Language: English

ISSN: 0519-0959

Language: English

Published: Buffalo, New York, 1977

Language: English

Published: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1970

Language: German

Published: Berlin, Germany, 1961

Abstract/Notes: Within the last decade, the pressures of implementing state mandated early learning guidelines and meeting the requirements from federal, state and local agencies, have taken their toll on many preschool programs. In the present study, preschool programs were given a chance to voice their opinions about how curriculum standards and other external mandates were directly and indirectly influencing curriculum planning, teaching practices, and child activity. A brief survey was sent to 90 preschool directors in a region in Massachusetts, 28 directors completed this survey. A sample of nine directors, from the survey respondents, volunteered to be interviewed. In two separate interviews the researcher asked a series of questions to obtain data from the participants. These interview questions focused on how the participants made sense of the mandatory integration of early learning standards and other external mandates into their preschool program and their concerns based on their role as a preschool director. The results of the study revealed that external guidelines set forth by the state and federal government were a great concern to the preschool directors. These directors agreed that curriculum mandates were necessary yet the amount of work, time and expenditure needed to meet the demands of these mandates could be quite overwhelming. Concerns were particularly relevant in the areas of obtaining or maintaining NAEYC accreditation and the push for a standardized curriculum and/or a standardized assessment tool. To recieve specific types of funding, a program must be using a standardized assessment tool. Many funding sources also require that a program be accredited by NAEYC. The financial and physical expense of both of these requirements was prohibitive . The results were analyzed with respect to child development and early childhood education principles. The findings indicated that curriculum mandates focused primarily on young children’s cognitive development to the detriment of social and emotional competence. The findings also indicated that children were being pressured to spend more time on narrow academic skills and less time on play. Yet play has been found to provide children with opportunities to interact socially, express and control emotions, and develop symbolic thinking skills (Nicolopoulou, 2010).

Language: English

Published: Amherst, Massachusetts, 2011

Language: English

Published: Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 1969

Abstract/Notes: Early childhood education has been shown to positively impact future academic performance, as well as social and emotional development. With ever-increasing demands being placed on children's academic performances, school readiness has become a key component of academic success. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to examine the effectiveness of different early childhood curriculum models in preparing children for kindergarten, and to investigate whether one early childhood curriculum model better prepares students than another. The theoretical framework for the study is based on the developmental constructivist theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, Erikson, and Dewey. Kindergarten teachers assessed school readiness by administering the Kindergarten Observation Form. Each student had matriculated from either Montessori, High/Scope, or Reggio Emilia programs or early childhood programs without an identified curriculum model. Kindergarten teachers rated students on 24 items related to areas of cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development. ANOVA and post-hoc tests revealed that students matriculating from programs without an identified curriculum model scored significantly better than their counterparts, F (3,122) = 5.33, p = .002. Implications for social change include improved kindergarten readiness on the part of students, increased awareness by educators as to best practices in early childhood education, and, a move towards understanding the types of environments in which children learn best.

Language: English

Published: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2012

Abstract/Notes: School readiness is an important concern for parents and teachers because it is a multifaceted process which encompasses all the developmental areas and various skills of children rather than only focusing on cognitive and literacy skills. In particular, preschool and first grade teachers experience the positive and negative sides of the process of school readiness. In this study, basic qualitative research was used to compare teachers' views about school readiness. The participants were 35 preschool and 35 first grade teachers and a semi-structured interview protocol developed by the researchers was used to collect data. Qualitative analysis was performed at the end of the study and according to the findings, the following five main themes were determined: definition of school readiness, the effective people and institutions in the school readiness process, preschool education for school readiness, the difficulties encountered in the school readiness process and suggestions for effective school readiness. Also, the findings showed that preschool and first grade teachers tended to have similar views related school readiness.

Language: English

ISSN: 1303-0485

Abstract/Notes: In order to address perceived problems of readiness for kindergarten it is important to know more about the effect of preschool attendance on improving the literacy skills of phonological awareness. The purpose of the study was to explore the possible effects of belonging to a particular ethnic group, attending preschool, belonging to varying socioeconomic groups, and belonging to a group classified as English as a second language on academic progress in phonological awareness. The data set included 134 children who attended kindergarten in the 2000-2001 school year. The children belonged to one of four preschool cohorts: those who attended a preschool using the High/Scope curriculum, a Montessori preschool program, a Head Start preschool program, and children who had not attended preschool of any kind, including summer preschool. Variables included the seven subtests from the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) for the fall and spring of kindergarten, ethnicity, socioeconomic status (free and reduced lunch) and English as a second language classification. Analysis of variance was used for the exploratory study. Exploratory analysis suggested that ethnicity had an effect on a child's scores in the fall and spring of kindergarten in select subtests (spelling, letter sound and summed score). Analysis also suggested a significant main effect on fall scores of all subtests for socioeconomic status. For children classified as English as a second language, analysis suggested order of means for both fall and spring for all subtests was native English and then English as a Second Language. Finally, the analysis suggested Montessori programs had the highest mean score in all subtests. The no preschool cohort was lowest in both fall and spring on word recognition, alphabet recognition, letter sounds, and summed score. A significant main effect attributable for preschool program was noted on all subtests for both fall and spring.

Language: English

Published: Fairfax, Virginia, 2003

Language: English

ISSN: 0746-0554, 0001-1479