There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

The purpose of this research was to investigate career development of gifted and regular elementary school students. Students in grades four through six from a university laboratory school were examined by ability, grade level, and gender in several areas of interests, using the Holland (1985a) Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments.The Self-Directed Search - Form E (SDS-E; Holland, 1985b) and The Occupational Alternatives Questions (OAQ; Slaney, 1980) were administered to 148 students, 34 of which had been identified as gifted. Holland (1985b) SDS codes were assigned to the SDS obtained scores and the stated occupational choices. Prestige of occupational choices were also assigned, using the socioeconomic index of Stevens and Cho (1985).Demographic variables and hypotheses were tested by MANOVA and ANOVA statistical procedures to determine the nature of relationships between variables.Results indicated overall significant main effects in the MANOVA of obtained SDS codes for the independent variables of grade, sex, and ability. Males scored higher than females on the Realistic code. Females scored higher on the Artistic and Social codes. Gifted students scored higher on the Investigative code. On the ANOVA of the differential variable, there were significant differences by grade and sex, with fifth grade students and females more highly differentiated. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

<p> This qualitative interview study examines the challenges and successes early childhood teachers in Oakland Unified School District face when addressing issues of race and racism in their classrooms. Teachers' and District Administrator's stories of barriers and strategies were analyzed to inform my professional practice. Data were collected through qualitative interviews and a focus group. The main theoretical framework that supported analysis came from Critical Race Theory. The data were analyzed through descriptive coding and analytic memoing. Key findings include the impact of personal beliefs and experiences on teachers' barriers and strategies. Teachers' barriers include the age or English proficiency of their students, lack of discussion at their school site, and a lack of training and tools. They used a wide range of strategies, including literature, general conversations, specific questions, creating a strong link between home and school as well as relying on experiences regarding race and racism they had in their personal lives. Teachers and district administrators were both working on addressing racism, however, their strategies were very distinct; administrators were working on large-scale projects while teachers were very focused on their individual classrooms and students. This study makes an important contribution to the literature because the role and impact of race and racism in Early Childhood classrooms is often overlooked. There is a lack of professional literature addressing the obstacles that teachers committed to engaging in this work face and also an absence of reflection from early childhood teachers about what strategies they use to support them in their anti-racist work. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> anti-racist teaching, early childhood education, critical race theory, obstacles to anti-racist teaching, teacher strategies </p>

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of Project BIG on the self-concept and black pride of urban black children at the fourth-grade level. The study was conducted as a part of Project BIG (Black Image Growth), a Model Cities-supported inservice social studies program, which emphasized the concerns and contributions of black people in the study of Indiana history. The curricular emphasis was implemented by project teachers who used image-rehabilitation social studies materials developed in consultation with Project BIG directors.The sampling population was restricted by grade level and Model Cities School membership. Enrollment in a graduate course, "Seminar in Elementary Education," and participation in bi-weekly teacher training workshops during the 1971-72 school year were additional requirements for the teachers. Four of the original twelve project teachers met these criteria. Students of these four teachers were considered the experimental group. Students from the remaining nineteen Model Cities fourth-grade classrooms were considered the control group.

Access to abstract restricted until 12/14/2015. / Access to thesis restricted until 12/14/2015. / Department of Educational Psychology

<p> The present study was designed to measure differences in elementary school teachers' attitudes toward willingness to teach students with ADHD in their classrooms in Riyadh City in Saudi Arabia through a descriptive non-experimental quantitative research instrument. The study examined relationships among many variables through teachers' level of education, years of teaching experience in the education area, grade level of teaching, class size, previous teaching experience with any kind of disabilities, teachers' positions in schools, special education courses taken in college, teachers' in-service training, and teachers' gender. The last variable examined teachers' overall attitudes toward their willingness to teach students with ADHD in their classrooms. </p><p> The participants in the study, a total of 300 elementary school teachers including 150 males and 150 females, completed the survey. Overall the results found that elementary school teachers have neutral attitudes toward willingness to teach students with ADHD in their classrooms. Moreover, the findings of the study revealed the significance of the relationship between teachers' willingness to teach students with ADHD in their classrooms and their level of education, grade level of teaching, class size, previous teaching experience with any kind of disabilities, positions in schools, special education courses taken in college, and in-service training. Finally, the study found there was no relationship among years of teaching experience in the education area or gender and teachers' attitudes toward willingness to teach students with ADHD in their classrooms.</p>

<p>Play is an important part of a child&rsquo;s development. Play is often defined as an activity done for its own sake, characterized by means rather than end. Pretend play receives a huge focus at the pre-school and kindergarten levels, especially socio-dramatic play. Socio-dramatic play, common from around 3 years of age to six years of age, is a type of pretend play. Socio-dramatic play incorporates sustained role taking and a narrative line. This study intends to examine pretend play in greater detail and to determine if the structuring of pretend play by the teacher can positively affect student social and behavior skills. The two students under study, a 5-year old female with limited social skills and a 6-year old boy who exhibits poor behavior skills. The two students under study were placed in an unstructured and structured dramatic play area center through the course of the study. The researcher used a duration recording form, a partial recording form, and field notes to measure behavior. The results of the study showed that the children improved their behaviors during the structured dramatic play area center time. </p>

<p> Mindfulness practices, used to focus and sustain attention, have been shown to promote school readiness, and to positively impact students' academic success. Yet, incorporating these practices into the normal school day has been difficult due to the curriculum changes and teacher training necessary for implementation and sustainable operation. This study utilized a quasi-randomized controlled trial (RCT) design, to measure the effects of a mindfulness program on student grades, on teaching operations, and on teacher mindfulness and stress. The program consisted of 90 audio-guided tracks, each 10 minutes in length. The automated delivery system, via an MP3 player and docking station, offered both students and teachers the opportunity to consistently participate in mindfulness practices each school day without impacting teaching operations. A total of 337 students in 2 schools participated in this study. There was a significant mindfulness intervention effect on students' grade point average (GPA) changes in School A (<i>N</i> = 131), between the treatment (<i>n</i> = 64, <i>M</i> = 2.7995, <i>SD</i> = 3.13), and control (<i>n</i> = 67, <i>M</i> = .0448, <i> SD</i> = 2.61) groups; <i>t</i>(129) = 5.48, <i>p</i> &lt; .001 (2-tailed), 99% <i>CI</i> [1.76, 3.75], <i>d</i> = .96. In school B, (<i>N</i> = 206), there was a near significant mindfulness intervention effect on GPA changes between the treatment (<i> n</i> = 103, <i>M</i> = .0357, <i>SD</i> = .065) and control (<i>n</i> = 103, <i>M</i> = .0091, <span style="text-decoration:overline"> SD</span> = .126) group; <i>t</i>(204) = 1.91, <i>p</i> = .058 (2-tailed), 95% <i>CI</i> [-.001, .054], <i> d</i> = .27. These results suggest that a daily audio-guided mindfulness practice can positively impact student grades across all subjects with less than 1 hour of teacher training and with no changes to the existing curriculum. </p>

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the level of satisfaction of parents of children enrolled in grades six, seven, or eight of the Summit Program of the Fort Wayne Community Schools. To determine the level of parental satisfaction, 354 questionnaires were forwarded to parents of children enrolled at Memorial Park Middle School for the 1981-82 2chool year. Questionnaires were returned 258, 72 percent, of the respondents. Data were tabulated for raw scores and percentages.Based upon a review of related literature, research and data, the following conclusions were developed:1. The Summit Program has a high level of parental satisfaction.2. Staff willingness and ability t& build a program around the basic skills, fine language has contributed to a high level of satisfaction among parents. 3. The race of the respondents has little on the high level of parental satisfaction with the Summit Program.4. The educational offerings of he Program are meeting the needs and interests of parents of all races.5. The length of time in the Summit Program has little impact on the high level of parental satisfaction.

<p> Writing is a well-established content area in the elementary grade levels and computer programming is currently being introduced to the elementary grade levels. Both subject areas utilize similar organizational skills and teaching strategies. However, the students who are motivated to program may not represent the students who are motivated to write. The purpose of this study was to investigate the change in the dimensions of motivation, which are: challenge, choice, enjoyment, and interest of fifth-grade students to engage in an expository writing activity after being taught to develop computer programs with the same teaching strategies used in the writing activity. </p><p> A quasi-experimental control-group design was conducted, with the use of the <i>My Class Activities Instrument,</i> to investigate the change in the dimensions of motivation. Control, treatment groups, and gender were investigated by comparing pretest and iv posttest data. The data were analyzed using a multivariate general linear model (MGLM) for treatment/control groups and gender. </p><p> The results of the MGLM showed no statistical significance for difference in the control, treatment groups, and gender; more analysis was conducted on individual students. Students were categorized into three levels (low, middle, and high) on motivation by the results of their pretest scores. Students were tracked based on who showed a motivational change from the pretest on both the science activity and the posttest. The individual students in the treatment and control groups were then compared by percentage of individual movement. The results of the analysis showed that the low treatment group, on all four dimensions of motivation, moved more positively than the control group that scored in the low group on the pretest. </p><p> The results of this study suggest that the teaching of computer programming was not effective with the intention of motivating the masses of fifth-grade students to write. However, there appears to be supporting evidence that teaching computer programming to fifth-grade students may help some individual students who are not initially motivated to write.</p>