Language: English

Published: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1970

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

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: In this study, 173 preschool teachers (80 non-Montessori teachers and 93 Montessori teachers) were given a survey at two early childhood professional conferences that examined their beliefs about Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP). The purpose of this study was to (a) investigate preschool teachers' beliefs about Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) and Developmentally Inappropriate Practice (DIP); (b) discover the similarities and differences in the factor structures of the Teacher's Beliefs Scale (TBS) between the study conducted by Charlesworth, Hart, Burts, Thomasson, Mosley, and Fleege in 1993 and the current study about DAP; (c) discover the similarities and differences of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) and Developmentally Inappropriate Practice (DIP) beliefs between Montessori teachers and preschool teachers; and (d) investigate the factors that are related to teachers' beliefs about DAP and DIP. The Teacher Beliefs Scale (TBS) was used to assess preschool teachers' beliefs about DAP and DIP. Factor analysis was used to support the validity of TBS in the current study. Multiple t-tests were used to identify the differences in developmental appropriate/inappropriate beliefs between Montessori and non-Montessori teachers. Multiple regression analyses were used to explain the relationship between variables of 173 Montessori and non-Montessori preschool teachers. Results of the study showed that a majority of preschool teachers agreed with 22 Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) and 12 Developmentally Inappropriate Practices (DIP). Responses to seven items were different from the original study (Charlesworth et al., 1993). There was a significant difference on Inappropriate Activities and on Appropriate Child Choice between non-Montessori and Montessori teachers. There was a relationship between teachers' beliefs about DAP and teachers' educational backgrounds, teaching experiences, ethics, and DAP understanding level in the current study.

Language: English

Published: Greeley, Colorado, 2003

Abstract/Notes: In sociological investigation, Weber (1968) believes that concrete historical events can be interpreted in terms of social action. These patterns of action differ from historical accounts, which explore the importance of causal explanation of individual events. Entwistle and Alexander (1993) contend that sociologists of education have paid little attention to patterns of class interaction and inequality in preschools. Adding to Hartley's (1993) work on nursery schools in Scotland, and using an organizational model with a sociohistorical standpoint, this ethnographic case study helps to bridge that gap by concentrating on the historical and ecological contexts of (1) a Laboratory school; (2) a Montessori school; and, (3) a Head Start center. The central problem of the study seeks an answer to the question "If inequalities in preschools exist, what do they look like?" This study assumes that historically educational systems have exerted a form of social control over children in order to transmit cultural values. Part I of the study examines ancient and modern societies, their cultures and their philosophical grounding to reveal the values and trends that contribute to social change in the early education of children. Part II adds a triangulation strategy to explore the ecology (environment and culture) of the three schools in the study. These strategies include archival content analysis of the preschool organizations, nonparticipant observation of the classrooms (Bell, 1993), intensive interviewing of the staff and administration members and a brief survey of the preschool parents. This study draws from the sociology of Weber's "ideal bureaucracy," Berger's "bureaucratic cognitive style," Elias' "civilizing process," Bernstein's "visible and invisible" pedagogy, Bourdieu's "cultural capital" and Anyon's "biased ideological messages." In this exploratory study, the data analysis uses a descriptive methodology, not to draw conclusions, but similar to Glaser and Strauss' "grounded theory" to introduce questions to be explored further by researchers. A final section on policy recommendations is included.

Language: English

Published: Boston, Massachusetts, 2000

Abstract/Notes: A social skills intervention was implemented at two suburban preschools. The purpose of the intervention was to develop subjects' empathic and social problem-solving skills to test whether this training would increase prosocial behavior in class. In addition, the study compared the effectiveness of two teaching methods in promoting cognitive and affective skills: training using role playing and discussion-based training. The subjects were 45 children of both sexes between the ages of four-and-one-half to five-and-one-half years. At each school, teachers led one of three training groups: empathy and problem-solving using role playing; the same training using discussion; home and outdoor safety training, which served as an attention-control group. Training sessions were conducted for 15 to 20 minutes, three times a week for six weeks. Pre- and post-intervention empathy, role-taking, problem-solving scores, observational behavior ratings, and teacher ratings using the Devereux scales were administered. Results of pre-testing revealed expected, significant associations between cognitive and affective skills and between these abilities and subjects' social behavior, with empathy showing the strongest associations. Responses to affective measures, however, did not prove to be consistent across emotions. Empathic and role-taking responses to anger and fear stimuli were unrelated to responses to happiness and sadness stimuli, yet were associated most strongly with observed and rated social behaviors. No significant differences in gain scores emerged across the three treatment groups on outcome measures, although gains in cognitive and affective skills correlated significantly with behavioral improvement. The most likely reasons for this lack of training effects across groups were: all children were from a higher SES background and displayed fewer behavioral problems than subjects used by many other studies in this area; children at one setting (a Montessori program) were much less receptive to a group social skills approach; the small sample size provided insufficient statistical power to assess small effects. Implications of the study's findings for future measurement and training of empathy and social problem-solving skills were discussed.

Language: English

Published: Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1983

Language: English

Published: Nashville, Tennessee, 1976

Language: English

Published: Kent, Ohio, 1976

Language: English

Published: Lawrence, Kansas, 1973

Abstract/Notes: Funding for Preschool programs has currently become a political agenda being debated in our nation. It is important to give our children an early start to education regardless of socioeconomic status, as it can be beneficial to them as they grow. This study will provide evidence to sway our politicians to fund preschool programs as they positively affect children in their kindergarten year. Historical Teaching Strategies Gold assessment data of 84 randomly selected kindergarten students will provide evidence of the effects of a preschool program. This data was collected from a year in kindergarten and consists of students that have attended a preschool in-district program, students who have attended a Head Start and outsider provider preschool program, and students who have no preschool education. Although this study did not have a significant difference among the groups, the researcher found that students who have attended an in-district preschool program made better positive gains throughout their kindergarten year than students who attended a Head Start and outside provider preschool program and those students who did not have a preschool education.

Language: English

Published: Jersey City, New Jersey, 2022