Quality of Prekindergarten: What Families Are Looking for in Public Sponsored Programs

This study describes the meaning of program quality for a representative group of parents of children enrolled in public prekindergarten programs. Educators often conceptualized quality in terms of structural or process indicators; parents most often cited teacher experience and relationship to children. Families, like educators, emphasized enhancing readiness as central to program quality. In addition, families identified 3 classes of indicators not usually included in educational research or professional discussions of program quality: comprehensive service provision, convenient location, and home-school collaboration. In the decision to enroll children in a program, Whites more often relied on indicators of the classroom emotional climate, Latinos more often examined the provision of comprehensive services, and African Americans more often weighed the quality of home-school partnerships than their ethnic counterparts. For Latinos living in poverty, the concern about dual language development was salient. African Americans emphasized the importance of a close relationship with staff.     

Campus Recruiting: What the Recruiters Are Looking For

ABSTRACT

This article reviews findings from a survey of 111 campus recruiters concerning their perceptions and practices of campus recruiting activities. The results show that campus recruiters seem to agree that the interview is the most important method for their selection practices; verbal communication skills as well as character, work experience, and academic performance are the most important personal characteristics for selecting applicants. Campus recruiters of the present study also indicate that work-related expectations and attitudes are the most significant deficiency in applicants. These findings will enable placement and employment centers of colleges and universities to market their students effectively in the competitive labor market.     

Parental Involvement in Prekindergarten At-Risk Programs: Multiple Perspectives

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among the attitudes and perceptions of parents, teachers, and family support staff toward parental involvement in prekindergarten programs for children identified as being at risk for later school failure. Focus group interview data identified, from multiple perspectives, factors that encourage or discourage parents from assuming an active role in their young children's education. Results are discussed in terms of future research and program development efforts aimed at helping family support professionals and early childhood educators better meet the needs of the diverse groups of children and families represented in prekindergarten programs.     

An Examination of Family-School Partnership Initiatives in Rural Prekindergarten Programs

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the various ways in which families become involved in state-funded rural prekindergarten programs for children identified as being at-risk for later school failure. Participants were 21 teachers/classrooms in prekindergarten programs located in nine rural Illinois communities. Data were collected over an 18-week period on the various parental involvement and family-school partnership strategies implemented by school personnel, and the patterns of parental participation that occurred in response to the different types of initiatives. Findings indicate that wide variations existed in the parent involvement and family-school partnership initiatives implemented across the nine programs. Results are discussed in terms of future research and program development efforts aimed at helping rural early childhood programs establish effective family-school partnerships.     

High Quality Preschool Programs: What Would Vygotsky Say?

The paper considers the definition of high quality preschool from a Vygotskian perspective. Similarities and differences in the issues faced in Russia and those in the United States are discussed as background. Three major ideas are considered from the work of Vygotsky and of his students/colleagues, Daniel Elkonin and Alexander Zaporozhets. The first is the Cultural Historical paradigm as the basis for defining development, which emphasizes the importance of underlying cognitive and social-emotional competencies. The second is the idea of "Leading Activity" with dramatic play defined as the leading activity for preschool. The third is the idea of "amplification" or enrichment rather than acceleration of learning. The article ends with a definition of quality based on these three constructs.     

An Examination of Family-School Partnership Initiatives in Rural Prekindergarten Programs

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the various ways in which families become involved in state-funded rural prekindergarten programs for children identified as being at-risk for later school failure. Participants were 21 teachers/classrooms in prekindergarten programs located in nine rural Illinois communities. Data were collected over an 18-week period on the various parental involvement and family-school partnership strategies implemented by school personnel, and the patterns of parental participation that occurred in response to the different types of initiatives. Findings indicate that wide variations existed in the parent involvement and family-school partnership initiatives implemented across the nine programs. Results are discussed in terms of future research and program development efforts aimed at helping rural early childhood programs establish effective family-school partnerships.     

The Effects of Enrolling in Oversubscribed Prekindergarten Programs Through Third Grade

This study leverages naturally occurring lotteries for oversubscribed Boston Public Schools prekindergarten program sites between 2007 and 2011, for 3,182 children (M = 4.5 years old) to estimate the impacts of winning a first choice lottery and enrolling in Boston prekindergarten versus losing a first choice lottery and not enrolling on children’s enrollment and persistence in district schools, grade retention, special education placement, and third-grade test scores. There are large effects on enrollment and persistence, but no effects on other examined outcomes for this subsample. Importantly, children who competed for oversubscribed seats were not representative of all appliers and almost all control-group children attended center-based preschool. Findings contribute to the larger evidence base and raise important considerations for future prekindergarten lottery-based studies.     

我们需要什么样的素质教育

通过具体的事例探讨素质教育的内涵,从一个角度说明了素质的多维性,并借此说明素质教育的复杂性.同时还对素质与成功、素质与特长、孩子在教育中的地位、家长和社会的作用等进行了初步探讨.本文认为,孩子是教育的主体,在孩子的教育问题上,要坚持孩子永远是对的原则,即以孩子永远是对的作为教育的出发点、作为评价孩子行为的基本坐标.     

The Strengthening Families Initiative and Child Care Quality Improvement: How Strengthening Families Influenced Change in Child Care Programs in One State

Research Findings: This study investigated how the Strengthening Families through Early Care and Education initiative in Illinois (SFI) influenced change in 4 child care programs. Findings indicate that SFI influenced quality improvements through 4 primary pathways: (a) Learning Networks, (b) the quality of training, (c) the engagement of program directors, and (e) the organizational climate at programs. SFI's multilevel model of implementation was key to its effectiveness. Two barriers to improving family partnership practices were identified: lack of cultural competence and a negative organizational climate. Practice or Policy: First, quality improvement and professional development efforts are likely to be more effective in promoting real change when they target multiple levels of the context in and around child care programs. SFI's multilevel implementation approach is a model. Second, quality improvement efforts in the area of family engagement may be more effective when specific attention is given to strategies for creating a supportive organizational climate and collegial relationships among staff. Relationships within programs set the tone for relationships with families. Third, cultural competence requires increased attention to efforts to improve the quality of family partnership practices. A focus on organizational cultural competence may provide the workplace environment necessary to support culturally competent practice among program staff.     

What Are We Looking For?—Pro Critical Realism in Text Interpretation

A visible role in the theoretical discourses on education has been played in the last couple of decades by the constructivist epistemologies, which have questioned the basic assumptions of realist epistemologies. The increased popularity of interpretative approaches especially has put the realist epistemologies on the defensive. Basing itself on critical realism, this article discusses the ontological and epistemological commitments of educational research and its consequences for text interpretation. The article defends ontological realism and the semantic conception of truth against radical constructivist ontology and the epistemic conceptions of truth.     

Are You Still Looking for That Place?

J硫份_一_ 一一___琶 ①Mr Hogg workedinand石ce in a small townonedayhisboss一(老板)sa记tohim,‘,H 099,Iwant youto 90 to London一Heresthe address(地址).” 勿而:wenttoLondonhvtraln.ne ielt tnestatlon,and tnougnt,“The一6ff孰龙eisn,tfar斤。hithestatiori·Illfindit easilv·”-瓜__矽…一工瑟 -攀粼界熊倾:e:notn氛穿嘿岔,罗‘he”sht.’’Ho“ ④Afew_davslaterhewent一to一料敏城Are You Still Looking for That Place?@李建高 @刘碧群…     

Doctoral Programs: What Factors Attract Students

ABSTRACT

The study surveyed (questionnaire) 222 doctoral business students from private and public universities in Northeastern United States. The objective was to identity important criteria used to select a university. In addition, this study compared the responses of students from these schools to determine whether selection criteria differ.

Using a Likert scale of important to unimportant, students from these universities rated ten of the 52 criteria important to their selection. They included: programs, academic reputation, degree marketability, faculty contact time, accreditations, assistantship/campus employment, financial aids, placement reputation, completion time, and library size. However, they rated academic reputation and completion time significantly different. The private school students rated academic reputation significantly (0.00) more important, whereas the public school students rated completion time significantly (0.03) more important.

To attract prospective private school students to public schools, public school administrators would benefit by emphasizing the quality and reputation of its faculty and programs. Private school administrators are likely to attract more students if they are able to improve the quality and increase the quantity of computer facilities. Moreover, they would profit from designing flexible programs and classes that would allow for a more rapid completion time.     

Are You Still Looking for the Place?

Ｍｉｋｅｗｏｒｋｅｄｉｎａｎｏｆｆｉｃｅｉｎａｓｍａｌｌｔｏｗｎ .Ｏｎｅｄａｙｈｉｓｂｏｓｓ (老板 )ｓａｉｄｔｏｈｉｍ ,“Ｍｉｋｅ ,ＩｗａｎｔｙｏｕｇｏｔｏＲｉｃｈｍｏｎｄ,ｔｏａｎｏｆｆｉｃｅｔｈｅｒｅ ,ｔｏｓｅｅＭｒＳｈｕｔｅ .Ｈｅｒｅ’ｓｔｈｅａｄｄｒｅｓｓ.”ＭｉｋｅｗｅｎｔｔｏＲｉｃｈｍｏｎｄ .Ｗｈｅｎｈｅｗａｌｋｅｄｏｕｔｏｆｔｈｅｓｔａｔｉｏｎ ,ｈｅｔｈｏｕｇｈｔ,“Ｔｈｅｏｆｆｉｃｅｉｓｎ’ｔｆａｒｆｒｏｍｔｈｅｓｔａｔｉｏｎ .Ｉ’ｌｌｆｉｎｄｉｔｅａｓｉｌｙ .”Ｂｕｔａｆｔｅｒａ…     

What Are You Crying for?

Mr Cook had a big shop in the centre of the city. Hewas 1____ at managing (管理) it. He made 2_____money and was one of the richest men there. Bad 3_____!One day a truck hit his car on a bridge and it fell into theriver. He lost his life in the accident. He left a lot of mon-ey to his 4____. The old woman lived in the beautifulhouse and had many valuable (值钱的) things. She 5______did any housework and 6____ an easy life.Several years later Mrs Cook died. And there was abig funeral(葬礼). All her relatives(亲戚) and 7____were told about it. They 8____ from far and near to the     

Defining and Assessing Quality in Early Intervention Programs for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and their Families: Challenges and Unresolved Issues

Historically, child care quality research has focused primarily on typically developing children cared for in center-based programs. Findings from this research suggests that variations in quality of care have an effect on children's well-being and developmental outcomes. In this paper, we draw on child care quality research to inform our understanding of quality in early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. Conceptual issues in defining quality and methodological challenges for assessing quality of early intervention services are presented. In the final sections of this paper, we discuss our efforts to design a measure of quality for early intervention programs and present some of the unresolved issues related to the assessment of quality in early intervention programs.     

Psycholinguistic Training Programs: Are There Differential Treatment Effects?

The findings of an investigation assessing the differential effects of psycholinguistic training programs are reported. Methodologically, meta‐analysis, the analysis of analyses, was used to determine whether psycholinguistic training programs differentially affect the abilities measured by the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA). When findings were integrated by ITPA subtests, ITPA constructs, and salient study features, the training programs were found to differ with respect to improving psycholinguistic abilities. Overall results, however, indicated that the Peabody Language Development Kits (PDLK) were more consistently advantageous than either ITPA related programs or other types of training activities (e.g. structured teaching and perceptual‐motor approaches). These findings were validated in a multiple regression analysis comparing the three intervention methods. It was suggested that the structured and sequential nature of the PDLK was the major factor contributing to its greater effectiveness.     

Designing for Quality: Distance Education Rubrics for Online MSW Programs

ABSTRACT

There has been a rapid increase in the number of online MSW programs in the past decade without a commensurate body of literature on their administration. This article acquaints MSW program faculty and administrators with quality assurance rubrics, which are research-informed tools intended for use by distance education providers to develop, support and manage high quality online courses and programs. Graduate programs that are in the process of considering or actually designing an online delivery option, as well as those that are currently implementing online programs, may benefit from the use of such quality assurance rubrics.     

Getting Ready for School: Piloting Universal Prekindergarten in an Urban County

Investments in high-quality early care and education have been shown to reap societal benefits across the lives of the children served. A key intervention point is in the lives of 3- to 5-year olds during the period prior to entering kindergarten. Many jurisdictions have developed broad-based prekindergarten initiatives. This study reports on a pilot universal prekindergarten program in 24 sites in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Child assessment data were collected on 204 children from early care classrooms for 3- to 5-year olds across 3 time points by trained observers using 2 standardized instruments. Changes in achievement scores were shown to be significantly predicted by race, parental education level, and whether the family spoke English as a second language, with largest gains shown among children who were most behind at baseline. The findings serve to illuminate the developmental trajectory of children before kindergarten and how data can be used to inform practice and policy.