, because they had participated in Reading Recovery in first grade and had taken the reading portion of the Stanford 9 Achievement Test in the spring of third grade. The literature review covers the history of reading instruction, outlines the Chapter I model, compares and contrasts the New Zealand and American Reading Recovery models, and profiles the impact of Reading Recovery on the research community. Means and standard deviations were analyzed to compare the relative performance of four major populations: Reading Recovery, Reading Recovery/Chapter I, Chapter I, and Waitlisted. The results of the analyses suggest that Reading Recovery students successfully discontinued in any number of lessons had means in the top half of the distribution of means for all populations in the study. With the addition of one to two years of Chapter I instruction after Reading Recovery, some students achieved the highest mean. The scores of Chapter I students with one year of instruction nearly matched the Reading Recovery mean. Two to three years of Chapter I produced lower means. The waitlisted students scored slightly lower than the other three populations. The results of the study confirm the efficacy of Reading Recovery as an early intervention, but indicate that using Chapter I as a transitional step between Reading Recovery and successful independent reading sustains long-term reading achievement. / Ed. D.

The reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) in 1997 increased educational standards and accountability for the education of students with disabilities. Specifically, the amendments of IDEA 1997 were directed at improving the results for all children served in Part B (early childhood special education) and Part C (early intervention). IDEA 1997 required that states develop a plan, including transition policy, procedures and practices to create a smooth transition from Part C (early intervention) to Part B (early childhood special education) services. IDEA 1997 also required that parents, school administrators, service coordinators, and special educators be involved in the transition process. In 2004, IDEA 1997 was amended and is now known as IDEA 2004. Among the many amendments of this legislation are increased emphasis on early intervention services and transition. This suggests that the transition process from Part C to Part B should be revisited by all agencies involved to ensure that smooth transitions occur. Few studies have addressed the transition process and no studies were found that looked comprehensively at the transition process among parents, administrators, and other service providers. The purpose of this study was to better understand the facilitators and inhibitors to successful transitions through the perceptions of all stakeholders involved in the process using three case studies. Major findings indicate that factors that may interfere with a smooth successful transition process include: (1) parents’ concerns about services, (2) confusion about meetings, and (3) lack of information, while factors that facilitate a successful transition include: (1) meaningful involvement and communication among all parents and school representatives and (2) having adequate information for decision-making. The findings reveal that although the school system was in compliance with the transition process, there were clear areas for improvement. / Ed. D.