Mentoring and Professional Development in Rural Head Start Classrooms

The objective of this project was to develop and pilot a small-scale professional development program that incorporated substantial group and one-on-one mentoring aimed at preparing rurally based preschool teacher assistants to earn the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential. Using a framework that emphasized the relational, developmental, and contextual elements of mentoring, this qualitative case study examined both the participants’ and mentors’ perceptions of the program. Results of this study revealed overlapping themes across teacher assistants and their mentors, including readiness for the CDA credentialing process, mentoring support/relationship-building, and mutual respect.     

Literacy Practices in Head Start and Early Childhood Special Education Classrooms

A preliminary study was conducted to investigate the literacy experiences of preschoolers in Head Start and early childhood special education (ECSE) class- rooms. Two groups of teachers (10 Head Start teachers and 20 ECSE teachers) completed surveys that gathered information relative to the literacy activities occurring in their classrooms, the priority given reading and writing goals, and their attitudes about the literacy development of their students. The results indicated similarities between the two groups of teachers regarding the relatively low priority placed on reading and writing goals at preschool, and the ways in which children were involved in reading activities. The two groups differed in their use of supportive interactions during TV viewing-and writing/drawing activities, and the expectations the teachers held for the children's future literacy abilities. The need for further research describing emerging literacy practices with at-risk and disabled groups of children is discussed.     

Literacy Practices in Head Start and Early Childhood Special Education Classrooms

A preliminary study was conducted to investigate the literacy experiences of preschoolers in Head Start and early childhood special education (ECSE) class- rooms. Two groups of teachers (10 Head Start teachers and 20 ECSE teachers) completed surveys that gathered information relative to the literacy activities occurring in their classrooms, the priority given reading and writing goals, and their attitudes about the literacy development of their students. The results indicated similarities between the two groups of teachers regarding the relatively low priority placed on reading and writing goals at preschool, and the ways in which children were involved in reading activities. The two groups differed in their use of supportive interactions during TV viewing-and writing/drawing activities, and the expectations the teachers held for the children's future literacy abilities. The need for further research describing emerging literacy practices with at-risk and disabled groups of children is discussed.     

Assistant Teachers in Head Start Classrooms: Comparing to and Working With Lead Teachers

Research Findings: The purpose of the present study is to examine the degree to which assistant and lead teachers work together in Head Start classrooms in 3 domains: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. Pairs of lead and assistant teachers from 14 Head Start classrooms were simultaneously observed for 1 morning to examine the quality of teachers’ interactions with students in these 3 domains. First we examined the mean levels of the 3 domains and how they differed among teachers. Overall, results indicated moderate levels of emotional support and classroom organization and low levels of instructional support. In comparing lead and assistant teachers, we found that lead teachers offered significantly higher levels of instructional support than assistant teachers. Next we examined how the quality of lead and assistant teachers’ interactions were related over time. Concurrent correlations were nonsignificant. Lagged correlations suggested that lead and assistant teachers’ interactions with students were related over time. Practice or Policy: Assistant teachers offered comparable levels of emotional support and classroom organization but did not offer the same levels of instructional support. This suggests that assistant teachers are able to help provide a nurturing environment and help with structuring activities despite having lower entry-level qualification requirements. This study supports the notion that assistant teachers as well as lead teachers should be included in quality improvement efforts.     

Peer Relations and Social Adjustment of Latino and Chinese Children in Head Start Classrooms

Research Findings: The present study investigated the role of ethnic similarity in the peer preferences and play quality of Latino and Chinese children enrolled in Head Start classrooms and the relationship between peer acceptance and social adjustment in these groups. Participants were 244 children (M = 4.6 years old) from Head Start preschools located in the greater Los Angeles area. Results showed that both Chinese and Latino children played more with same-ethnic than cross-ethnic peers, but only Latino children showed same-ethnic preferences in friendship nominations. Play dyads of the same ethnic group engaged in more complex play than those of different ethnic groups. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest that preferences for same-ethnic peers are starting to emerge in preschool classrooms. In addition, prosocial behaviors may be important for all children, regardless of ethnicity, to gain peer acceptance. Implications for practice are addressed.     

Shared Book Reading and Head Start Preschoolers' Vocabulary Learning: The Role of Book-Related Discussion and Curricular Connections

This study examined the ways in which the language that Head Start teachers used during book reading, as well as the extent to which they made explicit connections between book reading and other instructional activities, were linked to preschoolers' vocabulary development. Participants included 10 Head Start teachers and 153 children in their classrooms. Research Findings: Analyses revealed that teachers varied substantially in the frequency and nature of their book-related remarks, and connections between books and the broader curriculum were relatively few in number and constrained in nature. On average, children learned more words over the course of the year when teachers used more contextualized and decontextualized talk during book readings. Contextualized book-related talk was most positively associated with learning among children with relatively low initial vocabulary knowledge. Too few connections between book reading and the curriculum were observed to afford analysis of their contributions to children's vocabulary skills. Practice or Policy: The findings show the nuanced ways in which shared book reading, a critical part of the preschool day, is linked to vocabulary growth among the nation's most vulnerable learners. The results also highlight potential avenues through which readings could be strategically individualized to optimize early vocabulary development.     

Child Behavior Problems,Teacher Executive Functions,and Teacher Stress in Head Start Classrooms

Research Findings: The current article explores the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of child behavior problems and preschool teacher job stress, as well as the possibility that teachers’ executive functions moderate this relationship. Data came from 69 preschool teachers in 31 early childhood classrooms in 4 Head Start centers and were collected using Web-based surveys and Web-based direct assessment tasks. Multilevel models revealed that higher levels of teachers’ perceptions of child behavior problems were associated with higher levels of teacher job stress and that higher teacher executive function skills were related to lower job stress. However, findings did not yield evidence for teacher executive functions as a statistical moderator. Practice or Policy: Many early childhood teachers do not receive sufficient training for handling children's challenging behaviors. Child behavior problems increase a teacher's workload and consequently may contribute to feelings of stress. However, teachers’ executive function abilities may enable them to use effective, cognitive-based behavior management and instructional strategies during interactions with students, which may reduce stress. Providing teachers with training on managing challenging behaviors and enhancing executive functions may reduce their stress and facilitate their use of effective classroom practices, which is important for children's school readiness skills and teachers’ health.     

Executive Function Skills,Early Mathematics,and Vocabulary in Head Start Preschool Children

Research Findings: The contribution of 3 executive function skills (shifting, inhibitory control, and working memory) and their relation to early mathematical skills was investigated with preschoolers attending 6 Head Start centers. Ninety-two children ranging in age from 3 years, 1 month, to 4 years, 11 months, who were native English or Spanish speakers were assessed for these executive function skills as well as their receptive vocabulary skills and early mathematical abilities using the Child Math Assessment (Starkey, Klein, & Wakeley, 2004), which captures an array of skills across 4 domains. Hierarchal regression analyses revealed that inhibitory control and working memory made unique contributions to children’s early mathematical abilities in the domains of numeracy, arithmetic, spatial/geometric reasoning, and patterning/logical relations after we controlled for age, receptive vocabulary, and previous Head Start experience. Furthermore, receptive vocabulary also accounted for significant variance in children’s early mathematical abilities above and beyond executive function skills. No group differences emerged between English-only and dual language learners on the fit of the regression models. Practice or Policy: These findings extend previous research highlighting the interface of executive function skills and mathematical learning in early childhood with further evidence to support this relationship beyond early numeracy and counting using a broad measure of critical early math skills. In addition, the intricate role of language in the development of early mathematical competence is considered. Implications of these findings for scaffolding executive function skills and vocabulary within prekindergarten math curricula are discussed, with particular consideration for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds.     

Children’s Behavioral Challenges in Head Start Classrooms: Links to Teacher Well-Being and Intent to Leave

Early Childhood Education Journal - Using the nationally representative Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 2014 (FACES 2014), this study examined the associations...     

从声韵母透析新增朗读作品的信度

在普通话水平测试中，朗读作品编选的信度对整个测试的信度产生了影响。本文试图从声母和韵母的角度来分析《普通话水平测试实施纲要》中新增朗读作品的信度．并对朗读作品的煽选提出了一些建议。     

Language Development Subcontexts in Head Start Classrooms: Distinctive Patterns of Teacher Talk During Free Play,Mealtime, and Book Reading

Research findings. Language development subcontexts within 20 Head Start classrooms were studied by observing teachers' child-directed talk during free play, mealtime, and book reading. In each context, observers coded all child-directed statements, directives, and questions, noted instances of pretend talk and decontextualized talk, and rated the richness and sensitivity-responsiveness of teachers' talk. Rates of child-directed talk were similar across contexts, but the challenging features of teachers' talk varied substantially across contexts: pretend talk occurred almost exclusively during free play, decontextualized talk was most common during mealtime, and ratings of richness were greatest during book reading. Higher rates of pretend talk and decontextualized talk and higher ratings of richness were associated with higher ratings of sensitivity-responsiveness. Rates of child-directed talk did not differ reliably for Lead Teachers and Assistant Teachers. Implications for practice. Professional development efforts may focus productively on helping Head Start teachers to recognize natural opportunities for different types of challenging talk in different classroom contexts. In the majority of classrooms, encouraging teachers to engage in more child-directed talk carries little risk of reducing the quality of sensitive-responsive caregiving. Assistant Teachers play a major role in Head Start classroom language environments and should be included in professional development activities focused on children's language skills.     

Efficacy of Rich Vocabulary Instruction in Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Classrooms

A multi-cohort cluster randomized trial was conducted to estimate effects of rich vocabulary classroom instruction on vocabulary and reading comprehension. A total of 1,232 fourth- and fifth-grade students from 61 classrooms in 24 schools completed the study. Students received instruction in 140 Tier Two vocabulary words featured in two grade-level novels. Teachers were randomly assigned to either rich vocabulary (treatment) or to business as usual (control). Teachers in the treatment condition allotted 30 minutes per day to the intervention for 14 weeks. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed positive, significant treatment effects on distal and proximal measures of vocabulary and comprehension. However, average distal treatment effects were small (approximate d =.15) compared with proximal effects (approximate d = 1.24). Observations of teachers’ language arts instruction indicated that treatment teachers spent significantly more time on vocabulary and less time on comprehension instruction than did teachers in the control condition. Results support the intensity and depth of the instruction for learning the taught corpus of words, and modest transfer to global vocabulary and comprehension.     

A Quasi-Experiment Examining Expressive and Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge of Preschool Head Start Children Using Mobile Media Apps

This study examined the efficacy of using different types of mobile media apps to increase the receptive and expressive vocabulary development of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old preschool children living in economically disadvantaged communities. Children and teachers in four Head Start classrooms participated in the quasi-experimental study, which included an 8-week intervention in which the children interacted with one of two types of apps: one classroom used four scaffolding-like vocabulary apps for an average of 1.8 h per day (n?=?16) and one classroom used four open-ended vocabulary apps for an average of 1.3 h per day (n?=?15). Two classrooms served as comparison groups (n?=?18; n?=?14) which used apps that were chosen by the Head Start program with no specific instructional method for approximately 1 h per day. Children’s vocabulary was assessed pre- and post-intervention using the PPVT-4, the EVT-2, and iPad Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Assessments. Using a repeated measures analysis of variance with split plot analysis, children who used scaffolding-like vocabulary apps performed statistically significantly higher on the PPVT-4 than children who used open-ended vocabulary apps. There were no significant differences between groups on the EVT-2. The study contributed to the literature on teacher instruction of utilizing scaffolding-like apps to increase preschool vocabulary knowledge.     

The Social Construction of Parent Involvement in Head Start

In the field of early childhood education, dominant discourse is premised on assumptions and values that privilege uniformity, generality, and even the “essential” nature of children and programs that should then be judged according to common criteria. In this article, we focus not on common factors that vary but on particular social practices that have very different meanings for people in two social settings (Taylor, 1979). Specifically, we describe how parent involvement- and parents themselves-were socially constructed within Head Start programs located in different communities, and we suggest how these social practices made particular forms of involvement possible and even necessary. We argue that discourses do not merely represent; they constitute, and different discourses construct both subjects and social relations in particular ways. Finally, we suggest how alternative ways of structuring knowledge and social practice in early childhood might become “communal tools” for exploring yet to be realized possibilities.     

Supporting optimal child development through Early Head Start and Head Start programs: Reflections on secondary data analyses of FACES and EHSREP

We are delighted to reflect on the 10 papers highlighted in this important special issue of Early Childhood Research Quarterly devoted to recent secondary data analyses of the FACES and EHSREP datasets. First, we provide some background on Head Start research and give an overview of the large-scale Head Start and Early Head Start datasets that are available for researchers to analyze. Then, we comment on the papers in this special issue from a methodological and statistical standpoint. Finally, we reflect on themes that stood out across the various papers. Throughout, we make recommendations for future large-scale data collection efforts and future research on Head Start and Early Head Start programs.     

The Social Construction of Parent Involvement in Head Start

In the field of early childhood education, dominant discourse is premised on assumptions and values that privilege uniformity, generality, and even the "essential" nature of children and programs that should then be judged according to common criteria. In this article, we focus not on common factors that vary but on particular social practices that have very different meanings for people in two social settings (Taylor, 1979). Specifically, we describe how parent involvement- and parents themselves-were socially constructed within Head Start programs located in different communities, and we suggest how these social practices made particular forms of involvement possible and even necessary. We argue that discourses do not merely represent; they constitute, and different discourses construct both subjects and social relations in particular ways. Finally, we suggest how alternative ways of structuring knowledge and social practice in early childhood might become "communal tools" for exploring yet to be realized possibilities.     

Head Start Parents' Beliefs about Their Children's Abilities, Task Values, and Performances on Different Activities

As part of larger intervention study designed to facilitate the transition of Head Start children into kindergarten and the early elementary grades, we assessed parents beliefs about former Head start children's abilities and values in several activity domains—academics, sports, and social skills—during the children's kindergarten ten year. Parents' expectations for their children's future also were examined. One hundred and twenty-four parents and 155 children participated; all children had attended Head Start, and the sample is ethnically and racially diverse. One group of children and parents received the additional services, and a second group did not. Parents, were quit optimistic about their children's prospects for the future. There were ethnic differences in parents were quit optimistic about their children's prospects for the future. There were ethnic differences in parents' beliefs about children's abilities and future prospects in different areas. Parents beliefs related both to children's attitudes toward school and to their performance on mathematical and reading achievement tests.