Executive function mediates socio-economic and racial differences in early academic achievement

Although associations between socio-economic status, race, and academic achievement are well established, the specific mechanisms that underlie the relation remain incompletely understood. This longitudinal investigation, involving a sample of 206 children from economically and racially diverse backgrounds, examined the influence of executive function and expressive vocabulary assessed in kindergarten on academic achievement in Grade 1. The use of structural equation modeling revealed that both SES and race had indirect effects on achievement test scores through their effects on executive function, even when accounting for differences in expressive vocabulary. As expected, executive function was more strongly related to math than literacy achievement. The results provide support for the importance of targeting executive skills and intervening early in efforts to improve academic performance in young children. Moreover, the findings suggest that improving executive function may mitigate the impact of social risk factors on academic achievement.     

Development and validation of a preschool teachers’ attitudes and beliefs toward science teaching questionnaire

Little is known about preschool teachers’ attitudes and beliefs toward science teaching, in part, because the field lacks valid and reliable measures of these teacher-related factors. To address this need, the current study developed and validated a rating scale (P-TABS) using a statewide sample of Head Start teachers (N = 507). A series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. Generalizability and invariance of the final factor solution was examined across important subgroups of the standardization sample (i.e., teacher ethnicity, education level, and years of teaching experience). Three distinct factors were identified (Teacher Comfort, Child Benefit, and Challenges), with strong evidence for validity found for the first two factors. The P-TABS expands the availability of reliable and valid assessment tools for measuring preschool teachers’ attitudes and beliefs toward science teaching and for examining how these teacher-related factors affect classroom practices and student outcomes.     

Understanding the role of private speech in children's emotion regulation

Self-regulation includes both cognitive and affective components, but few researchers have investigated how these components interact to better explain self-regulation. The purpose of this study was to investigate how children's private speech, which is typically related to cognitive ability, was utilized during an emotion-eliciting task. By examining the social and private speech that occurred as children coped with a frustration task, a better understanding of how children regulate their emotional displays can be achieved. Children's speech, emotional expressions (sadness and anger), and emotion regulation strategies (distraction and self-comforting) were coded during a frustration task completed by preschool-aged children (N = 116). Children's social speech to mothers and private speech were transcribed. Children's private speech was categorized according to five mutually exclusive categories: vocalizations, inaudible muttering, task-irrelevant, negatively valenced task-relevant, or facilitative task-relevant. Sadness was associated with more social speech and negatively valenced task-relevant private speech, whereas anger was associated with less distraction and facilitative task-relevant private speech and more vocalizations and negatively valenced task-relevant private speech. Additionally, private speech predicted unique variance beyond that explained by the emotion regulation strategies and moderated the relations of emotion regulation strategies to both anger and sadness. These empirical findings support theoretical propositions that language is a factor in children's emotion regulation. The implications of these findings include support for the encouragement of private speech in the classroom because of its relation to emotional, in addition to cognitive, regulatory functions.     

Educator understanding of childhood traumatic brain injury: a New Zealand perspective

ABSTRACT

Approximately 15% of New Zealand children will experience a traumatic brain injury during their school years. Given that educators play an important role in facilitating the successful school re-entry and recovery of these students, it is paramount that educators have adequate knowledge of childhood traumatic brain injury. This study used an online questionnaire to assess knowledge traumatic brain injury among 20 New Zealand educators. It also identified what services educators were aware of within their schools and communities that could assist with the management of students with brain injury, and what further training or information educators required to feel confident in supporting these students in the school environment. Results indicated that although educators possessed sound general understanding of traumatic brain injury, they had some misconceptions regarding the implications and recovery trajectories of these injuries during childhood. Educators reported the need for training relating to diagnostic criteria and strategies for supporting students with traumatic brain injury in the classroom. Providing educators with information and training on how to identify traumatic brain injury and manage the needs of students with traumatic brain injury will allow them to facilitate inclusive and supportive educational opportunities, leading to improved outcomes for these students.     

PARENT ATTACHMENT AND EARLY ADOLESCENTS’ LIFE SATISFACTION: THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF HOPE

Research using an attachment theory framework has provided evidence that parent attachment is one of the crucial determinants of psychological adjustment in adolescents, including global life satisfaction (LS). This study investigated the interrelationships among parent attachment, hope, and LS during early adolescence, including the mediation effect of hope in the relationship between parent attachment and LS. A sample of 565 middle‐school students in Grades 6 through 8 participated. Results showed statistically significant relationships among all three variables, and hope partially mediated the relationship between parent attachment and LS. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

States and Their Struggles With NCLB: Does the Obama Blueprint Get It Right?

This article analyzes challenges states identify in implementing No Child Left Behind (NCLB) with the Obama administration's proposals for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization. Drawing upon information from six states, this study shows that the Obama administration Blueprint for Reauthorization of ESEA responds to a number of state concerns with NCLB but fails to acknowledge the sheer magnitude of the challenges states face. The Blueprint addresses the overall concern for greater flexibility in timing, focus, and remedies that states express. Furthermore, the Blueprint acknowledges but does not fully address the importance of teacher and leader quality and the distributional challenges. The Blueprint falls short, however, in addressing the need for a more robust body of knowledge regarding effective intervention, the pragmatic obstacles to redistribution of high-quality teachers and leaders, and the political and fiscal challenges that states combat in intensifying and funding the level of performance it demands.     

Rural Students in Washington State: STEM as a Strategy for Building Rigor,Postsecondary Aspirations,and Relevant Career Opportunities

In rural settings, leaving for college can mean a young person's first step in leaving home forever (Sherman & Sage, 2011). That presents a serious challenge for college recruiters as they ask parents from Indian reservations or close-knit Hispanic or rural farming communities to allow their children to consider postsecondary opportunities. In this article, the authors discuss impediments to college-going that rural students face and shine a light on several efforts in central Washington State that help students connect to job opportunities in fast-growing, lucrative STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers in the region. Beyond inviting STEM professionals to job fairs, these efforts can expand opportunities for collaboration between STEM professionals and rural schools and teachers. Such opportunities might include enriching the K–12 curriculum with locally relevant problems of science, using local STEM professionals to collaborate on learning projects, and possibly engaging students to contribute to national databases and studies. These programs represent one way to highlight the real-world application of postsecondary education, encouraging students to pursue STEM college programs and careers.     

The Use and Efficacy of Handheld Computers for School-Based Data Collection: A Literature Review

Given the increasing influence of technology and the explosion in data collection demands, the acceptance and assimilation of new paradigms and technologies require today's educators, researchers, and evaluators to consider alternative tools, and apply them effectively. One of these alternatives, handheld computers, also known as personal digital assistants (PDAs), makes the benefits of computerized data collection more accessible to field-based researchers. An evaluation of handheld computers as data collection tools in research settings requires an understanding of their use from different perspectives in existing research. This review examines the willingness of teachers to adopt handheld data collection systems by focusing on 5 main features: (a) ease of use, (b) usefulness, (c) subjective norms, (d) intention to use, and (e) dependability.