PASS cognitive processes,phonological processes,and basic reading performance for a sample of referred primary‐grade children

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among cognitive processing, phonological processing and basic reading skill performance. Cognitive theorists propose that Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive (PASS) processes are related to various phonological skills. A sample of 62 Primary Grade children referred for reading problems were administered measures of cognitive processes (Cognitive Assessment System), phonological processes (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing) and basic reading achievement (Woodcock‐Johnson Tests of Academic Achievement‐III). Findings indicated that some cognitive processes were significantly related to phonological processes as well as basic reading skills. The strongest relationships were found between phonological memory and successive processes and between phonological awareness and basic reading performance.     

Cognitive processing and mathematical achievement: a study with schoolchildren between fourth and sixth grade of primary education

This investigation analyzed the relation between cognitive functioning and mathematical achievement in 114 students in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. Differences in cognitive performance were studied concurrently in three selected achievement groups: mathematical learning disability group (MLD), low achieving group (LA), and typically achieving group (TA). For this purpose, performance in verbal memory and in the PASS cognitive processes of planning, attention, and simultaneous and successive processing was assessed at the end of the academic course. Correlational analyses showed that phonological loop and successive and simultaneous processing were related to mathematical achievement at all three grades. Regression analysis revealed simultaneous processing as a cognitive predictor of mathematical performance, although phonological loop was also associated with higher achievement. Simultaneous and successive processing were the elements that differentiated the MLD group from the LA group. These results show that, of all the variables analyzed in this study, simultaneous processing was the best predictor of mathematical performance.     

The benefits and challenges of enterprise education: results from an action research project in the third grade in Finnish basic education

This article is the result of an action research project conducted in 2014 in a primary school in the city of Vaasa in Finland. The project focused on developing the practice of integrating enterprise education as a part of everyday teaching in Grade Three. The project involved three class teachers, the headmaster and a university researcher. This article focuses on the teachers’ perceptions of the benefits and the challenges of the project. The teachers viewed the project as beneficial to their own professional development as well as to the students’ learning. The process, however, also revealed several challenges associated with applying enterprise education in Grade Three, such as time or different personalities. Based on the experiences from this particular project, the article broadens the understanding of how enterprise education can be realised in Grade Three, as well as its benefits and challenges.     

数学基础教育功利化倾向的表现及危害

数学基础教育的功利化倾向使数学教育的作用被扭曲地发挥，造成数学教育的异化．数学教育的功利化倾向通常表现为权威化、教条化、狭隘化、刻板化等，对数学教育功能的发挥和学生的发展造成比较大的危害．     

Boys' and girls' weight status and math performance from kindergarten entry through fifth grade: a mediated analysis

This study tests a mediated model of boys’ and girls’ weight status and math performance with 6,250 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. Five data points spanning kindergarten entry (mean age = 68.46 months) through fifth grade (mean age = 134.60 months) were analyzed. Three weight status groups were identified: persistent obesity, later onset obesity, and never obese. Multilevel models tested relations between weight status and math performance, weight status and interpersonal skills and internalizing behaviors, and interpersonal skills and internalizing behaviors and math performance. Interpersonal skills mediated the association between weight status and math performance for girls, and internalizing behaviors mediated the association between weight status and math performance for both sexes, with effects varying by group and time.     

城市流动人口子女基础教育问题研究

从世界全民教育的要求，尊重儿童的基本权利和普及九年义务教育需要等方面论述了城市流动人口子女基础教育问题的重大意义；就实现教育机会平等的两个方面——入学机会平等和就学质量平等进行了探讨，重点论述了扩大并普及入学机会与提高教育质量方面存在的主要问题、解决的途径，以及政府机构、非政府组织和个人应承担的责任和义务。     

The contribution of attentional processes to calculation skills in second and third grade in a typically developing sample

Attention is an important, multifaceted cognitive domain that includes many key cognitive processes involved in learning. This study aimed to identify the predictive links between different components of attentional skills and core calculation skills development, using two standardized measures assessing calculation (AC-MT 6–11) and attention skills (CAS) in a sample of 143 typically developing children of age range from 7.6 years to 9.4 years. The results showed that in 2nd grade, selective visuo-spatial attention emerged as an important predictor in the written calculation task, while the ability to inhibit distracting information seemed to better predict accuracy in oral calculation. In 3rd grade, visuo-spatial components of attention emerged as no longer predictive, whereas planning and active visuo-spatial attention abilities emerged as predictive of accuracy in the oral calculation task. These results confirm previous findings about the contribution that attentional skills may have in calculation skills development, supporting evidence for progressive automation attentional components over time.

     

Improving sleep,cognitive functioning and academic performance with sleep education at school in children

We aimed at measuring the impact of a school-based sleep education program (ENSOM: ‘EN’ for ‘ENfant’ and SOM for ‘SOMmeil’ in French) on sleep, cognitive functioning and academic performance in children. In contrast with existing sleep education programs, ENSOM was designed by sleep experts with the intent of being autonomously achieved by teachers. One-hundred and thirty children aged 8–9 years took part in control versus ENSOM interventions. Compared to the control intervention, total sleep time was extended by 31 min per night, sleep efficiency improved by 2.9%, and sleep latency and wake after sleep onset were shortened by 7.7 and 4.5 min respectively after the ENSOM program. Sleep improvement remained significant at one-year follow-up. Attention, executive functioning, academic performance and parents' sleep knowledge also improved significantly. Given the frequency of sleep curtailment in children, school-based programs could be an efficient method to implement sleep education on a large scale.     

Indexing response to intervention: a longitudinal study of reading risk from kindergarten through third grade

In this study, response to intervention and stability of reading performance of 41 kindergarten children identified as at risk of reading difficulty were evaluated from kindergarten through third grade. All students were assessed in the fall of each academic year to evaluate need for intervention, and students who fell below the 30th percentile on criterion measures received small-group supplemental intervention. Measures included a combination of commercial normative referenced measures and specific skill and construct measures to assess growth or change in reading risk status relative to 30th percentile benchmarks. Results indicated that consistent with the findings of prior research involving students with comparable entry-level performance, the majority of children identified as at risk in the beginning of kindergarten responded early and positively to intervention. On average, absolute performance levels at the end of kindergarten positioned students for trajectories of later reading performance that exceeded the 50th percentile on the majority of measures. Moreover, changes in risk status that occurred early were generally sustained over time. Only oral reading fluency performance failed to exceed the 30th percentile for the majority of students.     

The effect of pre-school education on academic performance in primary school: a case study of grade one pupils in Botswana

Evidence abounds in the literature of a direct link between pre-primary education and academic performance in the primary school. The salutary effect of the ‘Head start’ programme inaugurated in the United States of America in the early 1960s on the academic performances of its beneficiaries in the lower primary is such a piece of evidence. Premised on this commonality between pre-primary education and academic achievement in the primary school, the study aimed at finding out whether there were significant differences in the performances of Botswana grade one pupils with pre-school education experience and their counterparts without such an experience on selected tasks in English language, mathematics and science. Using purposive sampling technique for school selection, a total of 120 grade one pupils were randomly selected for the study from four selected primary schools in Botswana. In addition, 20 grade one teachers from the study schools participated in the study. For data collection purpose, each pupil-subject was individually interviewed for about 20 min on the study tasks; and the opinions of the twenty teachers on the subject of the study was sampled by the use of a questionnaire. The results of the study indicated that pupils with pre-school education experience significantly out-performed their counterparts without such experience in all the three school subject areas surveyed by the study. This trend of the impact of pre-school education on academic achievement at the early primary school level was corroborated by the opinions of the primary school teachers. The paper concluded by observing that pre-school education equips children with pre-requisite skills which make learning in grade one easier and faster for children so exposed.     

Comparative education: Towards a basic theory

Former Vice-Rector in charge of Planning and former Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature at the National University, Heredia, Costa Rica. Former Unesco educational planning expert (Somalia, Central America). Consultant with the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP). Founding President of the Institute for Social Cybernetics Applied to Planning (ICSAP), Costa Rica. Author of several works on educational planning and administration and on comparative education.     

Cognitive processes underlying WISC-R performance of gifted and learning disabled navajos

The purpose of this study was to provide an empirical basis for the interpretation of the WISC-R performance of Navajo children according to the Luria-Das Model of Simultaneous and Successive cognitive processes. Two groups of Native American Navajo subjects, 45 learning disabled and 41 gifted, were given the WISC-R. The scores on those subtests expected to involve Successive and Simultaneous processes were factor analyzed for each group and two factors were extracted. The factors, essentially similar for both samples, were interpreted to reflect the Successive and the Simultaneous modes of processing information as suggested by the Luria-Das Model. The gifted and learning disabled children had disparate loadings for some of the subtests, suggesting that the two groups may be using distinct modes of coding information.     

Heterogeneity in children at risk of math learning difficulties

This study recruited 428 Singaporean children at risk of math learning difficulties (MLD; M_age = 83.9 months, SD_age = 4.35 months; 41% female). Using a factor mixture model that considered both quantitative and qualitative differences in math ability, two qualitatively different groups were identified: one with generalized difficulties across different math skills and the other with more focal difficulties in arithmetic fluency. Reading, working memory capacity, and numeracy (number line estimation skills and numerical discrimination) uniquely explained group membership. Children within each group differed in the extent of difficulties they exhibited, with numeracy variables differentially contributing to math ability in each group. Findings speak against a dimensional view of MLD and underscore the conceptual limitations of using basic numeracy performance to profile learning difficulties.     

A cognitive strategy instruction to improve math calculation for children with ADHD and LD: a randomized controlled study

The authors examined the effectiveness of cognitive strategy instruction based on PASS (Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, Successive) given by special education teachers to students with ADHD randomly assigned by classroom. Students in the experimental group were exposed to a brief cognitive strategy instruction for 10 days, which was designed to encourage development and application of effective planning for mathematical computation, whereas the comparison group received-standard math instruction. Standardized tests of cognitive processes and math achievement were given at pretest. All students completed math worksheets throughout the experimental phase. Standardized achievement tests (Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement, Third Edition, Math Fluency and Wechsler Individualized Achievement Test, Second Edition, Numerical Operations) were administered pre- and postintervention, and Math Fluency was also administered at 1 year follow-up. Large pre-post effect sizes were found for students in the experimental group but not the comparison group on math worksheets (0.85 and 0.26), Math Fluency (1.17 and 0.09), and Numerical Operations (0.40 and -0.14, respectively). At 1 year follow-up, the experimental group continued to outperform the comparison group. These findings suggest that students with ADHD evidenced greater improvement in math worksheets, far transfer to standardized tests of math (which measured the skill of generalizing learned strategies to other similar tasks), and continued advantage 1 year later when provided the PASS-based cognitive strategy instruction.     

Cognitive predictors of shallow-orthography spelling speed and accuracy in 6th grade children

Reading and Writing - Spelling accuracy and time course was investigated in a sample of 100 Norwegian 6th grade students completing a standardized spelling-to-dictation task. Students responded by...