Reported Research Funding in Four Early Childhood Journals

Funding for research in the area of early childhood is an ongoing challenge. The present research objective was to identify the frequency of acknowledgment of federal funding in articles published by four leading early childhood journals from 1999 to 2008. We conducted a content analysis of 1,338 publications found in Early Child Development and Care, Early Childhood Education Journal, Early Childhood Research and Practice, and Early Childhood Research Quarterly. Approximately 28% of the sample (368 articles in the target journals) reported funding in general. More specifically, 43% of the sample (160 articles of the 368 articles funded) reported federal funding. It is concluded that external funding, particularly federal funding for early childhood research may be the exception rather than the rule.     

Hearing Matters More Than Seeing: A Cross-Modality Study of Statistical Learning and Reading Ability

ABSTRACT

There is growing interest in the link between implicit statistical learning (SL) and reading ability. Although learning to read involves both auditory and visual modalities, it is not known whether reading skills might be more strongly associated with auditory SL or visual SL. Here we assessed SL across both modalities in 36 typically developing children and 36 healthy adults using the classic triplet-learning paradigm. Auditory SL was significantly associated with sentence reading fluency (Woodcock Johnson III Test of Achievement) in the combined sample of children and adults after controlling for age and nonverbal intelligence. In further analysis of the child data, auditory SL was significantly associated with nonword reading accuracy (Woodcock Reading Mastery Test), a relationship which appeared to be mediated by phonological processing abilities (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing). These findings suggest that auditory SL might contribute more strongly to certain aspects of reading development compared to visual SL.     

An Examination of the Relationship between Computation,Problem Solving,and Reading

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship of mathematics calculation rate (curriculum-based measurement of mathematics; CBM-M), reading rate (curriculum-based measurement of reading; CBM-R), and mathematics application and problem solving skills (mathematics screener) among students at four levels of proficiency on a statewide test. It was hypothesized that CBM-M provides insufficient information to make good screening decisions and that other measures with content more similar to that of large-scale tests of mathematics would function to improve screening. One hundred and seventy students in third grade from a rural elementary school in the Midwestern United States participated. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate direct, mediator, and latent growth models. In general, CBM-R mediated the relationship between the mathematics ability screener and passing the state assessment, while CBM-M did not have any significant paths within these models. Results are discussed in terms of the utility of CBM-M and CBM-R procedures in screening for success on state test performance in mathematics.     

Teaching, morality, and responsibility: A Structuralist analysis of a teachers’ code of conduct

In this paper we conduct a Structuralist analysis of the General Teaching Council for England’s Code of Conduct and Practice for Registered Teachers in order to reveal how teachers are required to fulfil an apparently impossible social role. The GTCE’s Code, we argue, may be seen as an attempt by a government agency to resolve the political and ideological tensions that emerge in a society that grapples with the paradox of revering individual autonomy whilst simultaneously being dependent upon state-delivered services like a national education system. In such a situation it seems that teachers are a locus in which these tensions collide. However, the GTCE’s attempt to bridge the philosophical gaps provides an opportunity, we conclude, for teachers and teacher-educators to explore the differences between public myths of the teaching profession and the lived reality of life in the classroom.     

Shifting codes: education or regulation? Trainee teachers and the Code of Conduct and Practice in England

In 2009, the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) introduced a revised Code of Conduct and Practice (2009) for registered teachers. The code also applies to all trainee teachers who are provisionally registered with the GTCE and who could be liable to a charge of misconduct during their periods of teaching practice. This paper presents the results of a small-scale piece of research that utilises Q-methodology to ascertain trainee teacher alignment with the code. Our research concludes that trainee teachers in the sample have a high degree of homogeneity in relation to prioritising specific areas of the code, namely those pertaining to ethical behaviours. They do not prioritise those areas of the code relating to classroom-based skills which they have yet to develop. The paper questions the efficacy of a code which represents an aggregate of a code of conduct, a code of ethics and a set of standards for practice.     

Siblings exposed to intimate partner violence: Linking sibling relationship quality & child adjustment problems

Although the majority of families that experience intimate partner violence (IPV) have more than one child, most research to date has focused upon a single child within these families. A significant body of research has indicated siblings play an important role in children's adjustment and well-being. To address this gap, the three main goals of the present study were to compare the adjustment of older and younger siblings exposed to IPV, to describe and compare the quality of these sibling relationships from multiple perspectives, and to investigate how sibling adjustment and relationship quality influence children's adjustment. Forty-seven sibling pairs and their mothers were recruited from the community. Mothers self-reported on their violent experiences using the Conflict Tactics Scale, and also estimated the length of time their children were exposed to IPV. Mothers and children completed assessments of child adjustment and the quality of sibling relationships. Observers also assessed the quality of sibling interaction. Results indicated that adjustment between siblings was highly inter-related. On average, mothers reported sibling relationships as less positive but also as less hostile than did siblings themselves. Higher levels of sibling hostility, lower levels of sibling warmth and higher levels of disengagement each significantly predicted child adjustment; however, these effects were predicated upon the adjustment of the other sibling. The sibling relationships of children exposed to IPV made a difference in their individual adjustment, and their adjustment issues influenced how they feel about and interacted with their sibling. Sibling hostility played a stronger role in adjustment issues than sibling warmth. The nature of sibling influences and the direction of future research were discussed.     

The cognitive development of young dual language learners: A critical review

Dual language exposure and bilingualism are relatively common experiences for children. The present review set out to synthesize the existing research on cognitive development in bilingual children and to identify the gaps and the methodological concerns present in the existing research. A search of major databases for research conducted with typically developing, preschool-age dual language learners between 2000 and 2013 yielded 102 peer-reviewed articles. The existing evidence points to areas of cognitive development in bilingual children where findings are robust or inconclusive, and reveals variables that influence performance. The present review also identifies areas for future research and methodological limitations.     

Floating on the fringe: College of education students’ discourse about diversity

Abstract

This phenomenological research study focused on how education students perceived diversity in their academic lives, as well as the language they used when they talked about diversity. Focus groups with 36 undergraduate and graduate students in a college of education were conducted to explore these areas. Three themes were identified through a two-phase analytical approach. These were: (a) limited or inconsistent exposure to diversity at the college; (b) instances of othering and exclusion that took place in various spaces; and (c) divergent ways of talking about the diversity climate. The article concludes with a renewed call for increased attention to diversity in colleges of education.     

The rhetoric of American Indian activism in the 1960s and 1970s 1

Political rhetoric in a democracy is, in at least some sense, educative and constitutive even as it is instrumentally persuasive. For members of ethnic, racial, or cultural groups that lie outside of the dominant culture, the educative processes that underlie policy advocacy require attention to specific cultures, traditions, historical experiences, and group interests. Thus, even though all out‐groups share many common challenges, they all face unique situations as well. This essay explores these rhetorical challenges and some of the strategies designed to meet them through an examination of the political rhetoric of American Indian activists from the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties through the 1973 siege at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Particular attention is paid to the question of audience.