Parent perspectives on student IEP involvement

As key members of the Individualised Education Program (IEP) team and strong child advocates, parents play a critical role in special education. In this study, we sought to understand a crucial, yet underexamined, aspect of special education – parent perceptions regarding student participation in IEP development. Specifically, we asked parents how schools could better support student involvement in the IEP process, including IEP meetings. Participants included 646 parents of students with disabilities aged 5–21 years currently receiving special education services across the United States. Constant comparative analysis was used to code data. Qualitative coding revealed four major themes, including: (1) promoting an active student role, (2) supportive school staff, (3) making changes to IEP meetings and (4) considerations and concerns regarding student participation. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.     

Engaging in Interactive Book Reading: Experiences of Refugee Mother–Child Dyads

Early Childhood Education Journal - Interactive book reading is an active practice that aims to stimulate children’s language and literacy development. The interactions that take place during...     

Immigrant families’ use of early childcare: Predictors of care type

Early care and education (ECE) settings are important developmental contexts for young children, with nearly half of all U.S. children experiencing non-parental care during infancy and toddlerhood. However, there is little research examining patterns and predictors of ECE selection among immigrant families even though children of immigrants represent the fastest growing population in the U.S. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (N ≈ 10,700), including a diverse group of children with immigrant parents (N ≈ 2950), this study aims to fill gaps in the literature by examining predictors of the type of ECE (parent, relative, home-based, or center-based) children experience during infancy and toddlerhood (children aged 7–38 months). It examines how immigrant, family, child, and contextual characteristics predict ECE selection within immigrant families and whether these correlates of ECE selection differ across native and immigrant families. Results show distinct patterns of infant and toddler ECE related to immigrant status, particularly when it came to socioeconomic advantage predicting increased relative care for children of immigrants but not native families. Furthermore, several immigrant-specific characteristics, including region of origin, English proficiency, and availability of non-English ECE options, were associated with immigrant families’ ECE choices for their infants and toddlers.     

The effects of school social mix: unpacking the differences

Whether school composition makes a difference for student outcomes has been the subject of much controversy. This article draws on Growing Up in Ireland data, a rich source of information on nine-year-old children along with the characteristics of their school and classroom teacher. In contrast to many studies which rely on a single measure of social background, the use of a range of measures (including social class, parental education and income) allows us to provide precise estimates of differences in performance between schools designated as disadvantaged and other schools. The analyses also provide new insights into the processes underlying such differences. Only the most disadvantaged schools, those in Urban Band 1, are found to have a contextual effect for both reading and mathematics. This achievement gap is found to reflect differences in teacher experience and turnover, the concentration of additional learning needs, absenteeism levels and children's engagement in school.     

Parenting Practices in Preschool Leading to Later Cognitive Competence: A Family Stress Model

Research Findings: This study investigates the effect of the early home environment on self-regulation in preschoolers, and how self-regulation relates to later school achievement, while taking into account family resources. Participants were part of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Our model tested paths from family income and maternal depression through parenting to dyadic and child outcomes, including attachment, self-regulation, and child cognitive outcomes in the 1st grade. Findings indicated that family income and maternal depression had a substantial effect on parenting practices. Children whose parents did not display negative affect toward them during episodes of depression were more likely to maintain healthy attachment styles. Parenting, which was directly affected by family income, was the most important predictor of children's cognitive development. Practice or Policy: Regarding implications for practice, this research indicates that parents who provide a safe and stimulating environment for their children, despite limited financial resources or mental health issues, are more likely to have children who are prepared for school. School counselors, child care administrators, and policymakers should be aware of the importance of parenting to school success and should provide opportunities for parent education and involvement during the first years of life.     

Promoting resilience in schools: a view from occupational health psychology

This paper considers teacher resilience from the viewpoint of a discipline concerned with the interactions between work design, management style and employee health and well-being: occupational health psychology. It will be suggested that there are strong parallels between interventions designed to promote resilience and those designed to reduce work-related stress. The imperative for the latter type of intervention arises from a significant evidence base, summarised in many research studies and reviews of the scientific literature. In making this argument, this paper draws upon four sources of information: (i) the experience of employers outside the education sector in resilience building, (ii) the influence of work design and line manager behaviour on employee well-being, (iii) current British government advice to employers about reducing stress and (iv) an illustrative case study. It is argued that although robust evidence as to the effectiveness of resilience interventions in the education sector is still lacking, experience from other sectors suggest that schools might nurture resilience by improving work design and by providing appropriate training for employees and their line managers.     

‘It's like Spiderman … with great power comes great responsibility’: school autonomy,school context and the audit culture

This paper explores issues of school autonomy within the context of the performative demands of the audit culture. The focus is on a case study of Clementine Academy, a large and highly diverse English secondary school. Specific situated, professional, material and external factors at the school were significant in shaping Clementine's response to and take-up of the policy of academisation (a key reform within broader government mandates to create an increasingly autonomised education system). Factors such as the school's intake and history, its ethos and values, its access to human and economic resources and its status and power as an outstanding school supported its confident and ‘morally’ focused take-up of this policy. Clementine's privileged position in relation to these factors enabled the school to mediate and challenge some of the negative effects of the audit culture. This paper highlights the significance of considering these contextual factors in understanding the different ways in which schools are currently engaging their autonomy to cope with the demands of the audit culture.     

On the school beat: police officers based in English schools

Concerns about youth violence and the radicalisation of pupils have contributed to the deployment of onsite police officers in schools in England. Little is known about the work these officers do. This article firstly outlines the policy background that led to police in schools, and then, with a focus on the schools in London that have onsite officers, data obtained from a Freedom of Information request are combined with school characteristics data to show that officers are more likely to be based in schools with high levels of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Foucault’s work on surveillance is explored in theorising police presence on school sites. The relevance of Agamben’s State of Exception is examined in relation to the school-to-prison pipeline in the United States. The article highlights the need for more empirical work in schools to research the impact of onsite police.     

The accountability generation: exploring an emerging leadership paradigm for beginning principals

School leaders in Queensland, Australia, are working in a rapidly shifting policy landscape, expected to work towards system-defined improvement measures involving increasingly higher external accountabilities. This article analyses a group of long-term case studies of the effects of school improvement expectations on principals since the introduction of National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in 2008. Foucauldian theory is used to analyse the influence of performative cultures on a group of Queensland principals. A unique feature of this geographical region is the large proportion of small-school principals, the majority of whom are in the early stages of their teaching careers. Having joined the teaching profession post-NAPLAN, the influence of these accountabilities emerges as a point of difference between them and longer-established principals. The article identifies the emergence of this new leadership paradigm as an area inviting further inquiry within the field of educational leadership research, exploring the influence of rapidly shifting expectations on leadership practices.