Relationships between families’ use of Sure Start Children’s Centres,changes in home learning environments,and preschool behavioural disorders

UK Sure Start Children’s Centres (SSCCs) aim to lessen behavioural disorders yet we lack evidence concerning how this is achieved. This study evaluates one possible mechanism: improved home learning environments (HLEs). Data come from a longitudinal study of 2568 families and children recruited at a mean age of 14 months from 117 SSCCs in England in 2012. Behavioural disorders were measured at 38 months via the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. HLEs were measured at 14 and 38 months via parental interview. Families’ use of SSCCs was measured via parental interview at 14, 22, and 38 months. This study suggests that the use of SSCCs is associated with fewer preschool behavioural disorders via intermediate changes to the quality of HLE’s. Implications are discussed for social policies and for early years’ professionals.     

The literacy curriculum and use of an Integrated Learning System

This article describes one aspect of a year‐long study of primary level teachers’ and children’s (Grades 1‐3; children aged 6‐9 years) use of the language arts component of SuccessMaker, an Integrated Learning System (ILS). Using information gathered from teacher surveys and classroom observation, we documented areas where the curricula embedded in the ILS were congruent with teachers’ normal curricula and pedagogical practices. However, we also found numerous instances of incongruity. To illustrate our findings we use the case of phonics instruction to reveal discrepancies between normal practice and computer‐based learning. The differences in content, presentation sequence and instructional practices raise issues about the appropriate relationship between computer‐based instruction and teachers’ normal practices.     

Letter From the Editor

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Beyond the Rhetoric of Empowerment: Speak the Language, Live the Experience of the Rural Poor

Growth in rural communities, along with attendant changes in social, economic and environmental conditions, challenges members of these communities to take even more responsibility for their lives than in the past. While there is a need to promote sustainable economic prosperity, it is important that developmental approaches should not compromise the potential of citizens to meet these challenges independently. The present contribution is based on a phenomenological study that explored approaches to community development in Botswana. One of the key findings was that these were dominated by a bureaucratized welfare scheme, as the government gave free food and farming implements to poor people in an approach referred to as atlhama-o-je (‘open-your-mouth-and-eat’). The present contribution reflects on the consequences of using this type of approach, arguing that instead of bringing real hope to the rural poor, it generated counterproductive attitudes. In conclusion, the authors suggest alternative strategies that take account of the life experiences of the rural poor and render them less dependent on government intervention for their well-being.     

Drawing Conclusions from Cross-Lagged Relationships: Re-Considering the Role of the Time-Interval

The cross-lagged panel model (CLPM), a discrete-time (DT) SEM model, is frequently used to gather evidence for (reciprocal) Granger-causal relationships when lacking an experimental design. However, it is well known that CLPMs can lead to different parameter estimates depending on the time-interval of observation. Consequently, this can lead to researchers drawing conflicting conclusions regarding the sign and/or dominance of relationships. Multiple authors have suggested the use of continuous-time models to address this issue.

In this article, we demonstrate the exact circumstances under which such conflicting conclusions occur. Specifically, we show that such conflicts are only avoided in general in the case of bivariate, stable, nonoscillating, first-order systems, when comparing models with uniform time-intervals between observations. In addition, we provide a range of tools, proofs, and guidelines regarding the comparison of discrete- and continuous-time parameter estimates.     

Beyond the Rhetoric of Empowerment: Speak the Language, Live the Experience of the Rural Poor

Growth in rural communities, along with attendant changes in social, economic and environmental conditions, challenges members of these communities to take even more responsibility for their lives than in the past. While there is a need to promote sustainable economic prosperity, it is important that developmental approaches should not compromise the potential of citizens to meet these challenges independently. The present contribution is based on a phenomenological study that explored approaches to community development in Botswana. One of the key findings was that these were dominated by a bureaucratized welfare scheme, as the government gave free food and farming implements to poor people in an approach referred to as atlhama-o-je (‘open-your-mouth-and-eat’). The present contribution reflects on the consequences of using this type of approach, arguing that instead of bringing real hope to the rural poor, it generated counterproductive attitudes. In conclusion, the authors suggest alternative strategies that take account of the life experiences of the rural poor and render them less dependent on government intervention for their well-being.     

Effects of instruction on beginning reading skills in children at risk for reading disability

Children identified in kindergarten as being at risk for reading disability were taught in grades one and two using one of two methods of reading instruction, a structured phonics code-emphasis approach or an approach emphasizing use of context. At the end of first and second grade, children were tested on measures of achievement in word identification, word attack, passage comprehension and spelling. Those in the Code group earned uniformly higher scores on all achievement measures at the end of first and second grades. At the end of first grade, statistically significant differences between groups were found on nonword reading and spelling of phonetically regular words. At the end of second grade, significant differences were found in reading of polysyllabic real words and decoding of monosyllabic and polysyllabic nonsense words. It was concluded that reading instruction does have an important impact on acquisition of early reading skills, and that structured, systematic phonics instruction results in more favorable outcome than does a context emphasis approach.This research was supported by PHS Grant HD21887 to Bowman Gray School of Medicine and by PHS Grant NS19413 to UNC-Greensboro, Subcontract to Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Request for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Idalyn S. Brown, Section of Neuropsychology, Department of Neurology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, 300 South Hawthorne Road, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27103, USA.