A Partnered Approach to School Change in a Rural Community: Reflections and Recommendations

With so many education policies and practices made at the local level, community-based foundations are in a unique position to support their local school districts in taking a comprehensive, systematic approach to improving the lives of young people. This article describes a research–practice partnership designed to produce school improvement in a rural community in western Virginia and reflects on a three-year collaboration among The Alleghany Foundation, two school districts, and the University of Virginia. The partners identified challenges and strengths within the school districts and the community; gathered and analyzed existing district data and new findings from interviews and surveys of stakeholders; identified problems and promising programs to address them; and developed and communicated a plan for action. Now, the schools, working with the foundation and the community, are implementing that plan. The collaboration provided clear evidence that sustained change will occur only if it aligns with the goals of school leaders and fully engages members of the community, and it sheds light on the unique challenges and strengths present in a small rural community that will influence foundation work. The process also produced five recommendations for foundations that seek a partnered approach to school change

Evidence-Based Teaching : Effective Teaching Practices in Primary School Classrooms

Even after spending five to six years sitting in a classroom almost every day for anywhere between four to seven hours, a significant share of students in low- and middle-income countries are still not able to read, write, or do basic arithmetic. What explains this “learning crisis?” A growing body of evidence suggests that poor teaching practices and little to no learning inside the classroom are the main culprits. As such, the learning crisis reflects a teaching crisis. So what can teachers do inside the classroom to tackle these joint crises? This paper systematizes the evidence regarding effective teaching practices in primary school classrooms, with special focus on evidence from low- and middle-income countries. By doing so, the paper provides the theoretical and empirical foundations for the content of the newly developed Teach classroom observation tool. Implications for teacher education and evaluation are also discussed

A Validation Study of the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale With Urban Hispanic and African American Preschool Children

The development of culturally and linguistically appropriate measurement is necessary to enable accurate assessment of preschool children’s interpersonal competence and behavioral difficulties. This need is most pressing for children from Hispanic backgrounds, who currently represent the fastest growing population of U.S. children. The present study investigated the psychometric properties of a Spanish and English version of the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale (PIPPS; Fantuzzo et al., 1995) when employed with Spanish- and English-speaking teachers and students in an urban, Southeastern community. Psychometrically sound structures were obtained with the Spanish translation of the PIPPS in support of the three original dimensions named Play Interaction, Play Disruption, and Play Disconnection, which were derived from studies of African American preschool children in lower income, Northeastern communities. Concurrent validity was supported by significant correlationsbetween the three Spanish PIPPS constructs and teacher ratings of externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Significant group differences in class-room peer play interactions were also detected for children’s gender and ethnicity. The independent emergence of comparable Spanish and English PIPPS factor structures across two distinct regional samples provides initial support for use of this measure in research with Hispanic preschool children from low-income backgrounds. Implications for school psychologists engaging in outreach to preschool programs servicing diverse groups of children are discussed, including the generalizability of interactive peer play constructs for preschool children across racial, ethnic, linguistic, and geographic back-grounds

An investigation of the impact of young children's self-knowledge of trustworthiness on school adjustment: a test of the realistic self-knowledge and positive illusion models

The study aimed to examine the relationship between self-knowledge of trustworthiness and young children’s school adjustment. One hundred and seventy-three (84 male and 89 female) children from school years 1 and 2 in the United Kingdom (mean age 6 years 2 months) were tested twice over one year. Children’s trustworthiness was assessed using: (a) self-report at Time 1 and Time 2, (b) peers’ reports at Time 1 and Time 2, and (c) teacher-reports at Time 2. School adjustment was assessed by child-rated school-liking and the Short-Form Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment. Longitudinal quadratic relationships were found between school adjustment and children’s self-knowledge, using peer-reported trustworthiness as a reference: more accurate self-knowledge of trustworthiness predicted increases in school adjustment. Comparable concurrent quadratic relationships were found between teacher-rated school adjustment and children’s self-knowledge, using teacher-reported trustworthiness as a reference, at Time 2. The findings support the conclusion that young children’s psychosocial adjustment is best accounted for by the realistic self-knowledge model (Colvin & Block, 1994)

Tune in to your emotions: a robust personalized affective music player

The emotional power of music is exploited in a personalized affective music player (AMP) that selects music for mood enhancement. A biosignal approach is used to measure listeners’ personal emotional reactions to their own music as input for affective user models. Regression and kernel density estimation are applied to model the physiological changes the music elicits. Using these models, personalized music selections based on an affective goal state can be made. The AMP was validated in real-world trials over the course of several weeks. Results show that our models can cope with noisy situations and handle large inter-individual differences in the music domain. The AMP augments music listening where its techniques enable automated affect guidance. Our approach provides valuable insights for affective computing and user modeling, for which the AMP is a suitable carrier application

University lecturers' perspectives on initial teacher education for mental health promotion in schools

Copyright ©2017 Sense Publishers Reproduced with permission of the publisher

Fine Motor Skills and Executive Function Both Contribute to Kindergarten Achievement

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92367/1/j.1467-8624.2012.01768.x.pd

Teacher–Child Interactions in Chile and Their Associations With Prekindergarten Outcomes

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111791/1/cdev12342.pd

Reconstructing readiness: Young children’s priorities for their early school adjustment

Young children in communities facing socioeconomic disadvantage are increasingly targeted by school readiness interventions. Interventions are stronger if they address stakeholders’ priorities, yet children’s priorities for early school adjustment are rarely accounted for in intervention design including selection of outcome measures. The Children’s Thoughts about School Study (CTSS) examined young children’s accounts of their early school experiences, and their descriptions of what a new school starter would need to know. Mixed-method interviews were conducted with 42 kindergarten children in a socioeconomically deprived suburb of Dublin, Ireland. First, inductive thematic analysis identified 25 priorities across four domains: feeling able and enthusiastic for school; navigating friendships and victimisation; supportive environments with opportunities to play; bridging school and family life. Second, deductive analysis compared children’s priorities at item level against a school readiness outcome battery. Children’s priorities were assigned to three groups: (1) assessed by outcome measures (core academic competencies, aspects of self regulation); (2) partially assessed (self-efficacy, social skills for friendship formation and avoiding victimisation, creative thinking, play); and (3) not assessed by outcome measures (school liking, school environment, family school involvement). This analysis derived from children’s own perspectives suggests that readiness interventions aiming to support early school adjustment would benefit from considering factors children consider salient. It offers recommendations for advancing conceptual frameworks, improving assessment, and identifying new targets for supporting children and schools. In doing so we provide a platform for children’s priorities to be integrated into the policies and practices that shape their early lives

Deepening the transition between childhood education and primary education: the perspective of families and teachers

Resumen: El trabajo pretende conocer la perspectiva mantenida por familias y profesorado en relación con diferentes elementos del proceso de transición entre Educación Infantil y Educación Primaria: su importancia o trascendencia, los cambios que se producen y los desafíos a los que se enfrentan los pequeños, así como los mecanismos y actuaciones implementados por los centros para favorecerlo. 460 familias y profesores participaron en el estudio cumplimentando un cuestionario. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto la existencia de una brecha importante de pensamiento entre familias y profesorado en torno a la importancia y la trascendencia concedida a las transiciones que se viven en la primera infancia, a pesar de encontrar también otros aspectos convergentes. Teniendo en cuenta dichos hallazgos se anima a la generación de programas de transición educativa adaptados a las necesidades y demandas de cada centro escolar, que favorezcan la participación de todas las personas implicadas en este importante proceso.Abtract: The work aims to know the perspective maintained by families and teachers in relation to different elements of the transition process between Childhood Education and Primary Education: its importance or transcendence, the changes that occur and the challenges faced by the children, as well as the mechanisms and actions implemented by the centers to encourage it. 460 families and professors participated in the study completing a questionnaire. The results show the existence of a significant gap in thinking about the importance and transcendence given to the transitions that are experienced in early childhood between families and teachers despite also finding other aspects converging. Considering these findings, the generation of educational transition programs adapted to the needs and demands of each school which encourage the participation of all the people involved in this important process