Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Caregivers: Results of a Statewide Study to Determine Needs and Desires for Support

Family, friend and neighbor (FFN) child caregivers represent a significant proportion of caregivers for young children. Yet, these caregivers receive little support for their services. In 2003, the First 5 California Children and Families Commission (First 5 California) began a study to determine the work-related needs of FFN caregivers in California. This paper reports on the results of all study activities, including focus groups and interviews with caregivers and parents. It details the specific needs related to licensing, materials and equipment, education and training, and support systems that were identified by FFN caregivers, parents, and other stakeholders as being important to improve the quality and working conditions of FFN care. It also discusses needs of agencies that provide services to FFN caregivers, including awareness of and knowledge about the population, funding and other resources, and professional development topics.     

Young Children's Depiction of Contrast in Human Figure Drawing: standing and walking

Children aged 4 to 10 years old were asked to draw a person standing absolutely still and a person walking very fast so that someone not present would know from the pictures alone what had been depicted. Even at four some children were able to convey the difference to a viewer and there was increasing success with age. The number of differentiating cues increased with age and there was an age‐related trend in the order in which specific cues appeared in the drawings. The ability of the children to respond flexibly to the task gives no support to notions of rigid mental representations determining what young children can draw. It is argued that contrast tasks are a useful tool for investigating problem solving skills in the domain of drawing and could be used to extend children's skill by providing an occasion for explicit dialogue about how representational information is conveyed to a viewer.     

Exploring the nature of associations between educators’ knowledge and their emergent literacy classroom practices

Reading and Writing - Educators’ content knowledge is considered a key determinant of classroom practices and thus children’s learning. In this study, we examine the nature of...     

Examining educators of the deaf as "highly qualified" teachers: roles and responsibilities under IDEA and NCLB

Educators of the deaf were long considered "highly qualified" if they obtained state licensure from approved deaf education programs. But the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) redefined qualifications based on core academic content areas, without recognizing disability-specific expertise. NCLB's reauthorization will provide opportunities for examining definitions of "highly qualified" and ensuring that both general and special educators are appropriately prepared. Under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, educators of the deaf are primarily responsible for supporting implementation of each assigned student's individualized education program. When done skillfully and knowledgeably, IEP execution maximizes learning outcomes, and therefore would support NCLB mandates for improved student achievement. Instead of academic attainment alone, the primary "qualification" of educators of the deaf should be training and expertise in providing communication, learning, and assistive technology supports that allow access to academic content and, ultimately, address deaf students' historical underachievement.     

The role of perceived support and local culture in undergraduate research mentoring by underrepresented minority faculty members: findings from a multi-institutional research collaboration

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate research is value-added experiential learning that cultivates creative and intentional learners in and out of the classroom. However, only recently have researchers begun investigating the mechanisms related to mentoring undergraduate researchers, with scant attention being paid to the experiences of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty members. Using unique data collected from an online survey of faculty members (overall N = 215, URM n = 25), we find departmental and institutional support to be the key factors correlated with mentoring undergraduate research students. Reported support is more influential for URM faculty than white faculty, providing evidence of the importance of institutional policy as a mechanism to facilitate URM faculty participation in the high impact practice of mentoring undergraduate researchers. The findings are discussed in the context of institutional initiatives designed to support student and faculty success in the 21st century.     

Inequity as a Source of the Cultural Gap in an Urban School-University Collaborative

Based on a 5-year naturalistic evaluation of an urban university-school collaborative that focused on preparing teachers for urban schools, this analysis was initiated to determine to what extent inequalities between the university and school personnel mitigated the attainment of intended outcomes. Results indicated that some positive change occurred, such as professors and teachers learning to speak the same language on instructional teams, which led to improved field experiences for students. However, cultural differences with concomitant inequities between school and university personnel prevented more permanent change. Inequities of power were inadvertently written into the proposal and were exacerbated at two levels: (1) the collaborative policy board, in which districts, due to larger representation, wielded greater power over budget and hiring in the collaborative; and (2) instructional teams where professors wielded power over several teachers with resistance from teachers. By the end of 5 years, the funded portion of the urban teacher education program that included a collaborative policy board and instructional teams had fallen mostly by the wayside. Cooperation between professors and teachers reverted to precollaborative levels with only loose coupling remaining. Preservice students continue to do field experiences in the professional development schools under supervision. The university education unit recognized the benefits, but continues to struggle with how to revive the level of cooperation that began with the urban program and to create long term partnerships that go beyond mere placement of students into the field.