Predictors of Initial Level and Change Over Time of Academic Enablers During the Kindergarten Year

Predictors of Initial Level and Change Over Time of Academic Enablers During the Kindergarten Year
Author: Sara Marie Hinojosa
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:
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Academic enablers comprise a set of beliefs and skills that significantly contribute to student success. Although these skills are crucial to academic competence, gaps exist in the research related to the development of academic enablers. Namely, previous research has not investigated how these behaviors change over the kindergarten year. Moreover, there are inconsistent findings regarding the influence of experiences prior to entering kindergarten, specifically preschool attendance and the home learning environment, on the development of academic enablers in young students. Using a sample of 83 parent-child dyads, the present study investigated academic enablers in kindergarten students. A mixed between-within analysis of variance found that girls displayed greater academic enablers at the beginning of the kindergarten year, but neither gender demonstrated growth over the kindergarten year. Additionally, hierarchical multiple regression analyses were run to determine whether environmental factors predicted academic enablers at the beginning and end of kindergarten. Findings indicated the length of preschool experience did not predict adaptive academic enablers at the beginning of the kindergarten year or the end of the year, regardless of gender. Conversely, the home learning environment predicted kindergarten students' levels of academic enablers at the beginning of the year, such that those with educationally enriched home environments displayed higher levels of academic enablers, regardless of gender. This influence was not maintained over the kindergarten year. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Predictors of Kindergarten Readiness

Predictors of Kindergarten Readiness
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2005
Genre: Kindergarten
ISBN:
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Age is currently the primary indicator of kindergarten readiness. Children become eligible to enter kindergarten when their fifth birthday falls by a designated date of the current school year. In the district studied that "cut-off" date is October first. It is currently the parents' responsibility to determine if their age appropriate child is "ready" to begin school. A comprehensive list of readiness skills is needed to give parents a guide when deciding if their kindergarten age child is ready to enter kindergarten. The literature reveals that age is not a predictor of academic success. In response to a readiness questionnaire, this study reveals the skills kindergarten teachers believe to be most important for students to possess upon entering kindergarten. The study also uses questionnaires that compare students experiences prior to kindergarten entrance with their readiness skills in attempt to develop a list of predictors of kindergarten readiness to be used by parents to help their child prepare for the demands of today's kindergarten classrooms.

Direct Behavior Rating

Direct Behavior Rating
Author: Amy M. Briesch
Publisher: Guilford Publications
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2016-06-01
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1462525849
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Grounded in state-of-the-art research, this practical guide comprehensively shows how to harness the potential of direct behavior rating (DBR) as a tool for assessment, intervention, and communication in schools. DBR can be used rapidly and efficiently in PreK-12 classrooms to support positive behavior and promote self-management. The authors and contributors provide concrete examples of ways to implement DBR strategies within multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). The evidence base supporting each strategy is reviewed. More than 30 reproducible checklists and forms include step-by-step implementation blueprints, daily report cards, and more. Purchasers get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

You Can’t Say You Can’t Play

You Can’t Say You Can’t Play
Author: Vivian Gussin Paley
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 95
Release: 1993-07-16
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0674417615
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Who of us cannot remember the pain and humiliation of being rejected by our classmates? However thick-skinned or immune to such assaults we may become as adults, the memory of those early exclusions is as palpable to each of us today as it is common to human experience. We remember the uncertainty of separating from our home and entering school as strangers and, more than the relief of making friends, we recall the cruel moments of our own isolation as well as those children we knew were destined to remain strangers. In this book Vivian Paley employs a unique strategy to probe the moral dimensions of the classroom. She departs from her previous work by extending her analysis to children through the fifth grade, all the while weaving remarkable fairy tale into her narrative description. Paley introduces a new rule—“You can’t say you can’t play”—to her kindergarten classroom and solicits the opinions of older children regarding the fairness of such a rule. We hear from those who are rejected as well as those who do the rejecting. One child, objecting to the rule, says, “It will be fairer, but how are we going to have any fun?” Another child defends the principle of classroom bosses as a more benign way of excluding the unwanted. In a brilliant twist, Paley mixes fantasy and reality, and introduces a new voice into the debate: Magpie, a magical bird, who brings lonely people to a place where a full share of the sun is rightfully theirs. Myth and morality begin to proclaim the same message and the schoolhouse will be the crucible in which the new order is tried. A struggle ensues and even the Magpie stories cannot avoid the scrutiny of this merciless pack of social philosophers who will not be easily caught in a morality tale. You Can’t Say You Can’t Play speaks to some of our most deeply held beliefs. Is exclusivity part of human nature? Can we legislate fairness and still nurture creativity and individuality? Can children be freed from the habit of rejection? These are some of the questions. The answers are to be found in the words of Paley’s schoolchildren and in the wisdom of their teacher who respectfully listens to them.

Designing Teacher Evaluation Systems

Designing Teacher Evaluation Systems
Author: Thomas Kane
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 604
Release: 2014-06-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1118837185
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WHAT IS EFFECTIVE TEACHING? It’s not enough to say “I know it when I see it” – not when we’re expecting so much more from students and teachers than in the past. To help teachers achieve greater success with their students we need new and better ways to identify and develop effective teaching. The Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project represents a groundbreaking effort to find out what works in the classroom. With funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the MET project brought together leading academics, education groups, and 3,000 teachers to study teaching and learning from every angle. Its reports on student surveys, observations, and other measures have shaped policy and practice at multiple levels. This book shares the latest lessons from the MET project. With 15 original studies, some of the field’s most preeminent experts tap the MET project’s unprecedented collection of data to offer new insights on evaluation methods and the current state of teaching in our schools. As feedback and evaluation methods evolve rapidly across the country, Designing Teacher Evaluation Systems is a must read and timely resource for those working on this critical task. PRAISE FOR DESIGNING TEACHER EVALUATION SYSTEMS “This book brings together an all-star team to provide true data-driven, policy-relevant guidance for improving teaching and learning. From student achievement to student perceptions, from teacher knowledge to teacher practices, the authors address key issues surrounding the elements of a comprehensive teacher evaluation and improvement system. Highly recommended for anyone seriously interested in reform.” —PETE GOLDSCHMIDT, Assistant Secretary, New Mexico Public Education Department “This book is an invaluable resource for district and state leaders who are looking to develop growth and performance systems that capture the complexity of teaching and provide educators with the feedback needed to develop in their profession.” —TOM BOASBERG, Superintendent, Denver Public Schools “A rare example of practical questions driving top quality research and a must read for anyone interested in improving the quality of teaching.” —ROBERT C. GRANGER, Former President (Ret.), The William T. Grant Foundation “This will be the ‘go to’ source in years to come for those involved in rethinking how teachers will be evaluated and how evaluation can and should be used to increase teacher effectiveness. The superb panel of contributors to this book presents work that is incisive, informative, and accessible, providing a real service to the national efforts around teacher evaluation reform.” —JOHN H. TYLER, Professor of Education, Brown University

P-Chips

P-Chips
Author: Elizabeth B. Weller
Publisher: American Psychiatric Pub
Total Pages: 38
Release: 1999-05-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780880488471
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(Reusable interview administration booklet) Based on strict DSM-IV criteria and validated in 12 years of studies, ChIPS and P-ChIPS -- the parent version of the interview -- are brief and simple to administer. Questions are succinct, simply worded, and easily understood by children and adolescents. Practitioners in clinical and research settings alike have already found ChIPS indispensable in screening for conditions such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, substance abuse, phobias, anxiety disorders, stress disorders, eating disorders, mood disorders, elimination disorders, and schizophrenia. The Parent Version of the ChIPS essentially consists of the same interview text altered from second to third person to address the parent rather than the child (e.g., "Have you ever" is changed to "Has your child ever').

Health Literacy

Health Literacy
Author: Who Regional Office for Europe
Publisher:
Total Pages: 85
Release: 2013
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9789289000154
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As societies grow more complex and people are increasingly bombarded with health information and misinformation, health literacy becomes essential. People with strong health literacy skills enjoy better health and well-being, while those with weaker skills tend to engage in riskier behavior and have poorer health. With evidence from the recent European Health Literacy Survey, this report identifies practical and effective ways public health and other sector authorities and advocates can strengthen health literacy in a variety of settings, including educational settings, workplaces, marketplaces, health systems, new and traditional media and political arenas. The report can be used as a tool for spreading awareness, stimulating debate and research and, above all, for informing policy development and action.

Funds of Knowledge

Funds of Knowledge
Author: Norma Gonzalez
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2006-04-21
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1135614059
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The concept of "funds of knowledge" is based on a simple premise: people are competent and have knowledge, and their life experiences have given them that knowledge. The claim in this book is that first-hand research experiences with families allow one to document this competence and knowledge, and that such engagement provides many possibilities for positive pedagogical actions. Drawing from both Vygotskian and neo-sociocultural perspectives in designing a methodology that views the everyday practices of language and action as constructing knowledge, the funds of knowledge approach facilitates a systematic and powerful way to represent communities in terms of the resources they possess and how to harness them for classroom teaching. This book accomplishes three objectives: It gives readers the basic methodology and techniques followed in the contributors' funds of knowledge research; it extends the boundaries of what these researchers have done; and it explores the applications to classroom practice that can result from teachers knowing the communities in which they work. In a time when national educational discourses focus on system reform and wholesale replicability across school sites, this book offers a counter-perspective stating that instruction must be linked to students' lives, and that details of effective pedagogy should be linked to local histories and community contexts. This approach should not be confused with parent participation programs, although that is often a fortuitous consequence of the work described. It is also not an attempt to teach parents "how to do school" although that could certainly be an outcome if the parents so desired. Instead, the funds of knowledge approach attempts to accomplish something that may be even more challenging: to alter the perceptions of working-class or poor communities by viewing their households primarily in terms of their strengths and resources, their defining pedagogical characteristics. Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities, and Classrooms is a critically important volume for all teachers and teachers-to-be, and for researchers and graduate students of language, culture, and education.