<p> Early Childhood Care and Education in Ethiopia was revitalized after the initiatives of Education for All campaign were introduced with the intention of expanding access and improving educational opportunities to children living in disadvantaged communities. In the process of expanding access to Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programs in Ethiopia, a greater need to grasp the meaning of early education in the context of children's historical, social, and cultural experiences emerged. </p><p> The purpose of this research study was to explore the integration of indigenous knowledge and cultural practices in ECCE programs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory in combination with Yosso's community cultural wealth theory served as the conceptual as well as the methodological framework advising the components of this research. This qualitative case study invited perspectives from local parents, teachers, directors, a university faculty member, and administrative personnel from Ministry of Education in Ethiopia. </p><p> Major findings uncovered that participants in this study associated language, <i> fidel</i> (the Ethiopian alphabet), traditional practices, and religion as core elements of Ethiopia's indigenous knowledge. However, when assessing the value of using indigenous knowledge, it was revealed parents' want for English and the personification English-speaking carries resulted in devaluation of Amharic and cultural practices in ECCE programs. Success with integrating indigenous knowledge by using native languages and culturally relevant materials was evident in schools serving low income families; but it was a challenge for these students when they advanced to all-English secondary schools. Other challenges to integrating indigenous knowledge were attributed to disproportionate numbers of private versus public schools, divergent education philosophy between rich and poor programs, lack of local resources, and absence of a stringent monitoring agency to enforce the national mandate of Amharic or mother's tongue as the medium of instruction. </p><p> The study bears important implications for ECCE programs, policy makers, educational researchers, and for Ethiopia. Recommendations include Ethiopia's adopting a three language system in primary grades beginning in ECCE programs. Further recommendations call for international and national support for developing indigenous resources, delayed introduction of English as a subject in elementary grades, and a comprehensive university-level ECCE teacher training program. </p>

<p> Community colleges in California are the primary source for preparing the early childhood care and education (ECE) workforce. The California child development lab school mission is to prepare ECE practitioners, provide a laboratory where college students can study and research child development/education, and offer a service to children and families. There are many benefits that are derived from laboratory schools but many community college lab schools have been reduced and/or closed over the past three years. The purposes of this Delphi study were (a) to examine the most pressing issues, problems and barriers facing California community colleges child development labs schools; (b) rate the importance of the issues, problems, and barriers identified; and (c) elicit experts' recommendations for the most viable solutions to help California child development laboratory programs maintain viability. A Delphi method was utilized procuring a panel of ECE experts that identified and rated the most pressing issues, problems and barriers, and generated viable solutions for California child development laboratory schools' viability. The key statistical processes used in this Delphi research were measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion. The ECE experts recommended solutions to increase a greater understanding of early childhood care and education, allow more support, and secure more financial assistance for the lab schools. A comprehensive infrastructure approach of government, policymakers, and community college leaders is required for California community college child development lab schools' viability. The data gathered from this study develops five potential benefits for laboratory schools including: (1) providing rationale for policy construction regarding statewide community college lab programs; (2) deciphering the most pressing problems and barriers that California community college child development laboratories are facing; (3) soliciting solutions to maintain viability for child development lab programs; (4) contributing to the development of statewide recognition and possibly legislation on funding sources for California community college child development laboratories; and (5) ensuring the survival of California community college child development laboratory schools.</p>

<p> This qualitative research study brings to light the need for a Critical Race Theory approach to early childhood education. Ten early childhood educators were interviewed and asked about how they teach about race and racism with their students. Four major findings are identified and described within the study, Devaluing Children's Ability; Ethnic Identity and Cultural Belonging; Critical Race Turning Points; and Challenges of Teaching About Race and Racism. Critical Race Turning Points is new, innovative conceptual tool and model that describes motivations of educators that work towards positive, social justice oriented change in their teaching. Conclusions recommended in this study include: the need to for a professional organization for early childhood educators working for racial and social justice, a mandate for more consistent education levels for early childhood educators, and inclusion of topics of race, racism, and social difference in early childhood education curriculum.</p>

<p> This study was a within subject, pretest posttest design intended to determine if a three session parent-training program (PTP) would be effective in facilitating morphosyntax in children with or suspected of having specific language impairment (SLI) over the course of 5 weeks. This was measured with the SPELT-P2. In addition, the researcher aimed to determine if parents learned from and were satisfied with the PTP, which was measured by a questionnaire given before and after the PTP was implemented. There were six parent-child dyads in this study. Three children participants demonstrated an increase in standard scores on the SPELT-P2 and three children participants demonstrated a decrease in standard scores. Parent participants demonstrated an overall increase in scores on knowledge, perceptions, and strategies learned during the PTP. Results and clinical implications are discussed.</p>

<p>The study used an embedded qualitative, historical, explanatory, case study design with a dominant quantitative, quasi-experimental pre-post, longitudinal, retrospective design. The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of Ludus Reading&mdash;a new reading program&mdash;in terms of kindergarten students&rsquo; reading perceptions and performance between the control and experimental group addressing the problem of illiteracy and aliteracy. Study participants included 73 kindergarten students. The results of the study were statistically significant (alpha = .05). The null hypothesis H1 was rejected (<i>F</i> (1,70)=15.01, <i>p</i> &lt;. 001). Consequently, the experimental group had higher means on KDRA2 (<i>M</i>=9.25, <i> SD</i>=5.11) than the control group (<i>M</i>=5.07, <i> SD</i>=4.25). The null hypothesis H2 was rejected (<i>F</i> (1,69)=6268.69, Wilks Lambda=0.68, <i>p</i> &lt; .001). Therefore, the experimental group had higher means on KDIBELS NWF-CLS (<i>M</i>=53.31, <i> SD</i>=21.51) than the control group (<i>M</i>=32.20, <i> SD</i>=18.99). The sub-null hypotheses were retained, signifying that moderating factors, gender and speech language services, did not influence the students&rsquo; reading performance. Qualitative data from learning profiles were explored, and emerging themes indicated that the experimental group enjoyed reading more than the control group because students from the experimental group used more descriptive emotion words to describe reading, and expressed a higher intensity level of enjoyment. </p>

Part 1. An 8.5 month prospective study was carried out to compare the risk of repeated infections in children attending different type of daycare facilities. Compared to children in family daycare, children in small daycare centres ($ le$20 children) had an increased risk of having $ ge$6 infections (odds ratio (OR) = 2.3; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.5-3.6); $ ge$5 upper respiratory tract infections (OR = 2.2; CI = 1.4-3.4); $ ge$2 occurrence of otitis media (OR = 2.6; CI = 1.0-2.6); and $ ge$2 episodes of gastroenteritis (OR = 1.5; CI = 0.9-2.4). Surprisingly this risk was not as high for children attending large daycare centres. Children who had spent at least 3 months in daycare before the beginning of the study were significantly protected compared to new attenders. These infections have important social and economical consequences since 96% of all episodes required a medical consultation. 68% were treated with antibiotics; and approximately 40% of episodes resulted in a parent taking time off work to look after their sick child. Further studies should be performs to assess the long term consequences of repeated infections. / Part 2. A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial was implemented to evaluate the efficacy of an immunostimulator in reducing the occurrence of recurrent respiratory or ear, nose, and throat infections. The parents of 423 children agreed to participate (210 Imocur$ sp circler$ and 213 Placebo). One capsule was administered orally for 10 consecutive days a month for 3 months. Children were followed for a further 4.5 months giving a total of 7.5 months for the study. For the total study period the risk of presenting at least 4 episodes of respiratory or ear, nose, and throat infections was lower in the treated group than in the placebo group (26.7% versus 33.8%), but the difference was not statistically significant (relative risk (RR) = 0.79; confidence interval (CI) = 0.59-1.06). A similar result was observed for the risk of having $ ge$2 episodes of gastroenteritis (RR = 0.77; 95% CI = 0.47-1.25). In contrast, at the end of the three-month treatment period we observed a 48% reduction in risk of presenting $ ge$3 episodes of respiratory or ear nose and throat infections (RR = 0.52; 95% CI = 0.45-0.87) in the treated group. However, this clinically important and statistically significant decrease in risk of recurrent infections did not extend beyond this period. The tolerance of the drug during the trial was excellent. Since these results were obtained from an exploratory analysis, they should be confirmed in further studies.

<p> The following is a doctoral dissertation that studied administrators', teachers', and parents' perceptions and attitudes related to an early childhood center/preschool accreditation experience. A qualitative case study of one preschool center focused on the influence that the decision to pursue accreditation and implement the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) self-study process had on administrators, teachers, and parents. Interviews with administrators, teachers, and parents explored (a) issues that motivated the pursuit of NAEYC accreditation; (b) the NAEYC guidelines and their experience of the self-study and quality-improvement process; and (c) their perception of outcomes following accreditation. Current NAEYC guidelines are based on key child development theories and research, and require programs to integrate Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) in school curricula and staff training. It was necessary to explore how these NAEYC recommendations regarding DAP were interpreted during the quality-improvement and accreditation process. Key themes and issues around the accreditation experience were revealed through analyses of qualitative data. This case study of NAEYC accreditation illuminated factors in the decision to pursue accreditation and implement quality improvements leading to NAEYC accreditation. This case may serve as a model of a successful accreditation process to encourage early childhood centers to undertake quality improvements and pursue national NAEYC accreditation.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Language Education, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-09, Section: A, page: 3786. Adviser: Jerome C. Harste. Title from dissertation home page (viewed May 8, 2008).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Counseling and Educational Psychology, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 2802. Adviser: Jack Cummings. Title from dissertation home page (viewed April 8, 2008).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 2007. / (UMI)AAI3269132. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-06, Section: A, page: 2376. Adviser: Lori Custodero.