Investigation of the Development of Pre-Academic Skills for Preschoolers in Head Start

Abstract

This study modeled the time-dependent nature of pre-academic skills development for a multi-lingual sample of 382 preschoolers attending Head Start. A two-slope latent variable model accurately described the trajectories, which included five assessment points obtained throughout the school year for both pre-literacy and pre-numeracy variables. Classroom quality and child demographic variables including age, gender, native language (Spanish or English), and disability status served as predictors of growth. Results revealed a reversal effect such that steeper growth from October to March was offset, although not completely, by less growth from March to May. Similar interaction effects were observed for predictor variables and their interaction terms across the two slopes. IEP status predicted less growth, while Spanish-language status predicted increased growth, despite the fact that both were associated with low initial achievement. The complexity of the relationship between classroom quality, native language, disability status, and pre-academic growth is discussed.     

Job Mobility and Premature Departure of Principals in Primary and Secondary Education in the Netherlands

As a result of complex school reforms the role of the principal has undergone significant changes, internationally. Consequently, a considerable number of principals leave their positions, both voluntarily and involuntarily. This article presents the findings of a study into job mobility, concentrating on involuntary or premature departure amongst principals in primary and secondary education in the Netherlands. All primary and secondary schools with job mobility over a period of three years were traced: 920 schools reported job mobility for 1009 principals. The authors then examined which part of this job mobility consisted of premature departure. For this purpose, three characteristics of job mobility were investigated: involuntariness, labour disputes and official reasons reported for job mobility. The data were also analysed for male and female principals separately.     

Research priorities for YouTube and video‐sharing technologies: A Delphi study

Online video‐sharing services, particularly YouTube, have gained an audience of billions of users including educators and scholars. While the academic literature provides some evidence that YouTube has been studied and written about, little is known about priorities for YouTube research. The study employed the Delphi method to obtain a consensus from experts about areas that are most in need of research in video‐sharing technology (particularly YouTube). An expert panel, identified from a comprehensive review of the literature, participated in a three‐round Delphi process involving two cycles of online questionnaires and feedback reports. Participants responded to the question, ‘What should be the research priorities in video‐sharing technologies (particularly YouTube) over the next 5 years?’ Seven research priority categories were identified and ranked in order of priority: (1) users, groups and communities; (2) teaching/learning; (3) social/political impact; (4) video creation/production; (5) legal/ethical; (6) media management; and (7) commercial interests.     

Piaget's theory and the teaching of arithmetic

Conclusion For centuries, education has been a folk art based on tradition and opinions called philosophies. With the advent of associationism and behaviourism, however, education began to enter a scientific era. Now that we have Piaget's constructivism—a more adequate scientific theory—it is time to change the way arithmetic is taught in elementary schools.I hope educators and researchers in other countries will also experiment in classrooms to test the hypothesis that I tested. Because logico-mathematical knowledge is universal and the same in all cultures, I expect the same kinds of results in other countries.Constructivist teaching is much harder than the teaching of algorithms and correcting of worksheets. However, in spite of this difficulty, an increasing number of teachers in the United States are becoming convinced of the truth of Piaget's constructivism. When these teachers encounter children's originality and intelligence that they have not observed before, they are truly overjoyed. Once they have seen the possibility that exists in each child, these teachers do not think of going back to their old ways of teaching.Constance Kamii studied under Jean Piaget, Barbel Inhelder and Hermina Sinclair in the late 1960s and during the 1970s and subsequently developed a pre-school curriculum based on Piaget's theory. She later extended this work to mathematics education in the first three grades and is now working at the fourth and fifth grade level. She has taught at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and the University of Geneva, and is now a professor of education at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, in the United States.I am grateful to Janice K. Ewing for critically reading a draft of this paper and making helpful suggestions.     

The university of the future: Stiegler after Derrida

Abstract

Higher education has not been spared from the effects of the disruptive aspects of technology. MOOCs, teach bots, virtual learning platforms, and Wikipedia are among technics marking a digital transformation of knowledge. The question of the university, the foundation of its authority and purpose is more than timely; it is urgent to any future philosophy of higher education. Will the university survive in the future and if so, for what purpose? We examine two philosophers, Jacques Derrida and Bernard Stiegler, who take on this challenge. Derrida, writing at ‘the scene of teaching’, proposes new humanities for a university ‘without condition’, one with increasing autonomy to democratize it further. Stiegler takes issue with him on the conditions of the university of the future. Stiegler offers not an ‘anti-Derridian discourse’ but a ‘deconstruction of a deconstruction’ of Derrida. Stiegler’s critique of Derrida on the role of the professoriate and the university of the future expand the fissure between them. In this article, we argue that Stiegler’s reading of Derrida points to the university not as an anachronistic way of knowing displaced by the digital revolution but as vital to a politics of the spirit in a democratic future.     

Using the Quality of Literacy Implementation Checklist to Improve Preschool Literacy Instruction

Despite much progress in improving the quality of preschool programs, there is still an uneven quality of instruction in early childhood settings. Providing support and professional development (PD) for teachers that is practical, systematic and sustainable is one potential avenue to increase classroom quality in preschool, including quality of literacy instruction. Preschool educators who want to focus on increasing the quality of literacy instruction need simple-to-use tools that can be implemented quickly and provide a means to assess progress towards the goal of improving literacy instruction. The Quality of Literacy Implementation checklist measures how well the teaching staff include intentional, instruction in literacy/oral language. Rather than focusing on a specific curriculum or intervention, quality of implementation focuses on the teacher’s delivery of key procedural features of evidence-based instruction. As is the case with fidelity of implementation, a quality of implementation checklist not only measures implementation but also provides a roadmap about how instruction might be modified to ensure that critical and essential skills are emphasized across the preschool day.     

Writing plan quality: Relevance to writing scores

If writing matters, how can we improve it? This study investigated the nature of writing plan quality and its relationship to the ensuing writing scores. Data were drawn from the 1998 Provincial Learning Assessment Programme (PLAP) in Writing, which was administered to pupils in Grades 4, 7, and 10 across British Columbia, Canada. Common features of writing quality were qualitatively identified in a sample of writing plans across the three grade levels. An analytic scoring scheme based on (i) identified features of writing quality in writing plans, (ii) evaluative terms commonly used as criteria to measure writing performance in both large-scale and classroom assessments, and (iii) theory and research in writing, was developed and used to assess a sample of 1,797 writing plans. Correlation and regression analyses were used to determine relationships between quality of writing plans and writing scores. Evidence of features of writing quality in writing plans was associated with higher writing scores. Identification of features of writing plan quality provides valuable instructional information to promote student writing.     

Place-Based Stewardship Education: Nurturing Aspirations to Protect the Rural Commons

In this mixed-methods study, we examine the potential of place-based stewardship education (PBSE) for nurturing rural students’ community attachment and aspirations to contribute to the preservation of the environmental “commons.” Analyzing pre- and post-experience surveys (n = 240) and open-ended responses (n = 275) collected from middle school students in a Northeast Michigan school district, we found significant increases in students’ environmental sensitivity, environmentally responsible behaviors, community attachment, and confidence in their capacities for civic action. Analyses of open-ended responses pointed to the potential of PBSE to nurture students’ identification with their community and to increase their commitment to stewardship of their community's natural resources. This study makes a unique contribution to the literature on rural schools by focusing on the environmental commons and younger generations’ commitments to preserve it as an asset of rural communities. By linking students’ learning with collective action to preserve the environmental commons, PBSE can expand students’ aspirations for the kind of world they want to live in and the roles they might play in it.     

In the service of children: An open letter to global educators an editorial

The “art of service” is a natural part of human development in a world community.