<p> Music plays a fundamental role in early childhood education. Research shows that the first of the intelligences developed is the musical intelligence. Educators argue that while this is an intelligence with which all human beings are born, development of this intelligence will depend on the environment and the opportunities that are provided to the child. In today's global society, music has a permanent presence and is significant in everyday lives. It is a basic element in elementary education in many countries; however, few schools in Puerto Rico integrate music in their curriculum. In addition, there is unequal access to music education in schools in Southwest Puerto Rico because the justification for including it in the curricula is questioned. The purpose of this quantitative correlation study using secondary data was to determine if there is a relationship between music integration in Southwest Puerto Rico elementary schools and academic achievement. Secondary data from schools with and without music education were correlated to determine if a relationship existed that would justify the inclusion of music education in all such schools. The findings of this study support the importance of music education for elementary school students. Children acquire more knowledge in reading and writing when music education is integrated into the curriculum. Findings show that the stage of literacy of elementary school students is higher, according to the academic achievement tests of the Department of Education of Puerto Rico, when there is music education integrated in the curricula. In summary, it is concluded that music education is of great importance for improving reading, and hence, improving the development of children.</p><p>

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine, explore, and describe the phenomenon of teaching with a focus on self-esteem, or teaching with a focus on the affective or psychological domain of development. This phenomenon is called humanistic education which is rooted in humanistic psychology, an American school of psychology that evolved in the middle of this century. Humanistic education is on the rise in educational institutions across the country because of a positive relationship between self-esteem and constructive learning and because of the growing self-esteem needs of our nation's children. This study sought to gain a grounded understanding of the experience and significance assigned to the experience of teaching with a focus on self-esteem by learning from fifteen teachers who actually do teach with such a focus. The qualitative method of in-depth phenomenological interviewing was employed. The data is presented in the form of narrated profiles of selected participants and in the form of key themes that comprise the phenomenon.

The purpose of the study was to examine beginning preschool teachers' conceptions of teaching young children and their perceptions of the origins of these ideas. The participants were six preschool teachers employed during their first two years after graduating with A.S. degrees in early childhood education from five different two-year colleges. This qualitative multi-case study used observations, videotapes, and in-depth interviews to collect data about the experiences of the six teachers. The Ethnograph (Seidel, 1988) software program was employed to manage the data. An adapted model of pedagogical content knowledge, as described in the literature on teacher knowledge (Shulman, 1986; Grossman 1990), was used to organize the data along a learning-to-teach continuum, as described in the teacher socialization literature (Feiman-Nemser, 1983; Zeichner & Gore, 1990). This continuum begins with early experiences, progresses through formal teacher education, and continues throughout a teacher's career. The major findings of the study indicate earlier experiences provided the teachers with predispositions toward particular curriculum content and interactional styles. Their conceptualization of what and how to teach to young children was developed and enriched during formal teacher education with coursework contributing primarily to curricular knowledge. Practicum experiences, including opportunities to bring on-campus learnings into settings for young children, were a major source of the development of instructional strategies. A combination of coursework and direct experiences with children of varying ages and in various contexts contributed to the teachers' overall understanding of children. The teachers reported learning from colleagues, trying things out, and "just being with children" as rich sources of practical knowledge (Elbaz, 1981) during their early years of professional experience. Both explicit and implicit connections were made between how knowledge was gained during these induction years and the content and process of their formal teacher education programs, as well as with their prior experiences. This study, in contrast to previous studies of preschool teachers, provides descriptive data of the substance and process of five early childhood teacher education programs from the perspectives of their graduates. Insights were thus gained into the aspects of the teacher preparation experiences the teachers found have made valuable contributions to their present work.

<p> This qualitative multiple case study sought to discover third-grade teacher perspectives of the strategies used when effectively implementing Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI). Five exemplar third-grade teachers were purposefully selected based on recommendations from their principal and instructional coach. The purpose of the study was to learn how the implementation of the essential elements of CGI affected planning of mathematics lessons and how those elements were implemented into mathematics instructional practices. </p><p> The study utilized triangulation of data sources, including semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis. Based on the results from the first research question, planning for CGI lessons was found to be more difficult compared to planning for traditional mathematics lessons. The teachers spent more time developing word problems due to the lack of resources, because CGI is to be customized to meet the needs of the students. For the second research question, five themes emerged as strategies the teacher used for implementing CGI during class: 1) conceptualizing, 2) articulating, 3) using multiple strategies, 4) questioning, and 5) scaffolding. These strategies were employed by all teachers, but were differentiated by each teacher to best meet the needs of the students.</p>

<p> The present mixed-methods quasi-experimental study (embedding a case study and a mixed factorial within-between ANOVA test), conducted in a private English school in Limassol, Cyprus, investigated how the use of the schematic learning aids (researcher-made color-coded flash-cards and grids) influence year-2 children's ability to read, write and represent Hindu-Arabic numerals and how these number representations affect their arithmetic competency. This was achieved by comparing an intervention group (n=16) and a control group (n=17) before and after the 2-week intervention. </p><p> It is concluded that the use of the place-value learning aids facilitates numeration system conceptual understanding , reading, writing and representing numbers (in canonical and non-canonical form) by thinking in terms of "100s", "10s" and "1s" (or in terms of color-coded cards). Students visually relate the face-value of the digits (e.g. "3" and "5") of the number (e.g. "35") with the number of flash-cards to be used for the canonical representation (three orange cards and five blue cards). Children also understand how "53" differs from "35" or "503". It is further concluded that the use of the learning aids facilitates addition and subtraction performance in terms of "hundreds", "tens" and "ones" (rather than just "ones") either mentally or by constructing canonical and non-canonical representations with the use of the flash-cards and grids or by constructing abstract representations on paper. Students realize that ten cards of one color can be exchanged with one card of another color (or vice versa). Students further understand how "35-2" differs from "35-20" and how "51-32" differs from "52-31". </p><p> Quantitative data are in agreement with qualitative data, suggesting that children's arithmetic competency is enhanced when taught how to represent numbers, additions and subtractions with the use of the learning aids. The control group mean score increase from before to after intervention was 1,24 marks, compared to an increase of 11,06 marks for the intervention class. The medium to large Cohen's d effect sizes of 0,51 (comparing the intervention group score increase to the control group score increase) or 0,57 (comparing the intervention group score from before to after) indicate strong practical significance.</p>

<p> Multiple-baseline across participants design was used to examine the effects of professional development (PD) and coaching on preschool teachers&rsquo; implementation of embedded-explicit literacy instruction to increase children&rsquo;s opportunities to engage in meaningful, intentional, and contextualized literacy behaviors, as measured by Complete Learning Trials (CLTs). Three teachers were videotaped weekly during free-play and observations were coded for CLT accuracy. After professional development, coaching was provided weekly via email. An immediate effect of PD was observed, with considerable variability once remote feedback was provided. Students&rsquo; early literacy skills were measured prior to and at the end of the study to provide a snapshot of children&rsquo;s literacy-related skills. Compared to pre-intervention scores, children&rsquo;s picture naming, rhyming, sound identification and comprehension skills had significantly increased, however, due to the research design these changes cannot be attributed to teachers&rsquo; implementation or non-implementation of explicit-embedded activities alone.</p>

<p> A Multi-Tier System of Support (MTSS) for academic skills is widely recognized as the best practice framework for supporting all students. Additionally, the recent shift from constructivist pedagogy toward more intentional teaching of mathematics at the preschool level has encouraged more explicit mathematics instruction with younger children. In spite of these advances, there are no published best practice guidelines for implementing MTSS for mathematics at the prekindergarten level. The current study sought to investigate one possible way to implement effective instructional practices for preschool mathematics within a multi-tier system, including the use of validated screening and progress monitoring instruments. A centers-based mathematics curriculum was implemented at the universal level within an inclusive preschool classroom. Universal screening was conducted using curriculum-based measurement (CBM) in order to identify at-risk students in need of additional instruction. A supplemental prekindergarten program was implemented with small instructional groups at the secondary tier of support. Students receiving supplemental instruction were progress-monitored using growth-sensitive CBMs in a multiple baseline across dyads research design. Results and limitations of the study are discussed. Finally, topics for future exploration in preschool mathematics are suggested. </p>

<p> Early childhood education (ECE) teachers often lack the experience and skills to provide children with supports necessary to foster academic and social skill development. Professional development can improve ECE teachers&rsquo; skills, but ECE trainers often lack understanding of adult learning principles, known as andragogy. Knowles&rsquo; conceptual framework of andragogy was used to explore the knowledge and use of andragogical principles of 8 ECE trainers selected via criterion-based purposive sampling. The research questions focused on ECE trainers&rsquo; knowledge and use of andragogical principles. Three cases, each consisting of 2 or 3 live professional development trainings for early childhood educators, were used in this study. Data sources included (a) observations of ECE trainings, (b) semi-structured interviews with ECE trainers, and (c) content analysis of ECE training materials. Thematic analysis revealed that although participants were not formally trained in andragogy and were unfamiliar with the associated verbiage, most had a strong grasp of andragogy and used andragogical principles to drive the development and presentation of their training materials. The 3 main themes that emerged were (a) lack of training/background in andragogy, (b) training strategies employed, and (c) training design. Findings from this study provide an original contribution to the limited existing research on the professional development of early childhood educators and expand the existing body of research on andragogy. This study contributes to social change by revealing that trainers may benefit from formal andragogical training, which may then improve the education provided by ECE teachers to young children.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher&rsquo;s roles and children&rsquo;s responses during small group read aloud with fiction and nonfiction literature in one preschool classroom. This instrumental case study draws from three theoretical orientations: sociocultural theory, reader response theory, and the emergent literacy perspective. Two preschool teachers and 19 children were video and audio recorded as they participated in small group read aloud events that occurred during choice time in their classroom twice per day. Transcripts of interviews and small group read aloud sessions were analyzed. Analysis included open coding, axial coding, and constant-comparative techniques to reach data saturation.</p><p> Research findings suggest that teachers employed similar and different scaffolding and modeling strategies when reading fictional and nonfiction literature, differentiated instruction for younger and older children, as well as responded aesthetically to fictional stories and efferently to nonfiction texts. Children utilized a range of meaning making strategies and responded both aesthetically and efferently to both types of text. Older children served as peer models for their younger classmates.</p><p> This study has several implications. Future research should investigate read aloud with fiction and nonfiction literature with different populations of teachers and children, repeated readings of nonfiction literature, and large versus small group read aloud in preschool. Implications for preschool teachers include careful selection of fiction and nonfiction literature, employing additional reading strategies for nonfiction, differentiating instruction for younger and older preschoolers, and reading across the efferent-aesthetic continuum with both types of text. Preschool administrators should make reading instruction with fiction and nonfiction texts a priority. Early childhood teacher education faculty can support preservice teachers&rsquo; capacities to read fiction and nonfiction literature with children.</p><p>

<p> This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of elementary school teachers who were engaged in teacher-coach partnerships to discover the influence of instructional coaching on the teaching practices of elementary school teachers. Data were collected through interviews, classroom observations, and a compilation of documents and artifacts. The findings are discussed through the three main themes that emerged from the analysis of qualitative data and interpretation. The three main themes that described how instructional coaching influences the teaching practices of elementary school teachers were: (a) relationship building, (b) self-reflection and goal setting, and (c) coaching perceived as evaluative rather than individualized professional learning. </p><p> Overall, the factor acknowledged by all participants as being the most influential in making instructional changes to their teaching practices was the importance of building relationships with an instructional coach. This study adds to the body of literature regarding instructional coaching and the influence instructional coaching has on teaching practices.</p><p>