We Look More, Listen More, Notice More: Impact of Sustained Professional Development on Head Start Teachers�� Inquiry-Based and Culturally-Relevant Science Teaching Practices

Despite many scholars?? recommendations, science is often avoided during early childhood education. Among the reasons provided by early childhood teachers for the exclusion of science from their daily routines included science anxiety, low self-efficacy with respect to teaching science, lack of experience participating in science activities as students, or the notion that literacy and language are more important during the early years. In minority populations the problem is even greater due to identification of science with the ??culture of. This article presents results from Ah Neen Dush, a sustained and transformative professional development program for Head Start teachers on an American Indian Reservation. The goal of the program is to support early childhood teachers in developing inquiry-based and culturally-relevant teaching practices. Through analysis of teachers?? classroom practices, surveys and interviews, we explore changes in teachers?? attitudes toward science and inquiry-based practices. Classroom observations were conducted using CLASS (Classroom assessment Scoring System), a tool used to evaluate the quality of classroom interactions. After 1 year of professional development teachers?? attitudes were found to improve and after 2 years teachers classroom practices were more inquiry-based with statistically significant increases in CLASS observation scores.     

Teacher evaluation and school improvement: An analysis of the evidence

In recent years, substantial investments have been made in reengineering systems of teacher evaluation. The new generation models of teacher evaluation typically adopt a standards-based view of teaching quality and include a value-added measure of growth in student learning. With more than a decade of experience and research, it is timely to assess empirical evidence bearing on the efficacy of this school improvement strategy. This paper examines the new generation of teacher evaluation along three lines of analysis: evidence on the magnitude, consistency, and stability of teacher effects on student learning, evidence on the impact of teacher evaluation on growth in student learning, and literature from the sociology of organizations on how schools function. Although the trend towards focusing on teacher evaluation is increasingly evident internationally, most of the empirical research evaluated in this paper is from the USA. This critical evaluation of the empirical literature yields two key conclusions. First, we conclude that the policy logic supporting this reform remains considerably stronger than the empirical evidence. Second, we suggest that alternative improvement strategies may yield more positive results and at a lower cost in terms of staff time and district funds.     

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Questionnaire and Adult Attachment Interview (AAI): Implications for parent child relationships

Although Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are linked to increased health problems and risk behaviors in adulthood, there are no studies on the association between ACEs and adults’ states of mind regarding their early childhood attachments, loss, and trauma experiences. To validate the ACEs questions, we analyzed the association between ACEs and emotional support indicators and Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) classifications in terms of unresolved mourning regarding past loss or trauma and discordant states of mind in cannot classify (U/CC) interviews. Seventy-five urban women (41 clinical and 34 community) completed a questionnaire on ACEs, which included 10 categories of abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction, in addition to emotional support. Internal psychological processes or states of mind concerning attachment were assessed using the AAI. ACE responses were internally consistent (Cronbach's α = .88). In the clinical sample, 84% reported ≥ 4 ACEs compared to 27% among the community sample. AAIs judged U/CC occurred in 76% of the clinical sample compared to 9% in the community sample. When ACEs were ≥ 4, 65% of AAIs were classified U/CC. Absence of emotional support in the ACEs questionnaire was associated with 72% of AAIs being classified U/CC. As the number of ACEs and the lack of emotional support increases so too does the probability of AAIs being classified as U/CC. Findings provide rationale for including ACEs questions in pediatric screening protocols to identify and offer treatment reducing the intergenerational transmission of risk associated with problematic parenting.     

When We Inquire Into Our Own Practice: An Early Childhood Teacher Research Group

Every day, early childhood teachers confront issues, problems, and concerns in their classrooms. Sometimes they do nothing. Sometimes they use trial and error. Sometimes they go to a workshop or read an article. We have found a way to intentionally and systematically research and answer our own questions and to enrich our own professional development through teacher research. Teacher research provides early childhood educators with a strategy that supports reflective thinking and practice. This article describes the experience of a small group of early childhood teacher researchers. How is it different from other required assessments? How is it different from other professional development?     

Exercise training and impaired glucose tolerance in obese humans

Abstract

Individuals with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) are at greater risk of developing diabetes than in normoglycaemia. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of 12-weeks exercise training in obese humans with IGT. Eleven participants (6 males and 5 females; 49±9 years; mean Body Mass Index (BMI) 32.4 kg · m^?2), completed a 12-week brisk walking intervention (30 min per day, five days a week (d · wk^?1), at 65% of age-predicted maximal heart rate (HR_max). Anthropometric measurements, dietary intake, pulse wave velocity (PWV, to determine arterial stiffness) and blood pressure (BP) were examined at baseline and post intervention. Fasting blood glucose, glycosylated haemoglobin, insulin, blood lipids, indices of oxidative stress and inflammation (lipid hydroperoxides; superoxide dismutase; multimeric adiponectin concentration and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein) were also determined. Post intervention, PWV (9.08±1.27 m · s^?1 vs. 8.39±1.21 m · s^?1), systolic BP (145.4±14.5 vs. 135.8±14.9 mmHg), triglycerides (1.52±0.53 mmol ^. L^?1 vs. 1.31±0.54 mmol ^. L^?1), lipid hydroperoxides (1.20±0.47 μM · L^?1 vs. 0.79±0.32 μM · L^?1) and anthropometric measures decreased significantly (P < 0.05). Moderate intensity exercise training improves upper limb vascular function in obese humans with IGT, possibly by improving triglyceride metabolism, which may subsequently reduce oxidative stress. These changes were independent of multimeric adiponectin modification and alterations in other blood biomarkers.     

Protecting seriously mistreated children: time delays in a court sample.

The study examined the progress through the child protective system of a sample of 206 severely abused and/or neglected children brought before the Boston Juvenile Court (BJC) on Care and Protection (C & P) petitions. Overall, children were in the system an average of 5 years from the filing of the first official report of mistreatment to the resolution of their cases. The families had been known to the state child protective service agency for an average of more than 2.5 years before the current court involvement. Once arraigned in juvenile court on the C & P, the average case took almost 1.5 years to reach a disposition. After disposition, children permanently removed from parental custody required, on average, an additional year and a half in Probate Court to reach a permanent placement. Of the more than twenty variables examined, including severity of mistreatment, protective service history, and parental mental illness, no meaningful pattern emerged which could predict delays. Our findings characterize the delays experienced by many abused and neglected children, and highlight the necessity of closer monitoring of the progress of cases through the protective and court systems.     

Social interaction and language use in Irish infant classrooms in the context of the revised Irish Primary School Curriculum (1999)

This article concerns the gap between government intention and classroom outcome. The author examines the treatment of spoken language in the Revised Irish Curriculum, which came into effect in 1999. He finds much to be commended in the recognition of its central role in learning. He then examines the implementation of this curriculum with children of 5 to 6 years, in fifteen Senior Infant classrooms. Extensive observations and interviews lead him to the view that pupil talk is still seen by most of the teachers observed as a distraction from the essential business of education, namely listening, reading and writing. The interviews revealed that these teachers did not seem to understand the important role of dialogue and discussion in developing learning or recognize the need to promote sustematically opportunities for oral interactions. He concludes that educational change cannot be achieved simply by producing new curriculum statements.