Exploration of How Spanish and English Noneliciting Questions Affect the Novel Vocabulary Acquisition of Hispanic Dual Language Learners Enrolled in Head Start

Novel word learning in the context of shared storybook reading has been primarily investigated with monolingual children, while experiments with Hispanic dual language learners (DLLs) are less prevalent. This exploratory study investigated the extratextual stylistic behaviors of storybook reading that promote novel word learning in DLL preschoolers enrolled in Head Start. Using monolingual studies for methodological support, we examined vocabulary noneliciting questions and noneliciting labels as well as the impact of English and Spanish conditions. Results from our home language survey showed that Spanish was the only adult language spoken in most children’s homes. The present study’s findings revealed that Spanish vocabulary noneliciting questions promoted expressive novel word learning. Implications for adults working with Hispanic DLL children in Head Start and future avenues for research are discussed.     

Rater calibration when observational assessment occurs at large scale: Degree of calibration and characteristics of raters associated with calibration

Observational assessment is used to study program and teacher effectiveness across large numbers of classrooms, but training a workforce of raters that can assign reliable scores when observations are used in large-scale contexts can be challenging and expensive. Limited data are available to speak to the feasibility of training large numbers of raters to calibrate to an observation tool, or the characteristics of raters associated with calibration. This study reports on the success of rater calibration across 2093 raters trained by the Office of Head Start (OHS) in 2008–2009 on the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), and for a subsample of 704 raters, characteristics that predict their calibration. Findings indicate that it is possible to train large numbers of raters to calibrate to an observation tool, and rater beliefs about teachers and children predicted the degree of calibration. Implications for large-scale observational assessments are discussed.     

Variation in the effectiveness of instructional interactions across preschool classroom settings and learning activities

This exploratory study examined the extent to which the effectiveness of instructional interactions varies among classroom social settings (i.e., large group, free choice, meals, and routines), learning activities (i.e., shared reading, literacy, math, science, social studies, and esthetics), or their combination. Participants were 314 preschool teachers primarily serving children from low-income backgrounds. Instructional interactions were measured in multiple cycles across one day of classroom observation as teachers engaged in a variety of settings and learning activities. Linear mixed models indicated that the effectiveness of teachers’ instructional interactions was generally higher in the large group setting than in free choice, meals, and routine settings. When considering settings and learning activities in combination, teachers displayed the most effective global instructional interactions when leading science activities in large group or free choice settings, and the most effective literacy-focused interactions during large group literacy activities.     

Methodological issues in identifying and describing the way knowledge is constructed with and without information and communications technology

Abstract

The methods a researcher uses to identify and describe any element of human activity are dependent upon epistemological and culturalpolitical factors. In order to contribute to the improvement of education, researchers who adopt sociocultural methods need to recognise that policy makers are an integral part of the cultural-historical context of education, and adopt a stance of interactive engagement with them. It is clear that the context of learning is critically important, and educational institutions are not normally good environments for learning. Participatory research methods are suggested as the most appropriate way of researching the hidden, private and personally unique process of knowledge construction. A range of methods for data collection and analysis are described, including the use of texts retrieved from electronic communications. Activity theory is suggested as a good framework for intervention studies to explore how the structures of educational institutions could be radically changed to enable information and communications technology (ICT) to transform learning. Such studies would involve researchers working cooperatively with teachers, pupils, parents, the local community, and local and national policy makers in schools where all teachers and students have access any time, any place to ICT. The process of change would be informed by parallel studies of self-directed learning in innovative web-based learning communities, which would be fed back to participants in intervention workshops.     

Associative foundation of causal learning in rats

Are humans unique in their ability to interpret exogenous events as causes? We addressed this question by observing the behavior of rats for indications of causal learning. Within an operant motor–sensory preconditioning paradigm, associative surgical techniques revealed that rats attempted to control an outcome (i.e., a potential effect) by manipulating a potential exogenous cause (i.e., an intervention). Rats were able to generate an innocuous auditory stimulus. This stimulus was then paired with an aversive stimulus. The animals subsequently avoided potential generation of the predictive cue, but not if the aversive stimulus was subsequently devalued or the predictive cue was extinguished (Exp. 1). In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that the aversive stimulus we used was in fact aversive, that it was subject to devaluation, that the cue–aversive stimulus pairings did make the cue a conditioned stimulus, and that the cue was subject to extinction. In Experiments 3 and 4, we established that the decrease in leverpressing observed in Experiment 1 was goal-directed instrumental behavior rather than purely a product of Pavlovian conditioning. To the extent that interventions suggest causal reasoning, it appears that causal reasoning can be based on associations between contiguous exogenous events. Thus, contiguity appears capable of establishing causal relationships between exogenous events. Our results challenge the widely held view that causal learning is uniquely human, and suggest that causal learning is explicable in an associative framework.     

Neither Right nor Wrong: How a Teacher Integrates Her Personal and Professional Life With Policy

This article focuses on the importance of recognizing and appreciating the ways that a teacher integrates her personal and professional life with an English-only policy. Much can be learned from the ways in which she negotiates social forces and integrates them into her individual reality while making sense of the restrictive language policy. Whether they are consciously aware of it or not, teachers have the power to make ethico-political choices. Motivated by moral principles and personal beliefs, teachers make decisions about their right or ability to determine and follow a particular course of action that a policy may dictate. Educational policies coming from the top-down can be daunting and leave teachers with a sense of a loss of control and power over what happens in their classrooms. However, I argue that teachers do have control over how they interpret the policy. There is no clear right or wrong path, but rather a multitude of diverse choices that are available to teachers.     

Toward Sustainable Educational Changes through School-Based Professional Development on ELL Assessment for New Teachers

Developing teachers' knowledge about assessing English language learners (ELLs) is critical for achieving intended policy outcomes of improving teaching under Race to the Top policy and Common Core State Standards. In addition to teachers' expressed concerns about teaching Common Core State Standards to ELLs in a national survey published in Education Week (Gewertz, 2013 Gewertz, C. (2013, February). Standards worrying teachers. Education Week, 32(22), 12–13. [Google Scholar]), the formation of two assessment consortiums (i.e., Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, or SBAC, and Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC) indicates the urgency for teachers to demonstrate their assessment knowledge and for schools to provide meaningful professional development opportunities in that area. In this article, we detail the rationale for school-based professional development targeting assessment, especially for new teachers, and outline a proposed procedure for providing such training.     

Dose–response relations between preschool teachers’ exposure to components of professional development and increases in quality of their interactions with children

The present study examined the pattern of associations over time between the quality of observed interactions and exposure to features of an effective coaching model for 170 preschool teachers enrolled in a study investigating professional development impacts. Using a treatment-on-the-treated approach, teachers exposed to a greater number of cycles of coaching showed more improvement in classroom interactions over the year. More specifically, of the two components of treatment examined, video exemplars and individual coaching prompts, exposure to prompts was associated with growth from baseline in instructionally supportive interactions while watching video exemplars was associated with growth in emotionally supportive behaviors in analysis of linear effects. Watching emotional support video exemplars was negatively associated with growth in classroom organization behaviors. The non-linear pattern of these associations suggested that the initial dosage of prompts created observable effects on instructional support, but after a certain point additional dosage was not effective. Conversely, initial dosage did not create observable effects on emotional support, but improvement was observed after exposure to a certain minimum dosage of time watching video exemplars. The results have implications for the design, delivery, and focus of professional development for early childhood educators.