Impacts of a Comprehensive School Readiness Curriculum for Preschool Children at Risk for Educational Difficulties

This article reports findings from a cluster‐randomized study of an integrated literacy‐ and math‐focused preschool curriculum, comparing versions with and without an explicit socioemotional lesson component to a business‐as‐usual condition. Participants included 110 classroom teachers from randomized classrooms and approximately eight students from each classroom (N = 760) who averaged 4.48 (SD = 0.44) years of age at the start of the school year. There were positive impacts of the two versions of the curriculum on language, phonological awareness, math, and socioemotional outcomes, but there were no added benefits to academic or socioemotional outcomes for the children receiving explicit socioemotional instruction. Results are discussed with relevance to early childhood theory, policy, and goals of closing the school readiness gap.     

The Impacts of COVID-19 on Early Childhood Education: Capturing the Unique Challenges Associated with Remote Teaching and Learning in K-2

Early Childhood Education Journal - Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools across North America closed to in person learning in March 2020. Since then, it has become increasingly clear that physical...     

Modifying the System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time to Measure Teacher Practices Related to Physical Activity Promotion: SOFIT+

The System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT) is commonly used to measure variables related to physical activity during physical education (PE). However, SOFIT does not yield detailed information about teacher practices related to children’s moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). This study describes the modification of SOFIT (referred to as SOFIT+) to measure teacher practices related to students’ MVPA during PE lessons. Teacher practices that (a) promote and (b) limit children’s MVPA were identified and operationally defined via a literature review and Delphi Method. Reliability and validity data for SOFIT+ were obtained from 20 video recorded elementary PE lessons. Validity of teacher behaviors included in SOFIT+ was established using students’ accelerometer-derived MVPA. Twenty-seven teacher practices were identified. Inter-rater agreement ranged from 75.8% to 99.1% across 724 reliability scans. Six and seven practices were independently related to girls’ and boys’ MVPA, respectively. For example, during elimination activities, boys and girls were less likely to engage in MVPA. Boys were up to 1.51 times more likely to engage in MVPA while girls were up to 2.86 times more likely to engage in MVPA when a greater number of teacher practices were observed concurrently. Findings provide preliminary reliability and validity for SOFIT+, an instrument to comprehensively measure teacher practices related to children’s MVPA during PE.     

The global teaching profession: how treating teachers as knowledge workers improves the esteem of the teaching profession

To better understand the status of the teaching profession, we present a conceptual framework outlining the 4 domains of knowledge-worker professionals: professional benchmarks, professional discretion, room for promotion, and workplace conditions and use the TALIS 2013 survey data to show that these domains exist globally and vary within countries. Across more than 30 school systems, we address the question: To what extent does the level and type of professionalism afforded to individual teachers shape their perceptions of the esteem of their profession? The strongest domain traits that correlate with feeling valued as a teacher are teachers’ satisfaction with their working conditions, involvement in school decision making, and the chance to be recognized for good work. This framework shapes an actionable set of concepts that policymakers can use to address attraction and retention to the profession system-wide and that school leaders can use to improve working conditions in their own schools.     

Bringing Content into the Picture: Proposing a Tri-Partite Model for Digital Preservation

Digital preservation is a complex field that is rapidly maturing and increasingly focusing on content as well as the human element of digital preservation. This conceptual article examines a number of digital preservation models meeting a variety of needs created by different communities. Given the guidance these models have afforded digital preservation, considering the present, and looking to the future, this article proposes a tri-partite model for thinking about digital preservation in an era of robust community involvement: the Digital Preservation Triad. The Triad focuses on 1) Management, including elements relating to documentation and human resources; 2) Technology; and 3) Content.     

“If there are no records,there is no narrative”: the social justice impact of records of Scottish care-leavers

In 2004, the Scottish Parliament commissioned an independent review of abuse in children’s residential establishments between 1950 and 1995. In 2007, the review’s findings were published in a report entitled Historical Abuse Systemic Review: Residential Schools and Children’s Homes in Scotland 1950 to 1995, also known as the Shaw Report. In this article, the Shaw Report provides the jumping off point for a case study of the social justice impact of records. Drawing on secondary literature, interviews, and care-related records, the study identifies narratives that speak to the social justice impact of care records on care-leavers seeking access to them; it also assesses the potential of the surviving administrative records to serve as a foundation on which to construct historical narratives that speak more generally to the experience of children in residential care.     

Aspirational Reflections: The Future of Sport History

Abstract

This article provides a scrambled form of SWOT analysis of the ideas contained in the various contributions to this special issue on sport historians and the field of sport history. The market for sport history, pure and simple, is not in good shape in many places. Yet we must be careful not to confuse trends in employment prospects with shorter term fluctuations in demand. Nor should we conflate national issues with the international situation. One thing is certain: worldwide academia is expanding; surely, there must be opportunities somewhere for sport history. Sport historians may have to be prepared to move geographically or to get a job. Nonetheless, the field of sport history also has many strengths highlighted, and opportunities abound for collaborations, public engagement, and supporting our fellow sport historians across the globe. Instead of allowing the external threats and weaknesses to continue to grow, sport historians should draw on the encouraging aspects contained herein and take advantage of our field’s strengths and opportunities to develop new and creative initiatives which demonstrate the vibrancy and breadth of sport history.