In early childhood centers, students with disabilities are being suspended and expelled, leaving them with no place to attend school to learn with their peers or to receive early intervention special education services. This study was designed to determine the effects of coaching on the number of suspensions and expulsions of students with disabilities attending early childhood centers. The framework for this study was based on the theory of Conjoint Behavioral Coaching. The research question was: What are the effects of a coaching intervention by early intervention teachers to early childhood teachers on the number of suspensions and expulsions of students with disabilities? A quasi-experimental design was used with data collected from a sample of 27 early childhood centers. The intervention consisted of pairing each early childhood teacher with an early intervention teacher to complete the coaching process. A t-test was utilized to determine a significant difference between pre- and post-suspension and expulsion data. A statistically significant difference was found in suspension and expulsion rates after the coaching intervention was utilized. The coaching appears to provide support for the early childhood teachers so that they are less inclined to suspend or expel students with disabilities from their classrooms. Implications for social change included reducing the high number of suspensions and expulsions in early childhood settings so that students with disabilities were able to remain in their educational setting with their peers who do not have disabilities.

A small rural school district in the southwestern part of the United States required teachers to provide highly effective literacy instruction by implementing an evidence-based reading program called Journeys. With consistently low reading achievement, it was unclear whether teachers were implementing Journeys as prescribed. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore teacher implementation of the Journeys program for students at an elementary school in the district. The theoretical framework used to guide the study was Clay’s emergent literacy theory. The conceptual framework included 5 strands of the Journeys reading curriculum, which was derived from Clay’s theory. A modified formative program evaluation case study was conducted. Nine teachers who had taught reading and 2 administrators who supervised reading teachers were purposefully selected for semistructured interviews. Coding and analysis of interview data indicated that more than half of the teachers were not implementing Journeys with fidelity. Themes that emerged from the interviews were; inconsistent understanding of evidence-based literacy instruction, lack of collaborative planning, teacher’s use of an alternate phonics-based resource, focus on technology integration, lack of teacher buy-in, and lack of teacher training in implementation of the Journeys program. Based on findings, a 3-day professional development training was developed to provide training in implementing Journeys’ underlying evidence-based strategies. In regard to social change, the study findings and project could assist school leaders in determining guidelines for the implementation of evidence-based reading curricula. The study findings and project could assist school leaders and teachers in effective implementation of Journeys and providing quality literacy instruction to enhance student learning in the district.

Poor early literacy performance in public elementary schools has been a concern for many years. To that end, the purpose of this study was to examine an Early Intervention Program (EIP) in a public school. First grade students at the participating elementary school struggled with reading skills and were not meeting the grade standards of the local school district. In order to remedy this problem, the school implemented early support to provide struggling students with specific and targeted small group reading instruction. This quantitative program evaluation was intended to explore the effect of the EIP used at the participating elementary school on the reading levels of a convenience sample of 32 struggling first grade readers enrolled in the EIP. The Fountas and Pinnell benchmark reading scores of these students were analyzed using a chi square test to determine the effectiveness of the program. The beginning- and end-of-year benchmark scores showed that students who participated in the program for an entire school year demonstrated growth in their reading levels so that every student in the program was reading on or above grade level. Based on this research, an evaluation report was prepared and included recommendations for possible expansion of the program and teacher professional development focused on reading intervention. This research could help promote positive social change through teacher professional development and allow classroom teachers to receive targeted reading intervention training. These results from the study help to improve student achievement and foster a school environment that is data driven and student achievement centered to support student learning.

In the United States, early childhood educators are expected to follow the trend to enforce academic curriculum for preschoolers. This effort diminishes the value of play in the young developmental years of children. The purpose of this study was to explore the type of activities and strategies that promote development of language and literacy skills of preschool children while playing in a dramatic play center. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory teaches that children acquire skills through play and discovery in a developmentally appropriate environment. The study was conducted within a qualitative framework using a case study approach. How parents and teachers encourage and support the development of literacy skills in preschoolers during play were explored. The participants in this single site case study were 10 young children attending a university campus preschool, their parents, and their teacher. Data were collected through observations of the children and interviews with the parents and the preschool teacher. Video transcripts and field notes were analyzed to understand the data collected. Coding was implemented to understand the patterns and themes that emerged from the collected data. Modeling, asking questions, props, and books were identified activities and strategies that supported oral language development and literacy skills in young children during dramatic play. The parents and the preschool teacher encouraged and supported the development of oral language and literacy skills through providing opportunities through play for children to build vocabulary by expressing themselves and understanding others. Varied experiences with an assortment of props and books were identified as supporting children's development. This study recommends and extends the understanding that play in dramatic play centers in preschools can support the development of oral language and literacy skills which could create positive social change in early childhood education programs.

Students who enter kindergarten lacking readiness skills often struggle to meet literacy benchmarks and to successfully complete school. The problem to be investigated by this study is the low literacy scores on the standardized Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment test at 2 public New Jersey elementary schools. While some students attended public or private preschools, others did not attend any preschool prior to starting kindergarten. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the difference in kindergarten literacy gain scores among students who attended public, private, and no preschool. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and emergent literacy theory served as the theoretical foundation for this study. The study followed an ex post facto 1 x 3 factorial design. Analysis of variance was conducted using an archived data set that included pre- and posttest kindergarten literacy scores for 100 kindergarten students accounting for approximately 15% of the school district's total kindergarten population. The results showed a statistically significant difference for both the public and private preschool group compared to the no preschool group. Student achievement between the pre- and posttest increased the greatest for the public preschool attendance group. Results inform families' early childcare decisions, empower policy makers seeking early intervention, and contribute to the growing body of research acknowledging the positive effects of preschool attendance.

The experiences and needs of transgendered individuals immediately following a natural or human-caused disaster are largely ignored in practice and absent from previous academic literature. Using Schneider and Ingram's conceptualization of the social construction of target populations as a theoretical framework, the purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences and perspectives of transgendered people who sought shelter in the aftermath of a natural disaster in 2018. Data were collected through interviews with 12 displaced, transgendered individuals to explore their experiences while staying at shelters in 2018. Interview data were transcribed, inductively coded, and then a thematic analysis procedure was applied. According to the key findings, participants perceived internal threats at shelters, which may have prohibited or restricted others in the same population from seeking shelter assistance. Additionally, participants perceived that a lack of understanding of the transgender community may have resulted in dissatisfactory services being provided. Most participants in this study perceived that the biases associated with negative stereotypes were persistent and pervasive, which may have resulted in disparate treatment from cisgender community members. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include recommendations to government officials and shelter staff regarding techniques to ensure that shelter services are provided in fair and equitable ways, including the need for additional training related to the unique needs of transgendered populations. Implementing these recommendations may improve shelter conditions for the transgender community and reduce the risks associated with going to evacuation shelters to secure housing during times of disaster.

This study examined 180 matched pretest/posttest surveys of kindergarten teachers' perceptions of the transition children experienced upon kindergarten entry. Investigations of changes in the percentages of children perceived as not being ready for kindergarten and percentages of children who were rated as having had a very successful, moderately successful, or difficult transition from the pretest to the posttest were conducted. Additionally, changes in teachers' developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices from the beginning of the school year (pretest) to the end of the school year (posttest) were explored. Further analyses were conducted to find differences and associations between teacher and classroom demographics and changes from pretest to posttest. Teachers' developmentally appropriate beliefs were statistically significantly higher at the beginning of the school year (pretest) as compared to the end of the school year (posttest). Conversely, teachers' developmentally appropriate practices were statistically significantly higher at the end of the school year (posttest) when compared to the beginning of the school year (pretest). Even with the increase in teachers' developmentally appropriate practices at the end of the year, consistent with previous research, teacher's beliefs were found to be more developmentally appropriate than their reported practices. Study findings indicated that teachers reported a significantly higher percentage of children as having had a difficult transition at the beginning of the school year when compared to the end. At the beginning of the year, teachers rated 21.9% of children as having had a difficult transition, compared to 17.4% of children at the end of the school year. Some teachers reported 100% of the children in their class had a difficult transition at both the beginning and end of the school year. Overall, just under 60% of children were perceived as having some problems with kindergarten entry. Findings also indicated that teachers reported a significantly higher percentage of children were not ready for kindergarten entry at the beginning of the school year than at the end of the school year. Teachers perceived 27% of children were not ready for kindergarten at the beginning of the school year, with 22.4% of children rated as not ready at the end of the school year. Again, some teachers perceived 100% of their children as not being ready at both the beginning and end of the school year. Limitations, implications, and suggestions for future research were discussed.

Mothers care for their infants in various ways, many similar and others more unique, and are influenced by a variety of factors. Influences such as doctors' advice, attending prenatal and child development classes, reading books and magazines, and learning from personal experience contribute to the caregiving decisions mothers make. A type of parenting that focuses on the responsiveness and sensitivity of the mother to the infant's needs is known as natural parenting. Natural parenting involves caregiving practices that are expected to co-occur, such as breastfeeding and frequently maintaining close physical contact with the infant. Two other practices that some mothers find "intuitive" and natural are co-sleeping and singing. Singing, in particular, may or may not be related to natural parenting, but has been found to be culturally universal and offers benefits to the infant's health and development. In this study mothers of 2- to 6-month-old infants were asked about specific caregiving practices, such as feeding, sleeping, carrying, and singing. Mothers' responses were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative responses show how one kind of caregiving decision, such as feeding method, is related to other caregiving decisions, such as where the baby sleeps or whether to sing to the infant. The qualitative ratings delve further into the sources of information and decisions mothers make in their caregiving practices. Practitioners and health agencies may benefit in promoting practices that are beneficial to mothers and infants by knowing how caregiving practices and decisions are related.

This study explored the many layers involved in young children’s meaning-making as they digitally compose. Utilizing a multimodal, social semiotics theoretical framework to analyze children’s digital compositions using a composing app, this study was designed around one research question: What is the nature of three and four-year-old children’s multimodal meaning making while using a composing app? The qualitative study involved four focal participants from a three- and four-year-old classroom, who attended an inquiry-based lab school in the southeastern United States. The data were collected over a period of eight weeks, where the children were invited to tell their stories using a digital composing app on an iPad. Utilizing a naturalistic observational approach, the composing events were video-recorded and transcribed, capturing both what happened on and off the screen. Utilizing a multimodal analysis, the findings revealed multiple layers in young children’s compositional expression and exposed the importance of how compositions evolve. The affordances of digital tools offered opportunity for children to build layers of meaning and for those layers to be captured in ways not necessarily available before.

The student-teacher relationship (STR) is an important component of a student's success in school. STRs have the potential to serve as an asset for students' well-being and achievement throughout their school career. Current literature suggests that there are two major components of STRs associated with student's academic and behavioral outcomes: closeness and conflict. Research has indicated that STRs characterized by closeness are linked to positive academic and behavior outcomes for students while STRs characterized by conflict are associated with negative academic and behavior outcomes for students. Although research has demonstrated that closeness and conflict have an impact on student outcomes, research on the impact in kindergarten is limited. This study examined the associations between STRs characterized by closeness and conflict with reading, mathematics, and behavior outcomes in kindergarten students (n = 97), as well as the moderating effects of gender on these relationships. Results of the full hierarchical regression models indicated that prior reading and mathematics achievement were the strongest predictors of reading and mathematics outcomes. Closeness did not account for any of the variance in reading, mathematics, or externalizing behavior outcomes. Conflict on the other hand, was a small significant predictor for reading and mathematics outcomes, and a large significant predictor for externalizing behavior outcomes. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.