Thesis (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Includes survey instruments. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ. 108-126)

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Psychology, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 42-51).

This exploratory study examined the effectiveness of child teacher relationship training (CTRT) with at-risk preschool children exhibiting disruptive behavior. The participants included a total of 23 Head Start teachers and their aides, and children identified by their teachers as exhibiting clinical or borderline levels of externalizing behavior problems. Teacher participants included 22 females and 1 male; demographics were reported as 56% Hispanic ethnicity, 17% Black American, and 22% European American. Child participants included 15 males and 5 females; demographics were reported as 60% Hispanic, 30% Black American, and 10% European American. A 2 by 3 (Group x Repeated Measures) split plot ANOVA was used to analyze the data. According to teacher reports using the Teacher Report Form (C-TRF) and blinded raters’ reports using the Direct Observation Form (DOF) to assess disruptive behaviors, children whose teachers received the CTRT intervention demonstrated statistically significant decreases (p < .05) in externalizing behaviors on the C-TRF and total problems on the DOF from pre- to mid- to post-test, compared to children whose teachers participated in the active control group. The CTRT intervention demonstrated large treatment effects on both measures (C-TRF: ?p2 =.173; DOF: ?p2=.164) when compared to CD, revealing the practical significance of the findings on reducing disruptive behaviors. According to independent raters on the DOF, 90% of children receiving the CTRT intervention moved from clinical levels of behavioral concern to more normative levels of functioning following treatment, establishing the clinical significance of CTRT as an early mental health intervention for preschool children in Head start exhibiting disruptive behavior.

This study investigated the impact of child teacher relationship training (CTRT) on teachers’ ability to provide emotional support in the classroom, teachers’ use of relationship-building skills, and teachers’ level of stress related to the student-child relationship. Teachers and aides from one Head Start school were randomly assigned to the experimental group CTRT (n = 11) or an active control Conscious Discipline group (CD; n = 12). Overall, 21 females, 11 (CTRT) and 11 (CD), and one male (CD) participated in the study. Participating teachers and aides identified themselves as the following: 13 Hispanic/Latino, 5 Black American, and 5 European American. Teachers and aides identified children with clinical levels of disruptive behavior problems for the purpose of selecting children of focus for the study. The children’s mean age was 3.63 for CTRT group and 3.36 for CD group. Overall, 9 females, 2 (CTRT) and 7 (CD), and 10 males, 6 (CTRT) and 4 (CD) participated in the study. Teachers reported children’s ethnicity: 13 Hispanic/Latino, 5 African American, and 1 other. A two-factor (Treatment x Group) repeated measures split plot ANOVA was utilized to analyze the data with an alpha level of .05. According to objective raters blinded to the study using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) and the Child Teacher Relationship Skills Checklist (CTRT-SC) and teacher reports using Index of Teaching Stress (ITS), results revealed a statistically significant interaction effect for the experimental teachers’ use of child-teacher relationship skills (CTRT-SC: p = .036), a non-statistically significant interaction effect for the experimental teachers’ ability to provide emotional support (CLASS: p = .50), and a non-statistically significant interaction effect on teacher stress (ITS: p = .997). Partial eta squared effect sizes were calculated to determine the practical significance of the findings. Compared to the active control, CTRT demonstrated large treatment effects over time on the CTRT-SC (?p2 = .19) and the CLASS (?p2 = .16). Study findings provide support for CTRT as an effective intervention for increasing Head Start teachers’ ability to provide emotional and relational support to at-risk students.

The problem of this study was to determine the difference in academic achievement between disadvantaged pupils who attended a Head Start program and those who did not when that difference was measured by a selected instrument. The groups used for the comparison were (1) Head Start, disadvantaged; (2) non-Head Start, disadvantaged without kindergarten experiences; (3) non-Head Start, advantaged with kindergarten experiences; and (4) non-Head Start, advantaged without kindergarten experiences.

Thesis advisor: Rebekah L. Coley / Children moving from early education programs into elementary schools face a critical transition, making it important for both systems to coordinate to better serve our youngest children. Yet, there is limited research on coordination around the transition to school. The objectives of this dissertation were to: 1) describe the coordination efforts used by Head Start programs to smooth children’s transitions to kindergarten, 2) examine the association between coordination and children’s outcomes in kindergarten, 3) test whether there is an interaction between Head Start coordination efforts and elementary school-based transition practices, 4) test interactions between coordination and child/family characteristics, and 5) understand the benefits and challenges to coordinating across systems. This study included two phases. Phase I examined coordination efforts between Head Start programs and elementary schools in a nationally representative sample of Head Start children (N=2,019). Findings suggest that Head Start programs are engaging in a variety of activities to coordinate with elementary schools. Results of regression analyses found that coordination was positively related to children’s language and mathematics skills in kindergarten for children enrolled in elementary schools engaging in limited activities to support the transition to school. Phase II involved interviews with sixteen Head Start directors. Results showed multiple ways they coordinate with elementary schools to share information about individual children and general program practices, as well as the ways they serve as a bridge between families and elementary schools. Findings suggest that coordination may benefit children through improved practices by Head Start and elementary schools, as well as increases in parental readiness and involvement.Overall this study shows that Head Start programs are engaging in multiple activities to coordinate with elementary schools. Although direct relationships between coordination practices and child outcomes were limited, interviews with Head Start directors pointed to indirect pathways by which coordination efforts may benefit children. These findings suggest the importance of coordination practices, and stress the need for additional research to explore these pathways. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Thesis advisor: Mariela Páez / Across preschool classrooms in the United States, free play comprises the largest percentage of children’s daily activity time (Chien et al., 2010; Fuligini et al., 2012). During free play, preschoolers may frequently engage in sociodramatic play (SDP), or pretend play where groups of children take on assigned roles with implicit rules (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990). Research has demonstrated the academic and social benefits of SDP engagement (e.g., Diamond et al., 2007); however, much of this work has addressed SDP in curricular and intervention contexts, in which teachers play a large role in facilitating the play. Fewer studies have explored SDP in free play contexts with minimal teacher scaffolding, and even fewer have studied this play in classrooms comprised of cognitively, culturally, and linguistically diverse students, such as those participating in Head Start programs. This study investigated individual and peer factors that relate to SDP occurring in the context of free play among children (n=50) in five diverse mixed-age Head Start classrooms. A mixed methods approach was used to examine relations between children’s individual characteristics and abilities, classroom peer networks, and SDP outcomes. Sources of data included: 1) naturalistic observations of children’s free play, 2) assessments and demographic surveys of individual children, and 3) sociometric and semi-structured interviews with child participants. Results from multiple regression and hierarchical cluster analyses were merged with case studies of children who engage in exemplary amounts of SDP to enhance the understanding of individual and peer factors related to sociodramatic play. Findings indicated that narrative skills, home language background, gender, membership in a cohesive peer subgroup, and teacher presence were related to high amounts of SDP engagement. Implications for future research and for preschool practitioners are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Head Start, the largest early childhood organization in the United States, was federally mandated to employ bachelor degreed operational employees, with no additional funds. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore effective strategies that successful leaders of Head Start Nonprofit Organizations use to retain operational employees. The population of this study included 5 Head Start CEOs/Program Directors in 5 Head Start nonprofit organizations in Alabama who successfully retained operational employees in their organization. Kouzes and Posner's transformational leadership theory provided a conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected via telephone interviews and employee records from the human resources department. Reviewed human resource documents included the highest level of credentials for the leader, the policy for degree requirement for operational employees, and the number of operational employees, and the participants' highest level of education. The data were analyzed using inductive analysis which consisted of a line-by-line approach to review data identifying words, phrases, ideas, and actions consistent among participants and organizations to identify patterns and themes. Results indicated that Head Start leaders used incentives, continuous training, educational support, and job benefits to retain their operational employees. The implications for social change include the potential for young children to receive optimal teaching and caregiving from retained qualified operational employees.

The current study examined the influence of classroom age composition (the variability in ages of children in the classroom) on low-income preschool children's rates of change in multiple domains of school readiness. The sample consisted of 4,417 preschool children enrolled in 207 classrooms in a large, diverse Head Start program. Children were assessed throughout the year on four school readiness domains: emergent literacy, emergent numeracy, social and emotional skills, and approaches to learning. Multilevel modeling was employed to examine the main effect of classroom age composition as well as the interaction between classroom age composition and child's age as predictors of children's rates of change in these school readiness domains. Results showed that classroom age composition did not uniformly influence rates of change in school readiness for all children. Instead, a significant interaction between child's age and classroom age composition indicated that younger children developed skills in the domain of approaches to learning at an increased rate when placed in classrooms with a large age composition (i.e., in classrooms with a greater degree of age-mixing). This study extends literature focused on identifying classroom structures that promote positive development of school readiness skills, particularly for at-risk children.

The current study investigated the relationship between peer interactions and school readiness children enrolled in Head Start. The constructs of displayed and received physical aggression, relational aggression, and prosocial behavior within children's peer interactions were examined through direct observation. School readiness was measured through direct assessment. It was hypothesized that aggression within peer interactions would predict lower school readiness, while prosocial behaviors within peer interactions would predict better school readiness. Sex was also hypothesized to moderate the relationship between relational aggression, relational victimization, physical aggression, physical victimization and school readiness. It was hypothesized that relational aggression and victimization would more severely impact the school readiness of girls and physical aggression and victimization would more severely impact the school readiness of boys. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses revealed that physical aggression and victimization as well as displayed and received prosocial behavior did not significantly predict school readiness. Relational aggression predicted better school readiness. Also, sex moderated the relationship between relational victimization and school readiness such that relational victimization predicted better school readiness for girls, but did not predict school readiness for young boys. Knowledge gained from this study can inform preschool classroom practices on the role that peer aggression and prosocial behavior play in individual differences in children's school readiness.