The major purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among mother's level of anxiety, child's level of test anxiety, and child's level of achievement in reading. Other relationships investigated involved the following variables: family's socioeconomic status (mother's educational level and family's income level), mother's age, and sibling structure (number of children in the family and birth order of the participating child). / Subjects were 131 first grade students in nine heterogeneously grouped classes and their mothers. Data were collected using the following instruments: a demographic information questionnaire (socioeconomic status, sibling structure, mother's age); the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (mother's anxiety); the Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test (child's mental ability); the Test Anxiety for Children (child's test anxiety); the Metropolitan Achievement Test (child's reading achievement). Path analysis techniques were used to analyze the data. / Results indicated the following significant relationships: (1) The mother's socioeconomic status (education and income levels) had a direct and negative effect on the mother's level of anxiety. (2) The mother's level of anxiety had a direct and negative effect on child's mental ability and a direct and positive effect on child's level of test anxiety. In addition, indirect effects were found for mother's anxiety on child's test anxiety through a third variable, child's mental ability. (3) Child's mental ability had a direct and negative effect on child's level of test anxiety and a direct and positive effect on child's level of achievement in reading. In addition, an indirect effect for child's mental ability on the child's reading achievement was determined. This indirect effect involved a third variable, child's test anxiety. (4) Child's level of test anxiety had a direct and negative effect on child's level of achievement in reading. / The proposed causal model was revised to reflect the causal relationships defined in the analysis. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-01, Section: A, page: 0078. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of home/mother care and daycare caregiver behaviors on the adaptive behavior development of children (18 to 24 months). Other variables under investigation included two indices of socioeconomic status (SES): occupation and education of parents. / Methodology. (1) Population and Sample. The sample consisted of 72 children (18-24 months): 36 children in a group daycare situation and 26 children at home with the mother. (2) Instruments. The investigator measured adaptive behavior development of children using the revised Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale by Sparrow, Balla, and Cicchetti (1984). The investigator administered the Family Daycare Rating Scale (Harms & Clifford, 1984) to mothers and caregivers of children to measure growth-facilitating behaviors. The investigator gained information about each family's SES, using Hollingshead and Redlich's (1958) Index of Social Position. (3) Statistical Design and Analysis. A 3 x 2 ANOVA was used with two levels of mothers (mothers with high and low frequency of growth-facilitating behaviors), and then types of care including home care and two levels of daycare (caregivers with high and low frequency of growth-facilitating behaviors). / Results. Results revealed higher Adaptive Behavior Composite Scores for home care and daycare children of mothers with higher growth-facilitating behaviors (p =.001). Homecare children revealed higher means (M = 106.18) on Adaptive Behavior Composite Scores than daycare children (M = 94.61, p =.001). Parent SES appeared to be a relevant factor with Pearson correlation for Adaptive Behavior Composite for home care (r =.25, p =.017). The higher the mother's education the more growth-facilitating behaviors she displayed (r =.41, p =.001); statistical significance was not found for mother's education level and the child's adaptive behavior development (r = $-$.10, p =.198). / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-05, Section: A, page: 1110. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

This study investigated the effect of kindergarten entrance age on subsequent academic achievement in the primary grades. / The subjects of the study were 52 children (26 boys and 26 girls) who entered kindergarten during the 1982-1983 school term and attended an all white, suburban, middle class elementary school in Santa Rosa County, Florida. / Achievement data for each subject included raw scores on each of ten subtests of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, which was administered at the end of the second grade year. Intelligence data for each subject was obtained from the Test of Cognitive Skills which was also administered at the end of the second grade year. / Pearson correlations between kindergarten entrance age and second grade achievement and intelligence were computed for the group as a whole and for the group divided by sex. Independent t-test procedures were used to determine if any significant differences in achievement or intelligence might have been attributable to sex. / No significant correlations between kindergarten entrance age and achievement at the second grade level were found to exist. The research hypotheses, which anticipated significant positive correlations, were rejected. / A secondary analysis of achievement data from kindergarten and grades 1 and 3 was also performed. Chronological age did not appear to be a factor in achievement at grades kindergarten, 1, or 2. / At grade 3 the younger boys outperformed the older boys in several areas. However, the analysis of covariance procedure, using intelligence as the covariate, indicated that this superior performance was due mainly to the superior intelligence of the younger boys, not to chronological age. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-10, Section: A, page: 3655. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the functional relationship between the allotment of play space, amount of play materials, and the positive and negative social behaviors of toddlers in a group care setting. A study employing a repeated measures, multielement baseline design (Sidman, 1960) was undertaken to examine these relationships. / Five subjects were allowed to play in six treatment conditions consisting of two different spatial densities (35 and 20 square feet per child) and three different play materials densities. The positive and negative social behaviors of the subjects were recorded during 36, randomly assigned, sessions of the 36 treatment conditions. / The major findings were as follows: (1) One subject out of five exhibited increased negative social behavior as a function of decreased spatial density. (2) Increased play materials density offset negative social behavior for all five subjects in the high spatial density (20 square feet) conditions. (3) In both the 35 and the 20 square feet density condition, the "Enriched Play Materials", Set 1 supported more positive social behavior for all five subjects. (4) Treatment condition 1 (Optimal Space, 35 square feet and "Enriched Play Materials", Set 1) was the environment that supported the most positive social behavior for four of the five subjects. / Based on these findings, the following conclusions can be made: (1) Spatial density can affect the social behavior of some toddlers in group care settings. (2) A strong functional relationship exists between play materials density and the occurrence of positive and negative social behaviors of toddlers in group care settings. (3) Play materials density has a greater effect than spatial density on the negative and positive social behaviors of toddlers in group care settings. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-12, Section: A, page: 4284. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of social comparison by a supervisor in a reward allocation situation. Eighty 5-year-old English speaking children in Lubbock, Texas, were volunteer subjects. Random assignments of subjects were observed in an experimental design. The independent variable was manipulated to create five levels of treatment with gender as a blocking factor. Treatment levels were inferior, low, neutral, high and superior as conditions for performance by supervisors on a cup filling task. Subjects exposed to the various treatment conditions were given false information about peer (fictitious) performance at low and high conditions, then were asked to distribute rewards to the peers (fictitious). No nonsocial criteria were given for use in making judgments. No differences were found for main effects of performance levels of gender. The F for the interaction was not significant. Implications are stated as suggested changes for researchers to reduce experimental error. Further studies with extensions of age as a variable are suggested. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-06, Section: A, page: 1508. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

The purposes of the study were (1) to examine the relationship among pretense quality as determined by (a) the number of verbally expressed transformations and (b) the proportion of ideational transformations, imaginative predisposition as measured by the Barron's Movement Threshold Test and peer popularity as determined by sociometric rating; and (2) to compare sex-differences in pretense quality. / Thirty male and 30 female day care enrollees, age three-years-six-months to six-years, were videotaped in dyads in four 10-minute play sessions. Each subject was paired with a high and low pretense ability peer of both sexes. Video tapes were transcribed and pretense transformations enacted by each subject were coded by observers. / Ten null hypotheses were tested using a pre-set .05 Alpha. Results indicated no relationship between age and the proportion of ideational transformations. Age was related significantly to the number of verbally expressed transformations for females but not for males. High imaginative and low imaginative children did not differ according to the number of verbally expressed transformations or the proportion of ideational transformations. / No difference between males and females was found in the number of verbally expressed transformations or the proportion of ideational transformations enacted across all four pairing. When paired with opposite-sex peers, males and females did not differ according to these variables. However, when paired with same-sex peers, females used a significantly greater proportion of ideational transformations than did males. / The number of verbally expressed transformations was related significantly to popularity for boys but not for girls. When sociometric ratings was regressed on sex, age, and number of verbally expressed transformations, the model accounted for 21 percent of the variance. Sex accounted for more than half of the variance (12 percent). After sex was partialled out, the number of verbally expressed transformations accounted for an additional six percent. The proportion of ideational transformations was not related to popularity. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-09, Section: A, page: 2556. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

The purposes of this study were to determine whether knowledge of a child's family's marital status (divorced home/intact home/family status unknown) and/or teacher's marital status (single/divorced) would affect the teacher's ratings of that child's personality traits and predicted behaviors. The study sought to determine whether there was any interactive effect of rater marital status and knowledge of family background upon these teacher ratings. The subjects were 27 divorced and 27 married teachers of grades preschool through grade five. / To test the hypotheses, two instruments were employed. The Personality Trait Rating Scale (PTRS) and the Predicted Behavior in School Form (PBS) were used by the teachers to rate behaviors of a five year old child observed on a videotape. / Findings were: (1) knowledge of a child's family marital status did not have any significant effect on teachers' ratings on the PTRS or on the PBS. Mean rating scores on both instruments did not differ significantly among the three treatment conditions, (2) teacher marital status had no significant effect on ratings, i.e., mean ratings on the PTRS and PBS did not differ between married and divorced teachers, and (3) no interactive effects were found, i.e., teacher ratings across treatment groups did not differ significantly according to marital status of teacher. The findings of this study were unexpected. Contrary to some earlier research, teachers were not biased in their ratings by knowledge of a child's family's marital status. Similarly, married teachers who had not experienced the divorce process themselves were no more positively or negatively biased in their ratings with the two instruments used in the study than were the divorced teachers. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-02, Section: A, page: 0380. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

Parents' Impact on Their Young Children's Literacy Achievement

The purpose of this study was to examine the role that parents take in the development of the emergent curriculum in early childhood classrooms influenced by the philosophy of Reggio Emilia schools. I conducted this teacher research study in my preschool classroom and in another private preschool that follows a similar philosophy. Both preschool programs are accredited by the NAEYC; both preschool programs follow practices associated with the philosophy of Reggio Emilia, including building on the children's interests by using an emergent curriculum; and both schools encourage parents to participate. My close ties with each preschool allowed me access in ways that would not have otherwise been possible. To learn how parents are protagonists in early childhood classrooms, ones influenced by the schools of Reggio Emilia, I observed six parent participants in the two preschool classrooms (three at each site) during a four-month period. I also interviewed each of these six parents and interviewed six teachers from the two sites regarding their parent involvement practices and their use of the emergent curriculum. The data analysis led to a greater understanding of how parents are involved in early childhood programs. The analysis showed how parents influence the emergent curriculum, and how they perceive the process. The analysis also shared the teachers' perceptions of parents in the early childhood classroom specifically in emergent curriculum development. This analysis is from data collected from parent participants and teacher participants of the two preschools. Case studies offered an in-depth portrayal of two parents and how they influenced the emergent curriculum and how they were protagonists in their children's school life. This study has allowed me to become more aware of how parents influence the emergent curriculum and how parents and teachers perceive the process.

<p> Teacher attrition is a growing concern among states and school systems. Novice teachers face many difficulties during their induction and the high attrition rates within the first five years of teaching are a testament to the challenges new teachers face (Herrington et al., 2006; Fantelli &amp; McDougall, 2009). Due to new demands emerging from U.S. education policies placing an emphasis on accountability and student mastery of predetermined learning outcomes, there have been many new demands placed on kindergarten teachers (Goldstein, 2007).</p><p> By using a narrative inquiry methodology, this research study seeks to answer the following overarching question: How do novice kindergarten teachers describe their experiences in their first of year teaching? The study also seeks to answer the following sub questions: What <i>domains of curriculum practice</i> act as constraints on novice kindergarten teachers curricular decision making? How do novice kindergarten teachers use their professional discretion in making decisions about how to integrate developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) into the mandated curriculum in an era of standards-based reform?</p><p> The research was guided by the following theoretical framework: Boote&rsquo;s (2006) Theory of Professional Discretion. Participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol (Patton, 2002). Interviews were transcribed and then coded for emerging themes. The researcher worked with the participants to re-story and create a narrative of their experiences in their first year of teaching.</p><p> The following themes emerged from the interview data: (a) Teaching was a lifelong career goal; (b) Teaching kindergarten was not a choice; (c) They planned as a team; (d) They had a fear of deviating from the prescribed curricula; (e) The participants were overwhelmed with standardized testing; (f) They experienced being a living contradiction; (g) The participants had a lack of job security; (h) The participants were all surplussed or &lsquo;let go&rsquo; at the end of the school year. These themes were used to write the <i> narratives of experience.</i> There were four <i>narratives of experience, </i> one for each participant. Each narrative tells the story of each participant&rsquo;s first year of teaching.</p>