acase@tulane.edu / 1 / Trenesha Hill

Although research supports the use of measures of typical performance for assessing academic and cognitive skills, there are currently few such measures in existence. Other measures have been used for research purposes, but they are not normed on a large, nationally-representative sample. The Ratings of Everyday Academic and Cognitive Skills (REACS) was created to address the need for a measure of typical academic and cognitive skills. The goal of the REACS is to provide a timely, easy to administer, and comprehensive assessment of a child's typical functioning in various academic and cognitive domains. The purpose for this dissertation was to develop the initial scale and conduct analyses to provide evidence of its reliability and validity. In an attempt to provide preliminary evidence of the validity of scores from this measure, Parent (n = 142) and Teacher (n = 109) REACS forms were collected for data analysis. A subsample of parents and teachers completed forms to examine interrater and test-retest reliability. A group of children (n = 32) were assessed with measures of academic achievement, cognitive ability, and memory for comparison to the REACS. Results generally showed high internal consistency, yet less reliable test-retest and interrater reliability. While the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the parent scale supported a factor structure that approximated the intended structure of the REACS, a better fit was found with a simpler model for the teacher scale. Finally, both the Parent and Teacher REACS forms were found to predict academic achievement better than cognitive ability. The predictive ability of the REACS was enhanced when used in conjunction with a measure of cognitive ability.

ABSTRACT Introduction. Research from the early 1980s indicates that there are different neurodevelopmental differences between methadone-exposed and non-exposed infants. However, the extent to which these difficulties translate to later problems in the domain areas of physical health, social-emotional adjustment, approaches to learning, language, and cognition for children born to mothers maintained on methadone during pregnancy, is largely unknown. Accordingly, this research aimed to compare school readiness outcomes between children prenatally exposed to methadone and comparison children at age 4.5 years across five key developmental domains. A secondary aim was to assess the impact of known neonatal, and socio-familial risk factors associated with this population on school readiness outcomes of methadone-exposed children at age 4.5 years. Research Methods. Sixty seven children born to mothers maintained on methadone and 81 comparison children were followed prospectively from birth to age 4.5 years. At age 4.5 years, all children underwent a comprehensive school readiness assessment of health and physical development; social-emotional skills; approaches to learning; language; and cognition. A score < 1SD below the comparison group mean was used to classify children as unready in any one domain. Measures of socio-familial risk were collated from aspects of the maternal interview at the term assessments, based on risk indices used in the research of other at-risk populations. Results. Methadone-exposed children performed worse than comparison children across all school readiness domains. They also had higher odds of being classed as “unready” in each school readiness domain, relative to the control group. They were also iii more likely to have multiple readiness problems (p =<.0001). The most common pattern of comorbidity identified, was among children classified as unready in terms of cognition and general knowledge. However, after controlling for confounding and selection factors, methadone-exposure was not significantly associated with school readiness at age 4.5 years. Maternal smoking during pregnancy, maternal benzodiazepine use during pregnancy, and socio-familial risk were significant covariates of low school readiness at age 4.5 years, independent of group. Discussion. By age 4.5 years, a larger proportion of methadone-exposed than control children were experiencing school readiness difficulties across five key developmental domains. Prenatal methadone exposure alone was not a sufficient explanation for these problems. Findings suggest that readiness outcomes were largely explained by a range of confounding and selection factors, including the extent of socio-familial risk, and poly-drug use during pregnancy. The results raise concerns for the later school performance of methadone-exposed children and emphasise the importance of early and targeted intervention services prior to school entry for this population.

School readiness is a prominent issue in early childhood education as adults strive to prepare young children for school. The desirability of school readiness lies within the notion that if children enter kindergarten prepared, then they will be successful throughout their schooling. However, school readiness is a complex concept. It is perceived differently by parents, teachers, policy makers, and researchers. Nationally, children are the only stakeholders whose voices are ignored in the discussions of school readiness. Based on three frameworks, that children are active agents in their experiences, that children have the right to be heard, and that children should not be silenced by traditional research practices, this dissertation proposed that children could participate in research to express their views about being ready for school. Since the central argument for school readiness is that children who enter school prepared will be successful later in school, it was imperative to determine how children’s views on school readiness were linked to later school-related outcomes. Therefore, this dissertation also sought children’s perceptions of their adjustment to school (i.e. their attitudes toward school). In a two-part study, 36 kindergartners from Southern Arizona participated in interviews, activities, and a survey to discuss their perceptions of being ready for school in the beginning of kindergarten and their attitudes toward school at the end of kindergarten. Participants consistently revealed that they needed to create positive peer relationships and that they needed to comply with institutional demands (rules, routines, and tasks) in order to be ready for and succeed in school. In addition, participants revealed three influential factors that affected their attitudes toward school: types of activities (academic versus extracurricular), play, and peer relationships. Participants who didn't like academic activities, who didn’t view school as a place for play, and who had fewer peer relationships struggled with adjusting to school and reported low school liking. Finally, a qualitative analysis was conducted to investigate trends that emerged between kindergarteners' perceptions of school readiness at the beginning of the year and their attitudes toward school at the end of the school year. School readiness perceptions that were centered on the rules, routines, and tasks (work) of school were related to less positive attitudes toward school and perceptions centered on knowledge/skills (learning) and prosocial behaviors were related to more positive attitudes toward school. These patterns suggest that students will enjoy school if they perceive school to be intellectually and socially empowering rather than institutionally limiting. These findings confirm that young children have unique insights of school readiness and what they need to succeed in school. Additionally, their early perceptions of school readiness are related to their later attitudes toward school suggesting that these views should be given due weight. In order for these views to be given due weight, adults should consider how to incorporate children's perspectives regarding school readiness into educational practices and policies. Children's perspectives provide insight into the experiences and challenges of being a new student. Only by listening to children can adults identify how to support and prepare children for success in school.

This study sought to determine if visual perceptual training could be effectively used to improve the school readiness skills of kindergarten children.

acase@tulane.edu / Background: Early life and learning experiences have the potential to influence a person’s health throughout the lifespan. These influences, for children of low socioeconomic status in the United States, are compounded by the existence of racial and socioeconomic disparities exist in both child health and development. One of the pathways through which early life and learning experiences affect adult health is through educational attainment, which is initially exhibited through school readiness (i.e. how prepared children are for school). Research in this area traditionally focuses on early learning environments and family level dynamics as predictors of school readiness, although evidence suggests that non-academic factors, like child health, and even more distal factors such as neighborhood structural and social context, contribute to how ready a child is for school. While many have theorized about the relation between both physical health and school readiness and neighborhood social context and school readiness, empirical evidence is limited. Objective: The objective of this research was to investigate non-academic factors related to the behavioral and cognitive domains of school readiness (language and literacy, social-emotional, numeracy/cognitive) including physical health and neighborhood social context. Methods: The research was conducted as a mixed methods design: 1) a longitudinal, retrospective matched cohort study, using data from the Educare Learning Network’s 2007-2015 data set which included data from 26,810 children enrolled in 20 Educare schools across the United States with children propensity matched on exposure, either by health status (see Aim 1 p. 15) or parental perceived neighborhood support (see Aims 2-3 p 16); and 2) a qualitative study conducted with parents of children ages 0-5 in New Orleans, Louisiana and aimed at a deeper understanding of parent perceptions of school readiness, neighborhood, child health and the intersection of these concepts. Results: Results from Paper 1 indicate that there is an association between asthma and school readiness outcomes, however this may be confounded by child and family level factors and may also differ by child race or sex. Paper 2 Quantitative results indicate that there is an association between perceived neighborhood support and child health and school readiness, particularly social emotional development, and that these results may differ by child race and sex and that there are significant interactions between neighborhood and race playing a role. Qualitative analysis in Paper 2 indicated common themes of perception of neighborhood, neighborhood safety, and stress and these discussed in relationship to their impact on their children. Paper 3 Results indicate that parental stress and parent-child relationship, individually and in sequence, are mediators of the relationship between perceived neighborhood support and receptive vocabulary scores, but mediation was not significant for other child cognitive, language, and physical health outcomes. Conclusions: Findings from this study contribute to the current understanding of external factors, outside of the early learning environment, that contribute to disparities in child health and school readiness in a vulnerable population. Not only as they relate to childhood, but also to adult health and well-being across the life course. The data will provide empirical evidence to inform programs and policies related to external factors that may impact school readiness for a high quality early education programs. / 1 / Lauren Futrell Dunaway

This research study was conducted to provide information on school readiness. While there is no national definition for school readiness, states and organizations have developed various definitions to highlight readiness skills that have been deemed important for kindergarteners. The early childhood developmental domains that are often cited in these individual definitions are physical (fine/gross motor), social-emotional, cognition (academics), and communication skills. By considering a holistic approach of school readiness, a child’s development is not isolated to mastering one domain to be “ready” for school. While most states do not have a statutory school readiness definition, many have been measuring school readiness skills for several years. In the 1980’s, a number of states screened or tested children’s readiness skills using standardized assessments before kindergarten entry. In the 1990’s, the attention moved from using a child’s score to determine their placement to assessing a child’s strengths and weaknesses in various skill areas that were associated with identified school readiness criteria. Over the last few years, the focus has continued to shift to include monitoring state-wide school readiness levels and guiding planning and instruction. With no universal definition of school readiness, no universal school readiness measurement instrument exists. However, there are school readiness instruments currently being developed to address the needs of states and school districts. The need for reliable and valid instruments to focus on the various developmental skill levels of young children across domains is apparent. The school readiness instrument, the AEPS (Assessment Evaluation Programming System)-3 Ready, Set 4.0, is being developed to do just that, providing a holistic approach to measuring school readiness. Skills in the following areas are to be assessed on the AEPS-3 Ready, Set 4.0: gross motor, fine motor, adaptive, cognitive, social-communication, social-emotional, literacy, and math. The instrument is to be used by kindergarten teachers to access students in the categories listed above once the school year starts. The information gathered from the AEPS-3 Ready, Set 4.0 would provide teachers with authentic, holistic data on the school readiness skills of children in their class. Through teacher surveys, this school readiness study aimed to answer if field users agreed on the content of the AEPS Ready, Set 4.0 in terms of sequence, breadth, clarity, relevance, and functionality and if field users agreed on the scoring, item and criteria, and usefulness of the AEPS Ready, Set 4.0 for its intended purposes.

Thesis advisor: Rebekah Levine Coley / Emerging research suggests that children's physical health may account for some of the variability in developmental competencies at school entry, which are the cognitive, learning, and behavioral skills necessary for long-term academic achievement. Most studies on children's health find that neonatal risks, like low birth weight and premature birth, impair children's early functioning, but little is known about other domains of children's health, like global health or acute and chronic conditions, which may be associated with functioning at school entry. Moreover, it is unclear what role physical health may play in children's access to and engagement in home and early childhood education center-based learning contexts, which may function as pathways linking early health disparities with later development. This dissertation tested direct associations between a range of childhood health problems and school readiness skills at kindergarten entry, as well as indirect and interacted associations with early learning contexts. Given the well-established socioeconomic gradient in both health and development, analyses also explored whether associations linking health and development were conditional on family socioeconomic status. Data were drawn from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (Birth Cohort; N = 5,900), which follows a cohort of children born in 2001 from infancy through kindergarten entry. Linear regressions and path analyses revealed that four of five health conditions were associated with lower school readiness skills, most consistently in the domains of cognitive and learning skills. Neonatal risks, poor health, and hospitalization functioned directly to predict lower cognitive and learning skills, where as asthma diagnosis predicted heightened learning skills. Only poor health functioned indirectly through more restricted home learning activities. Children's time in ECE functioned in a compensatory role to attenuate associations between hospitalization and lower school readiness skills. Across all models, there was no evidence that measured associations varied across the family socioeconomic spectrum. Findings highlight the importance of interdisciplinary research on child well-being and draw attention to potential avenues for prevention and intervention. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the perspectives and beliefs that practitioners have about prekindergarten in a Voluntary Prekindergarten program unable to meet minimal accountability requirements. The exploratory questions included: What are the beliefs and perceptions about effective and appropriate early childhood education among practitioners in a Voluntary Prekindergarten program on probation? And in what ways does probation influence practitioners' perceptions and beliefs about early childhood education? I used participants from a school where I conducted a pilot study. My data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews, resumes, my research reflective journal, and the centers program improvement plan. Social constructivism was applied to understand the participants' perceptions and beliefs of Voluntary Prekindergarten Program. The findings indicated the practitioners and administrators in a Voluntary Prekindergarten not meeting readiness requirements believe the need for programs to have systems of accountability. They believe accountability is important; however, they believe holding programs accountable for a test at the beginning of kindergarten is ineffective. In addition, the findings denoted more information and more action is needed to accurately conclude approved Voluntary Prekindergarten programs are meeting all five components of the criteria in Title 48-Chapter 1002-Part V. The findings denoted further studies are necessary to assist practitioners to understand the importance of teaching children at where they are developmentally and just beyond. The amount of time that is offered in the Voluntary Prekindergarten programs needs to be examined, especially in the summertime.

This study examined the relationship of two important learning behaviors, persistence and initiative, and three- to five-year-old low-income preschool children?s school readiness outcomes. The sample consisted of 196 children from two urban Head Start Centers in a large Head Start Program in the Southeast. Initiative was measured by the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment and persistence by the Preschool Learning Behavior Scale. Academic outcomes were collected through the Language and Literacy subscale and the Early Math subscale of the Galileo System for Electronic Management of Learning. Results indicated that learning behaviors may be differentially important across age and academic domain. Persistence, and not initiative, significantly predicted younger and older preschoolers? yearly gains in early math outcomes. In contrast, while persistence was a significant predictor of language and literacy yearly gains for younger preschoolers, initiative was the significant predictor for older preschoolers. These differential results add to the understanding of learning behaviors and their effect on academic outcomes in early childhood. Such findings can help teachers, parents, and those developing early childhood interventions in promoting the learning behaviors that are the most appropriate for a certain age and academic area.