The purpose of this article is to encourage early childhood educators and the related professional development and research communities to become the leading voices in determining the direction of early childhood education. To support this vital, and complicated transition, this discussion revisits fundamental aspects of what is meant by early childhood education and intends to spark discussion and the direction needed to guide thought and action as nations begin a shift towards more affordable, universal and, most importantly, high-quality early childhood education.

acase@tulane.edu / 1 / Bradley J. Mollmann

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 38-05, Section: A, page: 2655. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1977.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 39-11, Section: A, page: 6524. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 39-11, Section: A, page: 6526. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.

The major purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among mother's level of anxiety, child's level of test anxiety, and child's level of achievement in reading. Other relationships investigated involved the following variables: family's socioeconomic status (mother's educational level and family's income level), mother's age, and sibling structure (number of children in the family and birth order of the participating child). / Subjects were 131 first grade students in nine heterogeneously grouped classes and their mothers. Data were collected using the following instruments: a demographic information questionnaire (socioeconomic status, sibling structure, mother's age); the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (mother's anxiety); the Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test (child's mental ability); the Test Anxiety for Children (child's test anxiety); the Metropolitan Achievement Test (child's reading achievement). Path analysis techniques were used to analyze the data. / Results indicated the following significant relationships: (1) The mother's socioeconomic status (education and income levels) had a direct and negative effect on the mother's level of anxiety. (2) The mother's level of anxiety had a direct and negative effect on child's mental ability and a direct and positive effect on child's level of test anxiety. In addition, indirect effects were found for mother's anxiety on child's test anxiety through a third variable, child's mental ability. (3) Child's mental ability had a direct and negative effect on child's level of test anxiety and a direct and positive effect on child's level of achievement in reading. In addition, an indirect effect for child's mental ability on the child's reading achievement was determined. This indirect effect involved a third variable, child's test anxiety. (4) Child's level of test anxiety had a direct and negative effect on child's level of achievement in reading. / The proposed causal model was revised to reflect the causal relationships defined in the analysis. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-01, Section: A, page: 0078. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of home/mother care and daycare caregiver behaviors on the adaptive behavior development of children (18 to 24 months). Other variables under investigation included two indices of socioeconomic status (SES): occupation and education of parents. / Methodology. (1) Population and Sample. The sample consisted of 72 children (18-24 months): 36 children in a group daycare situation and 26 children at home with the mother. (2) Instruments. The investigator measured adaptive behavior development of children using the revised Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale by Sparrow, Balla, and Cicchetti (1984). The investigator administered the Family Daycare Rating Scale (Harms & Clifford, 1984) to mothers and caregivers of children to measure growth-facilitating behaviors. The investigator gained information about each family's SES, using Hollingshead and Redlich's (1958) Index of Social Position. (3) Statistical Design and Analysis. A 3 x 2 ANOVA was used with two levels of mothers (mothers with high and low frequency of growth-facilitating behaviors), and then types of care including home care and two levels of daycare (caregivers with high and low frequency of growth-facilitating behaviors). / Results. Results revealed higher Adaptive Behavior Composite Scores for home care and daycare children of mothers with higher growth-facilitating behaviors (p =.001). Homecare children revealed higher means (M = 106.18) on Adaptive Behavior Composite Scores than daycare children (M = 94.61, p =.001). Parent SES appeared to be a relevant factor with Pearson correlation for Adaptive Behavior Composite for home care (r =.25, p =.017). The higher the mother's education the more growth-facilitating behaviors she displayed (r =.41, p =.001); statistical significance was not found for mother's education level and the child's adaptive behavior development (r = $-$.10, p =.198). / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-05, Section: A, page: 1110. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

This study investigated the effect of kindergarten entrance age on subsequent academic achievement in the primary grades. / The subjects of the study were 52 children (26 boys and 26 girls) who entered kindergarten during the 1982-1983 school term and attended an all white, suburban, middle class elementary school in Santa Rosa County, Florida. / Achievement data for each subject included raw scores on each of ten subtests of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, which was administered at the end of the second grade year. Intelligence data for each subject was obtained from the Test of Cognitive Skills which was also administered at the end of the second grade year. / Pearson correlations between kindergarten entrance age and second grade achievement and intelligence were computed for the group as a whole and for the group divided by sex. Independent t-test procedures were used to determine if any significant differences in achievement or intelligence might have been attributable to sex. / No significant correlations between kindergarten entrance age and achievement at the second grade level were found to exist. The research hypotheses, which anticipated significant positive correlations, were rejected. / A secondary analysis of achievement data from kindergarten and grades 1 and 3 was also performed. Chronological age did not appear to be a factor in achievement at grades kindergarten, 1, or 2. / At grade 3 the younger boys outperformed the older boys in several areas. However, the analysis of covariance procedure, using intelligence as the covariate, indicated that this superior performance was due mainly to the superior intelligence of the younger boys, not to chronological age. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-10, Section: A, page: 3655. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the functional relationship between the allotment of play space, amount of play materials, and the positive and negative social behaviors of toddlers in a group care setting. A study employing a repeated measures, multielement baseline design (Sidman, 1960) was undertaken to examine these relationships. / Five subjects were allowed to play in six treatment conditions consisting of two different spatial densities (35 and 20 square feet per child) and three different play materials densities. The positive and negative social behaviors of the subjects were recorded during 36, randomly assigned, sessions of the 36 treatment conditions. / The major findings were as follows: (1) One subject out of five exhibited increased negative social behavior as a function of decreased spatial density. (2) Increased play materials density offset negative social behavior for all five subjects in the high spatial density (20 square feet) conditions. (3) In both the 35 and the 20 square feet density condition, the "Enriched Play Materials", Set 1 supported more positive social behavior for all five subjects. (4) Treatment condition 1 (Optimal Space, 35 square feet and "Enriched Play Materials", Set 1) was the environment that supported the most positive social behavior for four of the five subjects. / Based on these findings, the following conclusions can be made: (1) Spatial density can affect the social behavior of some toddlers in group care settings. (2) A strong functional relationship exists between play materials density and the occurrence of positive and negative social behaviors of toddlers in group care settings. (3) Play materials density has a greater effect than spatial density on the negative and positive social behaviors of toddlers in group care settings. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-12, Section: A, page: 4284. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of social comparison by a supervisor in a reward allocation situation. Eighty 5-year-old English speaking children in Lubbock, Texas, were volunteer subjects. Random assignments of subjects were observed in an experimental design. The independent variable was manipulated to create five levels of treatment with gender as a blocking factor. Treatment levels were inferior, low, neutral, high and superior as conditions for performance by supervisors on a cup filling task. Subjects exposed to the various treatment conditions were given false information about peer (fictitious) performance at low and high conditions, then were asked to distribute rewards to the peers (fictitious). No nonsocial criteria were given for use in making judgments. No differences were found for main effects of performance levels of gender. The F for the interaction was not significant. Implications are stated as suggested changes for researchers to reduce experimental error. Further studies with extensions of age as a variable are suggested. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-06, Section: A, page: 1508. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.