Implementing co-teaching with paraprofessionals to provide pre-Kindergarten students with special rights access to dual language

The purpose of this study was to examine how paraprofessionals and other service providers participate in co-teaching with a certified special education pre-Kindergarten teacher during dual language (DL) instruction. The study took place in two DL special education preschool classrooms located in an urban public school district in the southwestern US. The district enlisted paraprofessionals as lead Spanish instructors when the lead teacher was not bilingual in Spanish and English to implement the DL programme effectively. Participants were one special education teacher, two paraprofessionals and one teaching artist, who participated in a year-long professional development programme to employ drama strategies to develop children's Spanish and English literacy skills and promote inclusion. Findings indicated that the participants utilised multiple co-teaching models to collaborate and meet the needs of their students during English and Spanish instruction. Through co-teaching, all educators had opportunities to take lead and supporting roles in instruction.     

Contextual Factors and Age Group Differences in Coincidence-Anticipation Performance

Abstract

Age group differences in the direction of anticipatory motor responses may be attributable to the increased susceptibility of young children to contextual factors. That is, their performances on a given trial may be influenced by the stimulus speed presented in the previous trial. Mixed-sex groups of 8–9 year-olds and adults were given 3 blocks of 18 coincidence-anticipation trials each in a counterbalanced design. One block contained stimulus speeds of 1, 3, or 5 MPH, another speeds of 3, 5, or 7 MPH, and a third speeds of 5, 7, or 9 MPH, so that the 5 MPH speed was common to all blocks. An age group by sex by testing order by trial block ANOVA of constant error on the 5 MPH trials indicated that trial block was a significant factor within an age group by block interaction. Mean scores showed that the children responded very early in the 5–7–9 MPH block to the 5 MPH stimuli while the adults did not. Testing order was also a significant factor: subjects in the 1–3–5, 5–7–9, 3–5–7 MPH order performed with significantly greater directional error. While the later finding may indicate contextual factors influenced performance, there is no strong evidence that contextual factors differentially affected the age groups.     

Making Space for Storytime: The Role of the Environment in the Production of Storytime

ABSTRACT

This article reviews the findings from Project VIEWS2, a four-year IMLS-funded study that examined the early literacy impact of public library storytimes, and provides detail on a secondary analysis of storytime spaces that was done using the Project VIEWS2 dataset. The storytimes spaces were explored by looking at the spatial quality, physical literacy environment, and seating of attendees, as these characteristics have been identified as important aspects of early childhood learning environments. Findings across these three characteristics are presented as well as implications and recommendations for more effective storytime practice and space design.     

A behavior systems view of responding to probe stimuli during an interfood clock

Two experiments used a behavior systems approach to relate the form of responses during an interfood clock to the temporal distance of the individual clock stimuli to food. Stimuli proximate to food should better control a focal search mode and related responses, whereas stimuli temporally distant from food should better control a general search mode and related responses. Experiment 1 conditioned two groups of rats with a sequence of four equal-length 12-sec clock stimuli that terminated with food and then tested for the conditioning of a general search mode by presenting an unconditioned moving probe stimulus (either a rolling ball bearing or a rotating mechanical door) during each of the clock stimuli. Consistent with a behavior systems view, contact with the ball bearing was markedly greater during a clock stimulus distant from food. The absence of similar differential contact of the door across the clock stimuli showed that the effect was specific to the ball bearing rather than a general response to stimulus dimensions of movement and sound. Experiment 2 showed that the general search mode was controlled by the clock stimulus rather than the passage of time.     

Contributions of Children's Temperament to Teachers' Judgments of Social Competence From Kindergarten Through Second Grade

Research Findings: Children's social competence has been linked to successful transition to formal school. The purpose of this study was to examine the contributions of children's temperament to teachers' ratings of their social competence from kindergarten through 2nd grade. Children (N = 1,364) from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network participated in this study. Mothers rated children's shyness, attentional focusing, and inhibitory control with the Children's Behavior Questionnaire at 4½ years, and teachers rated children's social competence with three subscales (cooperation, assertion, and self-control) of the Social Skills Rating System at kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade. Latent growth curve analysis indicated that both shyness and effortful control contributed to children's social competence. Bolder children were likely to have higher assertion ratings, and shyer children with greater attentional focusing were likely to have higher assertion ratings. Shyer children and children with greater inhibitory control and attentional focusing were likely to have higher teacher ratings of self-control and cooperation. Practice or Policy: Findings highlight the importance of considering child temperament characteristics when understanding children's social competence and successful adjustment to kindergarten. Information may help parents, preschool teachers, and early elementary teachers prepare children who may be at particular risk for lower social competence.     

The Tensions of Urban School Renewal in an Era of Reform

The faculty and administration of a school of education in the mid-Atlantic region formally adopted a standards-based, conceptual framework that reflects the values articulated by the faculty and the outcomes for students as they prepare for and develop in their professions. Faculty and administrators agreed to use the framework as the basis for examining professional programs, academic courses, and professional experiences, as well as for governing interactions with one another as colleagues. This article describes the conceptual framework, its goals, research used to evaluate the framework, and the outcomes attained.     

How Instructional Designers Solve Workplace Problems

This naturalistic inquiry investigated how instructional designers engage in complex and ambiguous problem solving across organizational boundaries in two corporations. Participants represented a range of instructional design experience, from novices to experts. Research methods included a participant background survey, observations of problem‐solving activities, in‐depth interviews, and analysis and evaluation of project documents and other tools. The findings revealed differences between experts and novices with regards to tolerance of ambiguity, expectations about their own roles in finding solutions for their clients, adaptability, attention to appropriate details, and management of workplace stress. The contrast between instructional design processes taught in universities and actual workplace practice was noted by both expert and novice participants. Experienced participants demonstrated adaptability in processes and communications to efficiently arrive at viable solutions for their clients. Expectation setting and relationship building emerged as techniques for creating environments supportive of instructional designers' problem‐solving activities.