Developing a comprehensive model of risk and protective factors that can predict spelling at age seven: findings from a community sample of Victorian children

The paper reports on a study designed to develop a risk model that can best predict single-word spelling in seven-year-old children when they were aged 4 and 5. Test measures, personal characteristics and environmental influences were all considered as variables from a community sample of 971 children. Strong concurrent correlations were found between single-word spelling and single-word reading while expressive language and, to a lesser extent, receptive language were less strongly correlated. Predictors of single-word spelling at ages 4 and 5 were dominated by child-related factors such as letter knowledge, a history of speech impairment and expressive language along with maternal word reading ability. Based on the strength of the predictive factors identified at both age 4 and 5, our results provide initial support for using a targeted model for screening pre-schoolers at risk of not mastering spelling in a timely manner.     

“Things your history teacher won't teach you: Science edition”: Black women science teachers as anti-racist teachers

Marginalized communities cannot and do not have decontextualized experiences with how socioscientific issues, such as exposure to COVID-19 as frontline essential workers, high Black infant mortality rates, air pollution leading to respiratory problems, and other issues, affect their communities. As PreK-12 science teachers and teacher educators strive to dismantle oppressive practices in their classrooms and curriculum, it would be helpful to learn from Black women science teachers who have been engaging in anti-racist practices before the racial awakenings of Summer 2020. In this study, three different virtual focus groups, or Sista Circles, were conducted with 18 Black women secondary science teachers. Ranging from 1 to 22 years of experience, Black women teachers across the country and international participants in Canada and Qatar participated in the Sista Circles. From intersectional qualitative analysis and narrative inquiry, the findings of the study reveal that Black women science teachers enact anti-racist science teaching by bringing something new to the community; using NGSS standards within the context of the community; teaching at the intersection of history, culture, and science learning and teaching; and building critical consciousness in the science classroom. Furthermore, the findings of the study have implications for the use of anti-racist frameworks within the context of science education that were authentically the practices of the Black women in the study. This study offers insights into how the critical consciousness of Black women teachers can be represented in the science classroom even in times of nonsupport from peers and administration. The power and necessity of Black women teachers are paramount in science classrooms specifically because of the neutral, apolitical ways science teaching has been approached in the past. The narratives and stories shared here exemplify how Black women science teachers transform science teaching and learning by displaying various acts of Criticality.     

Poverty,family resources and children's early educational attainment: The mediating role of parenting

This study uses longitudinal data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study to show the extent to which episodic and more persistent poverty in early childhood and the lack of other family resources disadvantage children at the start of their school careers in terms of whether they have achieved the target indicator of ‘good level of achievement’ on the Foundation Stage Profile. Positive parenting is shown to be an important contributor to school achievement that matters for children, regardless of poverty experience or family disadvantage. It is also shown to be an important mediator in redressing the effects of poverty and disadvantage.     

Theoretically and Practically Speaking,What is Needed in Diversity and Equity in Science Teaching and Learning?

This article discusses how issues of diversity and equity are addressed in the preparation of science teachers who are charged with teaching diverse students in schools. Highlighting examples from my own teaching and research and other studies in education, I frame this article in terms of a broad application of theory in science teacher preparation to classroom practices in order to address science achievement and equity for diverse students. I also discuss the relevance of my argument for in-service professional development.     

Toward the mark of empowering policies in elementary school science programs and teacher professional development

In this commentary, I discuss how policy initiatives play out in two different contexts for elementary school teachers yet produce very similar outcomes regarding teachers’ professional development and school science learning for elementary students. Ironically, the outcomes that we want see in elementary school science learning and professional development are not realized when policies are introduced that distract from practices that were working prior to new reforms.     

The impact of colonial and postcolonial Ghanaian language policies on vernacular use in schools in two northern Ghanaian communities

Many ‘alternative primary education’ programmes operating in the developing parts of the world use children’s first language as the medium of instruction. Programme sponsors often base their vernacular language policy on literature that highlights the cognitive and other benefits that accrue from using children’s first languages as the medium of instruction during their early stages in school. Working within a postcolonial discursive framework the paper examines the attitudes of community members, parents, school authorities and schoolchildren toward the use of the vernacular as a medium of instruction in the Shepherd School Programme, an alternative primary education programme, that has been implemented to provide improved educational access for schoolchildren in seven rural northern Ghanaian agri‐pastoral communities.     

Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Development of Self-Efficacy and Confidence to Teach Science: A Case Study

This study examines the self-efficacy of one preservice elementary school teacher (Kasey) during and after her participation in Science in Childhood Education—a 16-week, elementary preservice science methods course. The case study of this teacher is situated in the context of the class as a whole. This is accomplished through interviewing the one teacher and examining artifacts and observations of the entire class. The results of these experiences are studied to determine what changes have taken place in the participants’ self-efficacy in science teaching as well as the one preservice teacher in greater detail. Because self efficacy is influential to student learning, the results of this study have significant implications for the design of elementary teacher education programs and the support of elementary teachers in teaching science.