A McCarthy short form for rapid screening of preschool,kindergarten, and first-grade children

A short form of the McCarthy was developed primarily to help meet the needs for a well-normed brief instrument to be used for the rapid screening of preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade children. The proposed short form comprises 6 of the 15 tests in the General Cognitive Scale: Puzzle Solving, Word Knowledge, Numerical Memory, Verbal Fluency, Counting and Sorting, and Conceptual Grouping. The abbreviated form was specifically geared to the 3–6 year age range, although equations to convert short-form score to estimated General Cognitive Index were provided for children across the entire span of $\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}$ to $\text{8}\text{1}\text{2}$ years. The short form was shown to have a standard error of estimate of about 6 points and to have excellent psychometric properties in general.     

The effects of causality,response alternatives,and context continuity on hypothesis testing reasoning

Two selection hypothesis testing tasks and nine evaluation hypothesis testing tasks which varied systematically with respect to causality, response alternatives, and context continuity were administered to two samples of adults to determine the effects of those variables and to determine the degree to which subjects (Ss) reasoned with material conditional, material biconditional, partial, or partial plus biconditional connectives. On the causal selection task the majority of Ss responded “yes” to all four instances, while on the evaluation tasks all three variables were found to affect performance. Ss responded consistently with the material biconditional connective especially when the tasks called for them to state their expectations or were written with context continuity. Results were interpreted to support the hypothesis that hypothesis testing reasoning in causal contexts begins with the material biconditional connective and involves schemata of controlling variables, probability, and correlations. A strictly “logical” falsification strategy is not viewed as operative. Implications for teaching students how to effectively test hypotheses in science classes are discussed.     

The play behavior of hearing-impaired kindergarten children

This exploratory study examined the cognitive and social play behaviors of hearing-impaired kindergarten children with regard to classroom instructional mode and communication strategies. Two classes were observed--one using sign communication and the other using an oral-based method of communication. Functional, constructive, dramatic, and social play behaviors were observed and documented. Statistically significant differences were found between the two groups of children with regard to social and dramatic play as well as with regard to levels of aggression. For example, children in the sign-based class demonstrated higher levels of social play behavior and lower levels of aggression than the children in the oral-based class. Guidelines and strategies to help children initiate and sustain play are suggested.     

Factor analysis of the metropolitan readiness test on first-grade children

The factor composition of the Metropolitan Readiness Test was investigated, using 1st-grade subjects in a suburban school district. In this analysis, a total battery score was supported, as well as a second factor believed to represent a language dimension of the test. None of the MRT's other content areas (auditory, visual, or quantitative abilities) or a distinct prereading measure were identified for this sample.     

The prediction of first-grade reading achievement from WPPSI scores of preschool children

The purpose of this study was to measure the relationship between the WPPSI IQs and subtest scaled scores in preschool children and their reading achievement in grade one. Twenty-eight suburban middle class children were given the WPPSI at ages three to five and retested with the Gray Oral Reading Test near the end of first grade. Significant correlations between WPPSI IQs and reading were found. These correlations were similar in magnitude to those obtained between WPPSI IQs of kindergarten children and grade one reading. Further study of the predictive power of the Geometric Designs and Arithmetic subtests was suggested on the basis of correlations obtained between these subtests and later reading scores.     

The effects of the use of activities of sapa on the oral communication skills of disadvantaged kindergarten children

The study investigated the effects of participation in the activities of Science-A Process Approach (SAPA) on the oral communication skills of disadvantaged kindergarten children. Experimental-control group, pretest-posttest research design was employed. The investigator designed the Test of Oral Communication Skills (TOCS) to measure students' oral communication skills. Two experimental groups (one morning and one afternoon, N = 52) and two control groups (one morning and one afternoon, N = 48) were randomly assigned from two kindergarten classrooms (morning and afternoon classes in each) in an inner-city school in Columbus, Ohio. The investigator provided the science instruction to all students. Experimental subjects received 22 half-hour lessons from exercises a through k of Part A, SAPA. Control subjects received 22 lessons from Springboards to Science, a teacher demonstration, class discussion type of kindergarten curricuoum used in the school system. The treatment period spanned 12 academic weeks. Analysis of variance of TOCS pretest scores showed no significant differences among any of the means of the four groups. Analysis of covariance of TOCS posttest scores revealed differences significant at .05 or beyond in the mean scores of the experimental groups and control groups for total oral and total receiving skills and for six of the eight subskills measured by TOCS. Application of the Tukey (b) test revealed that experimental group mean scores exceeded control group mean scores in every TOCS skill and subskill area and that in total oral transmitting subskills both experimental group mean scores were significantly greater at .05 level or beyond than corresponding mean scores for both control groups. Within the parameters of this study, it may be concluded that when the activities and teaching strategies of SAPA curriculum are presented to disadvantaged kindergarten children, their oral communication skills, especially the transmitting (speaking) skills, are clearly enhanced.     

Sentence comprehension in preschool children: testing an adaptive egocentrism hypothesis.

A hypothesis proposing that preoperational egocentrism serves an adaptive function was used to predict the comprehension behavior of preschool children presented with sentences varying on a "personal" dimension. Personal sentences containing the subject's name were contrasted at 2 levels of syntactic complexity with impersonal sentences containing other familiar nouns. Significant effects were found for age, semantics, and syntax (all p's less than .001), with no sex effects or interactions. Personal sentences were better comprehended than impersonals at both levels of syntactic complexity. A second experiment was conducted to rule out "focusing of attention" as an alternative explanation. Variations in the likelihood of occurrence of the depicted event were added to the personal-impersonal contrast. High-probability personal sentences were significantly better understood than low-probability sentences, whether personal or impersonal (p less than .001). Results supported the adaptive egocentrism hypothesis in that sentence content describing the child and his personal experience facilitates the child's comprehension.     

Response to intervention as a vehicle for distinguishing between children with and without reading disabilities: Evidence for the role of kindergarten and first-grade interventions

Children at risk for early reading difficulties were identified on entry into kindergarten, and half of these children received small-group intervention two to three times a week during their kindergarten year. The other half received whatever remedial assistance was offered by their home schools. These children were again assessed at the beginning of first grade, and those who continued to have difficulties in reading received either one-to-one daily tutoring offered by project teachers from the beginning to the end of first grade or whatever remedial assistance was offered by their home schools over the same time period. All target children were periodically assessed through the end of third grade. Results suggest that either kindergarten intervention alone or kindergarten intervention combined with first-grade intervention are both useful vehicles for preventing early and long-term reading difficulties in most at-risk children.     

The Medieval Kingdom topology: Peer relations in kindergarten children

This research examined the applicability of the Medieval Kingdom social role topology (Adcock & Segal, 1983) with kindergarten children and assessed the association between the social roles children assumed and seven nonbehavioral variables. One hundred and seventy-three children from 10 kindergarten classes in two schools participated. Hypotheses that the Medieval Kingdom topology could be distilled from a sample of kindergarten children and that specific nonbehavioral variables including cognitive ability, physical attractiveness, self-esteem, and chronological age were related to the assumption of leadership roles within the topology were confirmed. Children's gender, birth order, and number of siblings were not found to influence the status within the social hierarchy. The findings suggest that the Medieval Kingdom is a potentially useful heuristic for understanding the peer relationships of young children.     

Beginning reading intervention as inoculation or insulin: first-grade reading performance of strong responders to kindergarten intervention

This study examined the first-grade reading progress of children who participated in an intensive beginning reading intervention in kindergarten. Specifically, the study investigated whether kindergarten intervention could prevent first-grade reading difficulties, or produce an "inoculation" effect, for some children under certain instructional conditions. Participants included children at risk for developing reading difficulties who received a 7-month beginning reading intervention in kindergarten. In October of first grade, 59 children who had achieved criterion levels on measures of phonological awareness and alphabetic knowledge were randomly assigned to one of two types of first-grade reading instruction: (a) code-based classroom instruction and a supplemental maintenance intervention, or (b) only code-based classroom instruction. February posttest measures assessed oral reading fluency, word reading, nonword reading, and comprehension. Between-group analyses indicated that instructional groups did not differ on any posttest measure. The students' absolute levels of achievement were compared to national and local normative samples. These results indicated that between 75% and 100% of students in both conditions attained posttest levels and demonstrated growth comparable to their average-achieving peers. These results support the hypothesis that strong responders to kindergarten intervention can experience an inoculation effect through the middle of first grade with research-validated classroom reading instruction.     

The effects of group size on kindergarten children's listening comprehension performance

The present study assessed the effect of small, medium, and large group size on kindergarten children's listening comprehension. Approximately 120 children were divided by sex and randomly assigned to one of four groups which varied from one another only in size. To determine the children's entry listening comprehension skill level, subtests of four reading tests were administered to all children. Those children participating in one adult to one child instruction, one adult to seven or eight children instruction, and one adult to fifteen children instruction interacted daily for ten sessions with an instructor who posed specific comprehension questions, read a carefully selected piece of children's literature, then restated the comprehension questions to assess the children's understanding of the story. All responses were recorded on a pictorial answer sheet. Those children in the control group received no instruction. The children's exit level listening comprehension skills were reassessed by administering the same preinstruction subtests to all children immediately following the ten sessions. Group size was found to affect significantly the children's performance, with one to one instruction resulting in the greatest gains.