Prekindergarten Research Articles

The Role of Caregiver on Pos PAUD’s Training Program to Improve Emergent Literacy Development Through Dialogic Reading Activity

Research on emergent literacy states that young children learn about reading through experiences with oral language. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of implementing dialogic reading techniques in a pos paud setting via caregiver training program by kader pos paud to improve emergent literacy development. In the first experiment, the sample consisted of 19 respondents in the control group and 17 in the experiment group. The result of the study indicated an improvement in emergent literacy knowledge and dialogic reading skill for kader pos paud that following the training program. The independent t-test result indicated that post-treatment score for the experiment group was significantly better than the control group. The paired t-test results showed significant gain between pre and post treatment for experiment group.The score was entered to SPSS version 17. In the second experiment, there are 8 children in the control group and 9 children in the experiment group.The emergent literacy test that made by the researcher was used to determine the emergent literacy development of the subjects. The Mann Whitney test statistical method indicated significant gain between the experimental group and the control group. A Wilcoxon test revealed a significant gain in emergent literacy development for the experimental group. Therefore, this study found that a caregiver on storybook reading may lead to a possible positive influenced in emergent literacy development for the pre-kindergarten children whose caregivers attended the training program. How to cite Astuti, T., & Ekowarni, E. (2014). The Role of Caregiver on Pos PAUD’s Training Program to Improve Emergent Literacy Development Through Dialogic Reading Activity. Indonesian Journal Of Early Childhood Education Studies , 3(2), 84-93. doi:10.15294/ijeces.v3i2.9480

Teacher–Child Relationship, Parenting, and Growth in Likelihood and Severity of Physical Aggression in the Early School Years

This investigation used two-part growth modeling and cross-lagged panel analysis to examine the predictive function of parenting and teacher–child relationship on the likelihood of children showing problems with parent-rated physical aggression, and on the severity of problems, for 374 children followed from prekindergarten and first grade. Two-part modeling found that teacher–child relationship did not differentiate children who did or did not show aggression problems; parental warmth did, but only in prekindergarten. For children who showed problems with aggression, parental warmth predicted the severity of those problems in prekindergarten, and teacher–child conflict predicted severity of aggression problems in first grade. Cross-lagged panel analyses similarly indicated that parental warmth in prekindergarten predicted aggression in kindergarten, but that kindergarten teacher–child conflict predicted subsequent higher aggression in first grade. Shifts in the importance of specific microsystems over time on children’s social development (chronosystem) are discussed, as are the implications for teachers and preservice teacher training.

Impact of a nutrition education intervention in teachers, preschool and basic school-age children in Valparaiso region in Chile

To assess the impact of a nutrition education program for teachers in the nutritional status, food knowledge and food consumption of their pre basic and basic students, and in the controls. A nutrition education intervention was conducted in pre basic and basic teachers in a school year, with a pre-post evaluation of their students, compared with a control group. Subjects were 817 students (389 men and 428 women) from pre kindergarten to the second grade. The 465 students of the intervened group were distributed in two schools (Liceo 1 = 283; Liceo 2 = 182) and 352 in the control school. The nutrition intervention consisted in 9 interactive workshops for teachers with the utilization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The pre post evaluation consisted in a nutritional status assessment, and a food and nutrition survey with questions related with food knowledge and food consumption, at the beginning and at the end of the school year. There were no significant differences in nutritional status between the beginning and the end of the intervention. In one of the experimental schools (Liceo 2) there was a significant decrease in obesity, in women and in the age-group 7-9 years. In the experimental group there was a significant improvement in food knowledge and a decrease in non-healthy food consumption. In the control group, consumption of non-healthy food was stable, with a decrease in fruits and vegetables consumption. As it was demonstrated in similar studies, a short interactive nutrition education intervention with utilization of ICT in pre basic and basic teachers can produce positive changes in nutritional status of their students, improving food knowledge and healthy food consumption and decreasing non-healthy food consumption, compared with the control group. However, a strategy to incorporate parents in school nutrition education programs is still a pending issue.

Effects of Full-Day Kindergarten on the Long-Term Health Prospects of Children in Low-Income and Racial/Ethnic-Minority Populations

Children from low-income and minority families are often behind higher-income and majority children in language, cognitive, and social development even before they enter school. Because educational achievement has been shown to improve long-term health, addressing these delays may foster greater health equity. This systematic review assesses the extent to which full-day kindergarten (FDK), compared with half-day kindergarten (HDK), prepares children, particularly those from low-income and minority families, to succeed in primary and secondary school and improve lifelong health. A meta-analysis (2010) on the effects of FDK versus HDK among U.S. children measured educational achievement at the end of kindergarten. The meta-analysis was concordant with Community Guide criteria. Findings on the longer-term effects of FDK suggested "fade-out" by third grade. The present review used evidence on the longer-term effects of pre-K education to explore the loss of FDK effects over time. FDK improved academic achievement by an average of 0.35 SDs (Cohen's d; 95% CI=0.23, 0.46). The effect on verbal achievement was 0.46 (Cohen's d; 95% CI=0.32, 0.61) and that on math achievement was 0.24 (Cohen's d; 95% CI=0.06, 0.43). Evidence of "fade-out" from pre-K education found that better-designed studies indicated both residual benefits over multiple years and the utility of educational boosters to maintain benefits, suggesting analogous longer-term effects of FDK. There is strong evidence that FDK improves academic achievement, a predictor of longer-term health benefits. To sustain early benefits, intensive elementary school education is needed. If targeted to low-income and minority communities, FDK can advance health equity.

MATERNAL LABOR SUPPLY AND THE AVAILABILITY OF PUBLIC PRE‐K: EVIDENCE FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF PREKINDERGARTEN INTO AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

In the 1980s and 1990s, many states and districts began to provide funding for prekindergarten (PK) programs for the first time. This paper takes advantage of the staggered timing in program funding to investigate the effect that increased availability of PK programs has on the labor supply of mothers with 4‐year‐olds. I find that mothers with a 4‐year‐old and no younger children were significantly more likely to be in the labor force and employed once PK became available. Mothers with a 4‐year‐old and other younger children were also significantly more likely to be in the labor force and employed. (JEL I20, J01, J20)

Gauging Technology Use in Pre-K -12 Classrooms

Gauging Technology Use in Pre-K -12 Classrooms

Recognition & Response: Response to Intervention for PreK

Recognition & Response: Response to Intervention for PreK

Can Exclusive Breastfeeding Reduce the Likelihood of Childhood Obesity in Some Regions of Canada?

The prevalence of childhood obesity in Canada is a major concern. Studies report a small but significant inverse relationship between exclusive breastfeeding and childhood obesity. The study objectives were to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity in a preschool population living in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) and to examine the relationship between exclusive breastfeeding and preschool obesity. This was a cross-sectional analysis of 1,026 children born in 2001 who participated in the Pre Kindergarten Health Fairs in 2005. Heights and weights were collected and body mass index (BMI) calculated. The BMI-for-age references used by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States were used to classify the weight status of children. Infant feeding information was collected through a survey. The relationship between breastfeeding and childhood obesity was examined using logistic regression models controlling for child's age and gender, mother's education and smoking status, and whether the baby was preterm or full-term. In 2005, 65%, 19% and 16% of preschool children were normal, overweight and obese, respectively. 74% of women initiated breastfeeding and 43% exclusively breastfed to 3 months. Exclusive breastfeeding to 3 months was protective of preschool obesity (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 0.65, 95% CI 0.45-0.96). Obesity is prevalent in preschool children in NL. Exclusive breastfeeding appeared to be a protective factor for obesity in preschoolers. Given the known benefits of breastfeeding and the adverse health consequences of obesity, efforts should be made to increase exclusive breastfeeding which may help to prevent the development of obesity in young children.

The condition of pre-kindergarten children with HBV infection and analysis of immune effectiveness

Objective To get the message of pre-kindergarten children with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and analyze immune effect on hepatitis B.Methods the blood examples of all the pre-kindergarten children in Shaoguan city from 2005 to 2008 were collected for medical examinations,and HBsAg and HBsAb of hepatitis B were detected by ELISA assay.The positive rate of HBSAg and HBSAb of the four-year were statistical analyzed.Results The HBsAg positive rates of the four years were 0.53%,0.47%,0.43% and 0.55%,respectively,and the HBSAb positive rates were 48.0%,52.3%,55.5% and 56.2%,respectively.There were no significant differences in HBsAg and HBsAb among four years.Conclusion The hepatitis Binfection in children of Shaoguan was controlled at a relatively low level.The immune effect was improved but still not ideal.The hepatitis B vaccination and revaccination job should be enhanced,and the vulnerable children should be timely protected. Key words: Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B Vaccine; Immune effectiveness; Children; The positive rate

PK Inclusion: Getting Serious about a P-16 Education System

WITHIN the broad P-16 framework, the transition from high school to college has commanded the bulk of attention from policy makers, think tanks, foundations, and the research community in general. Immediate and long-term concerns about the skills of the American work force and our global competitiveness fuel this focus. Significantly less attention has been paid to the P part, the first years of the P-16 continuum that pertain to young children. We argue here that the years--from prekindergarten through the primary grades--are the cornerstone of any P-16 system. They provide a strong foundation for children's lifelong learning, educational excellence, and eventual competitiveness in the marketplace. From the perspective of P-16 systems, the learning experiences children have during the early childhood years (birth to age 5) should be better integrated and aligned with those they have during the kindergarten and elementary school years. Aligning early childhood education with elementary schools is not a new idea. Since initiatives in the early 1970s to connect Head Start with elementary schools, such as Project Follow Through and Project Developmental Continuity, a few policy makers and educators have tried to bridge the gap between the cultures of early education and K-12 education. They recognized that one or two years of early childhood education would not be sufficient to sustain gains in achievement over the long term. For low-income children, sustaining the gains made as a result of attending high-quality prekindergarten (PK) programs requires continuing to provide them with high-quality learning experiences into the elementary school years. As public investments in PK programs increase, the challenge of sustaining gains from high-quality programs is rising on the policy agenda. And as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) raises expectations for all children's achievement, the challenge of preparing strong and eager learners from the start, rather than remediating them later, is also rising on the policy agenda. To ground the discussion of presented here, we offer brief descriptions of what might look like in policy and practice. These examples are by no means a comprehensive depiction of P-3. At the level of the child, a focus on ensures that children experience continuous learning opportunities that bolster their social, emotional, and cognitive development. (1) These opportunities--including emotional supports, instructional supports, and classroom organization--would be in place whether a child is 3 years old and enrolled in a PK program or 7 years old and in a second-grade classroom. At the school level, a focus on is evident in clear transition policies to help children and families navigate the changes that occur as children move from grade to grade. (2) For example, a school might institute policies and practices that enable PK children and their parents to visit kindergarten classrooms before the start of their kindergarten year, thereby permitting them to get to know the teacher and become familiar with the classroom layout, materials, and schedule. At the district level, a focus on might be evident in the implementation of common professional development requirements for both PK teachers and K-3 teachers. Such professional development would focus on providing staff with the tools and knowledge to provide meaningful learning opportunities to all young children from 3 to 8 years of age. At the state level, a focus on is evident in the creation of common learning standards that are informed by research about the developmental characteristics of children and that are used by all publicly funded programs. These learning standards would be appropriate for children at each grade level and would be aligned from grade to grade. DEFINING THE 'P' PART We ourselves have differing views on how to define and conceptualize the P-3 part of P-16 systems. …

Choice in P-16 Initiatives

IF WE were asked to start from scratch in 2008 and create a seamless education system, from prekindergarten (PK) through college, what would it look like? Which elements of each level--early childhood, K-12, and postsecondary--would we retain? Which would we change? I propose that we would benefit greatly by expanding to K-12 the elements of parental choice that now mark our early childhood and postsecondary systems. Often, support for public education and support for the traditional forms of school choice (vouchers or tax-credit scholarships) are viewed as being in direct opposition rather than as being complementary strategies for improving educational outcomes. Given that many of us remember our public school experiences with pride and affection, this should not be surprising. Unfortunately, the neighborhood schools of today are often very different from those we attended. Most of us would agree that the overriding goal for public education system is the provision of high-quality educational opportunities for every child. The public schools have been the primary mechanism for achieving that goal. But today, too many public schools fall short of providing the opportunities every child deserves. While we should insist on reforms that make public schools better, we need to do everything we can to ensure that children have access to a good education today. One of those reforms is parental choice of schools. Real choice means that all parents, regardless of income, have more than one high-quality educational option for each school-age child. In this broadest understanding understanding of choice, I would include open enrollment, charter or community schools, virtual or online schools, magnet schools, traditional public schools, home schooling, and educational vouchers and tax-credit scholarships that provide new options for those otherwise unable to attend private schools. WHAT A CHOICE-DRIVEN PK-16 SYSTEM WOULD LOOK LIKE A system of PK-16 parental choice would look much more like the current situation in early education and in postsecondary education than like our system of K-12 neighborhood schools. The changes required would provide more options for a tailored or customized educational experience for each child than those now offered by our K-12 public school infrastructure. The problem with that infrastructure is not that it doesn't serve some children well--it does--but that it tends to treat the children as interchangeable units, rather than as individuals with unique learning needs. The system tends to work toward sustaining and expanding itself, rather than toward the success of each child. The bureaucracies associated with education are not the same as the delivery of education. For the moment, though, let's walk through the systems currently in place and consider the role parental choice plays in them. Early childhood system. Prekindergarten education has made use of a diverse delivery system that is somewhat similar to the delivery system at the college level, with a range of private and public providers serving parents. A variety of options exists, ranging from neighborhood programs run out of homes, to faith-based programs, to Head Start sites, to Reggio Emilio programs, to Montessori programs. Darcy Olsen, president of the Goldwater Institute, points to this flexibility as a strength: America's flexible approach to early education gives children a strong foundation. Skills assessment at kindergarten entry and reports by kindergarten teachers show a large and increasing majority of preschoolers are prepared for kindergarten. (1) This flexibility shows up in state-funded programs as well. Florida has the largest parental-choice prekindergarten program in the nation, allowing more than 85,000 children to attend private preschools in the first year of the program. Parents participate in the program voluntarily and have complete control over the provider they choose. …

The Importance of Art Viewing Experiences in Early Childhood Visual Arts: The Exploration of a Master Art Teacher’s Strategies for Meaningful Early Arts Experiences

The visual arts can be an important and rich domain of learning for young children. In PreK education, The Task Force on Children’s Learning and the Arts: Birth to Age Eight (Young children and the arts: Making creative connections, Washington, DC: Arts Education Partnership, 1998) recommends that art experiences for young children include activities designed to introduce children to works of art that are high quality and developmentally appropriate in both content and presentation. This paper documents the teaching strategies utilized by a master art teacher at the Denver Art Museum to engage preschool-age students in art viewing experiences which were part of a museum-based art program. This research provides support for integrating rich, meaningful art viewing experiences as a regular part of young children’s arts experiences while offering early childhood educators teaching strategies for early art viewing experiences.

Brighter Smiles: Service learning, inter-professional collaboration and health promotion in a First Nations community.

The goal of Brighter Smiles was to improve children's dental health in a remote First Nations community in British Columbia in the context of a service-learning experience for pediatrics residents. The provincial Ministry of Health had competitive funds available for collaborations between remote communities and medical educators. Hartley Bay (Gitga'at), a tribe of the Tsimshian Nation, responded by declaring children's dental health to be a primary health concern. This northern community has an on-reserve population fluctuating around 200 people and is accessible only by air or water. A convenience sample of children had a baseline dental exam; parents also completed a questionnaire about dental health behaviours. Only 31% (4/13) of pre-kindergarten and 8% (2/26) of kindergarten to Grade 12 children had no dental caries. Planning of the Brighter Smiles intervention involved community leaders, teachers, parents, Elders, health care staff, pediatrics residents, and dental and medical faculty from the University of British Columbia (UBC). Brighter Smiles includes school-based brush-ins, fluoride programs, classroom presentations, and regular visits by UBC pediatrics residents to Hartley Bay to provide well-child care that includes age-appropriate dental counselling to parents at the clinic visits. An early success indicator was a significantly increased proportion of dental service provider's time scheduled for preventive maintenance services rather than dental rehabilitation (restorations and extractions). The goal of providing a service-learning experience for trainee pediatricians in a remote community has been achieved. In addition, early indicators demonstrate improvements in child oral health.

The Influence of Teachers’ Efficacy and Beliefs Regarding Mathematics Instruction in the Early Childhood Classroom

This was a correlational study conducted with a population of prekindergarten educators from a large, metropolitan school district. The purpose was to examine if there were relationships between and among early childhood teachers’ sense of self-efficacy, their beliefs about the importance of mathematics, and their mathematics instructional practices. Examining teachers’ efficacy and beliefs can inform educational practice and help to differentiate between more and less successful instructional practices when teaching mathematics in the early childhood classroom. Data were collected on teacher efficacy and teacher beliefs about the importance of mathematics with two self-report questionnaires. The hypothesis that the teachers higher in efficacy will rate the importance of mathematics higher on the teacher-belief scale than the teachers with lower efficacy was found to be true with this sample, but the correlation was weak. The level of efficacy of the early childhood teachers in this sample confirmed that in assessing their capabilities, they rate themselves high in instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement. The early childhood teachers did not rate their belief in mathematics as high as their efficacy. Observations of mathematics instructional practices were conducted with twenty teachers. It was hypothesized that the combination of high teacher efficacy and high teacher mathematics beliefs would show alignment with the presence of standards-based mathematics instructional practices. The results were not statistically significant. No correlation signals a need for more research to explore what other personal or external factors relate to mathematics instructional practices in the early childhood classroom. The research may inform pre kindergarten teachers and teacher educators about effective instructional strategies and knowledge needed to launch early childhood students on a developmentally appropriate pathway to mathematical literacy. Readers of this article will be interested as well in Joohee Lee, Correlations between kindergarten teachers’ attitudes toward mathematics and teaching practice, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 25(2), pp.173–184.

Diversity Competencies within Early Childhood Teacher Preparation: Innovative Practices and Future Directions

With classrooms becoming increasingly diverse due to children’s various cultural backgrounds and varying abilities, early childhood teacher education programs face the challenge of how best to prepare the workforce. Various initiatives have been implemented in teacher preparation programs to prepare early childhood educators to become competent in relating to all children and families. Infusing components of diversity into all courses and field experiences and engaging in community–university partnerships, as well as unifying early childhood education (ECE) and early childhood special education (ECSE) program components, are promising practices for the field. An examination and evaluation of these initiatives are discussed in this article, as well as future directions for research and practice. This work was conducted as part of the National Pre Kindergarten Center and supported by the Foundation for Child Development.

Language Activities in Pre-kindergarten

Language Activities in Pre-kindergarten

Depression of calcium transients after exposure to high K+ solution in Li(+)-loaded frog twitch muscle fibres and its reversal by exogenous myo-inositol.

Using Arsenazo III as a myoplasmic calcium indicator, we have studied the calcium transients evoked by voltage-clamp depolarizing pulses in frog twitch muscle fibres which had been temporarily depolarized by 80 mmol/L K+ in the absence or presence of myoplasmic Li+. After the high K+ exposure, for either a short (15 min) or long (1 h) time, the post-K+ calcium transients could gradually be restored to the level of the pre-K+ ones, if the fibres were not loaded with Li+. In contrast, the post-K+ calcium transients of Li(+)-loaded fibres could not fully recover, and were depressed in a Li+ concentration-dependent manner. The mean amplitude of the post-K+ responses recorded more than 3.5 h after 15 min high K+ exposure was reduced to 56% of pre-K+ control in the fibres which had been loaded with Li+ in 20 mmol/L Li+ Ringer's solution. This depression could be prevented or partially reversed by exogenous myo-inositol. More depression could be induced by 1 h high K+ exposure, but the presence of exogenous myo-inositol could not clearly prevent the post-K+ calcium transients from reduction. Assuming that high K+ exposure caused a depletion of myo-inositol and probably other changes in the metabolism of inositol phospholipids in Li(+)-loaded fibres, we conclude that some metabolites of phosphoinositides may play modulation roles in excitation-contraction coupling in frog twitch muscle fibres.

Pre-Kindergarten Health Visitation Day in Boardman, Ohio, Schools

Pre-Kindergarten Health Visitation Day in Boardman, Ohio, Schools

GCT Review: Pre-K Today

GCT Review: Pre-K Today

Number or Prenumber Foundational Experiences for Young Children: Must We Choose?

Extended discussion can be found in the literature regarding the appropriateness or inappropriateness, of teaching counting and other number kill to pre chool and kindergarten children.