Ramona the chronotope: The young reader and social theories of narrative

Margaret Mackey is studying for a master's degree in library and information studies at the University of Alberta in Canada. Previously, in Britain, she taught English language and literature in secondary schools for ten years. She has been secondary editor ofThe Essex Review of Children's Literature and has editedFestival Plays (Longman), a collection of young playwrights.     

Quality of Center Child Care and Infant Cognitive and Language Development

The relations between quality of center-based child care and infant cognitive and language development were examined in a sample of 79 African-American 12-month-old infants. Both structural and process measures of quality of child care were collected through interviews with the center director and observation of the infant classroom. Results indicated that quality of infant care positively correlated with scores on standardized assessments of cognitive development ( Bayley Scales of Infant Development ), language development (Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development), and communication skills (Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales). In addition, quality of care in child care centers and at home was positively related. Analyses that adjusted for this association between quality of care at home and in child care suggested that the process measure of quality of child care independently related to the infant's cognitive development, and one structural measure, the infant-adult ratio, independently related to the infant's overall communication skills. Neither child nor family factors was found to moderate the association between child care quality and infant development. These findings, in conjunction with the growing child care literature, suggest that researchers and policymakers should focus on how quality of child care can be improved to enhance, not impair, infant development.     

Findings From a Multiyear Scale-Up Effectiveness Trial of Open Court Reading

This multiyear scale-up effectiveness study of Open Court Reading (OCR) involved approximately 4,500 students and more than 1,000 teachers per year in Grades K–5 from 49 elementary schools in seven districts across the country. Using a school-level cluster randomized trial design, we assessed the implementation and effectiveness of Open Court Reading over two years. Implementation study results demonstrated adequate to high levels of fidelity across the treatment schools. Intent-to-treat analyses revealed no statistically significant main effects on students’ reading performance in Year 1 and a small negative effect (d = – .09) in Year 2. There were positive impacts for particular subgroups, including kindergarten (d = .12) and Hispanic (d = .10) students in the first year. However, there were negative impacts for first grade (d = –.13), females (d = –.11), students who were not eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (d = –.19), and non-English language learners (d = –.10) in the second year of the study. Thus, relative to the “business-as-usual” reading curricula, no positive overall impacts of OCR and mixed impacts for student subgroups were found.     

Affective knowledge versus affective pedagogy: the case of native grammar learning

ABSTRACT

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the role of affect within education. Within this paper, the authors make a distinction between affective pedagogy, which they refer to as ways of teaching that are designed to evoke particular emotional states, and affective knowledge, which they refer to as aspects of knowledge or knowing which seem to bring forth particular emotions organically. Using explicit grammar knowledge as a test case, they explore student teachers’ affective responses to learning, drawing upon interview data and observations made during a series of grammar courses. They argue that grammar learning is a potential source of pleasure, wonder and intensity. The findings provide an important counter-narrative to the prevailing discourse of grammar as dull and threatening. They also draw broader conclusions about the significance of affect in education, drawing upon affect theory and recent work on epistemic emotions.     

Setting or mixed ability?: pupils’ views of the organisational arrangement in their school

In 1996 Her Majesty's Inspectors of schools published a report entitled Achievement for All ( SOEID, 1996 ). This report identified a number of key principles governing the organisation of pupils by class, or within class, in Scottish schools and concluded that:

The application of these principles does not give rise to one, universally best method of organising pupils into classes. If used effectively, both mixed ability and setting may be appropriate forms of organisation (5.4).

A study was undertaken to investigate the perceptions of various groups (teachers, parents and pupils) of how well the arrangements in place were working. A total of 13 schools were included in the investigation (4 primary and 9 secondary). Groups of between 6 and 12 pupils were interviewed in each school. This paper will present the perceptions of these pupils on the setting arrangements in place in their schools.     

Evaluation of a computer‐based reading intervention in infant and junior schools

Recent studies (Fawcett et al, 1999; Nicolson et al, 1999) have demonstrated that 6 and 8 year old children found to be at risk of reading failure can be provided with very cost‐effective support using traditional teaching methods. Nonetheless, a significant minority of children failed to make sufficient progress. The present studies undertook a replication of these studies, using the RITA computer‐based literacy support system. The RITA system assists, rather than replaces, the teacher in providing support tailored to each child’s profile of reading attainments. The results indicated that the RITA support was both educationally effective and economically effective, with comparable cost effectiveness to the traditional approach when used with infant school children (6 year olds), and somewhat greater cost effectiveness when used with junior school children (8 year olds). All groups of children reacted very positively to the RITA lessons. It is suggested that computer‐assisted reading support can be effective in supporting children at risk of reading failure, even at junior school level.     

Teaching Spelling: microcomputers or small group tuition

Two groups of eight and nine year old children were given spelling practice using 25 words. One group used computer assisted learning whilst the other was given small group tuition by a teacher. Both groups achieved signficantly better results than a third (control group). There was, however, no significant difference between the gains made by the two experimental groups.     

What information handling skills are promoted by the use of data analysis software?

This paper describes an investigation of secondary school pupils using data analysis software in their science lessons. The aim of the project was to determine the nature and complexity of data analysis tasks that could be mastered by pupils aged between 13 and 14 years, through the use of data analysis software. The research project involved the study of three matched experimental and control pairs of classes of pupils analysing scientifically- based data. The findings show that pupils using computer-based software can perform a range of complex tasks, including the use of Boolean logical operators, 'and', 'greater than' and 'less than', which are more intellectually advanced than reported by other researchers. These results show that given appropriate information technology (IT)-based data analysis tools, pupils as young as 13--14 can perform such complex data analysis tasks as classifying data according to one or more criteria and then ranking data according to a different criterion. This contradicts some of the earlier research that concluded that such tasks could not be easily achieved by pupils of this age     

Educational Risk and Resilience in African-American Youth: Context, Self, Action, and Outcomes in School

This study examined the empirical validity of a model of human motivation as it applies to school success and failure in 3 independent samples of 10-to 16-year-old African-American youth. Specifically, we assessed how indicators of context, self , and action relate to measures of risk and resilient outcomes in school in 3 different samples, using 3 different measurement strategies. Correlational and path analyses on the 3 data sets supported the empirical validity of the model. African-American youth's experience of their parents' school involvement predicted a composite of self-system processes, which in turn predicted the subjects' reports of their engagement in school. Engagement then predicted school performance and adjustment. The data supported a reciprocal path from action to context, suggesting that youth who show more disaffected patterns of behavior and emotion in school experience less support from their families than those reporting more engaged patterns of action. Implications for program and policy decisions are discussed.     

Making a Difference for the Under Fives? The early implementation of Te Whaariki,the New Zealand National Early Childhood Curriculum

The New Zealand Ministry of Education is producing the final draft of Te Whaariki the national early childhood curriculum (Ministry of Education 1993). Once formalised all early childhood services will be required to demonstrate that their programmes are operating according to the Principles, Aims and Goals outlined in Te Whaariki (a Maori name meaning a mat for all to stand on). Three years ago a paper at the first Warwick International Early Years Conference outlined the rationale, framework and processes involved in the development ofTe Whaariki (Carr & May 1993c). We had been contracted by the Ministry of Education to coordinate the development of a national early childhood curriculum that firstly, would embrace a diverse range of early childhood services and cultural perspectives, secondly, would articulate a philosophy of quality early childhood practice, and thirdly would make connections with the new national curriculum for schools. Te Whaariki was released to early childhood centres on a trial basis in late 1993. Since that time there has been an official process of trialing and evaluation which has indicated a very high level of support within the early childhood community for the document. In 1994 the Government contracted a number of professional development projects to support early childhood practitioners with the document. Training programmes began reviewing the structure and rationale of the courses they provide. Margaret Carr is now undertaking a research project looking at some possibilities for the assessment for young children that relate to the Principles, Aims and Goals outlined in Te Whaariki. There are, however, many issues for centres regarding the implementation of Te Whaariki. For example, current regulatory requirements and funding levels make it difficult for centres to meet the high expectations of quality outlined in Te Whaariki, although the 1995 budget pronouncements promised some small funding increase.

This paper provides an overview of the implementation of Te Whaariki. We are mindful that other countries, have been undertaking similar kinds of development. While we see Te Whaariki as a document that is uniquely New Zealand, we have also sought, throughout the process of development and implementation, to encourage international critique and appraisal ofTe Whaariki as part of on going debates regarding the nature of early childhood curriculum in the 1990s. This paper was first presented at the second Early Years Conference at Warwick in 1996.