US Elementary Schools Research Articles

Hanging Out: Features of Urban Children's Peer Social Networks.

This paper explores associations between two key demographic characteristics (i.e., sex and grade) and the grade-level peer network features (i.e., size, density, and demographic homophily) of 144 third through eighth grade students, ages 8 to 15, in an urban, diverse elementary school in the United States. Student-reported network data and demographic data were collected in Spring 2006. Results offer only partial support for two cultures theory where sex differences in network size attenuate with grade level. Findings also highlight developmental trends including a curvilinear effect of grade on network density as well as grade-level increases in cross-sex and same-race relationships. The paper concludes with a discussion of the importance of opportunity structures for, and the joint consideration of sex and developmental influences on, children's peer social networks.

Relationships Between Different Indoor Allergens and Endotoxin in Northeastern US Elementary Schools and Inner CIty Homes

Relationships Between Different Indoor Allergens and Endotoxin in Northeastern US Elementary Schools and Inner CIty Homes

Descriptions of Media-Induced Fright Reactions in a Sample of US Elementary School Children

Grade-school children (N = 219, M age = 8.5 years) reported their experiences of media-induced fear in their own words and using forced-choice items. Seventy-six per cent reported a specific instance of media-induced fright; most were responding to movies (seen in theaters or homes) and media content they had not chosen to view. The most commonly mentioned content involved supernatural themes. More than one-third of children scared by movies named a movie rated G or PG. Frequent symptoms included sleep disturbances and anxieties in normally nonthreatening situations. Having a television in one's bedroom was the best predictor of fright severity. Findings demonstrate the value of using open-ended questions and underscore the need for further research on prevention and coping strategies.

Elementary Teachers’ Instructional Practices Involving Graphical Representations

The goal of this study was to gather data on US elementary school teachers’ (K-5) instructional practices with graphical representations. The results revealed high percentages of usage for graphical representations but with varying levels of frequency. Overall, the most frequently reported instructional practices by teachers included 1) pointing to or referring to graphical representations in books, 2) using graphical representations as organizers of text, 3) using Venn diagrams to compare or contrast ideas, and 4) having children organize a plan for reading and writing tasks using web diagrams. The findings from this study help to illuminate what types of graphical representations are used and how they are being used.

Reliability and convergent and discriminant validity of the Child Oral Health Impact Profile (COHIP Child’s version)

The purpose of the current study was to assess the reliability as well as the convergent and discriminant validity of the Child Oral Health Impact Profile (COHIP). The questionnaire consisted of five domains that assessed oral health, functional well-being, social-emotional well-being, school environment, and self-image. COHIP was designed to measure self-reported oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of children between ages 8 and 15 years old, using both positively and negatively worded items. Children were recruited from pediatric, orthodontic, and craniofacial clinical settings in the USA and Canada. A comparison group of children not seeking dental treatment was recruited from two US elementary schools. Participants included 157 pediatric, 152 orthodontic and 110 patients with craniofacial anomalies, and 104 community-based participants. Scale reliability was assessed with Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Retest reliability was examined by intraclass correlation and paired t-test for a subset of participants who did not report a health change. Discriminant validity was assessed in two ways: (i) the COHIP scores of the four groups of children (three clinical and one community-dwelling) were compared by anova and (ii) for two of the clinical groups, the association between COHIP scores and clinical indices was calculated. Convergent validity was examined using partial Spearman correlations between COHIP scores and Global Health Ratings controlling for demographic variables. The children (n = 523) averaged 11.6 years (SD = 1.60); 51.6 % were female; and represented diverse ethnicities (black = 22.4%, Latino = 32.1%, white = 35.1%, other 10.4%). Overall COHIP scores ranged from 28 to 135 (mean +/- SD, 99.0 +/- 19.2) for the children. Scale reliability for the overall COHIP was excellent: Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.91 for the overall score. The test-retest reliability of the overall COHIP was also excellent (ICC = 0.84) and there was no statistically significant shift in scores over time. Discriminant validity was supported by significant differences (P = 0.003 overall COHIP) among the three clinical groups: the craniofacial group reported the lowest overall COHIP quality of life scores of the clinical groups. Within the pediatric dental group, children with greater dental decay reported lower COHIP scores suggesting a lower OHRQoL (r = -0.26, P = 0.02) and within the orthodontic group, children with larger overjet reported lower COHIP scores (r = -0.25, P = 0.005). Controlling for the effect of the participants' age, gender, and ethnicity, the association between the overall COHIP score and Global Health rating was statistically significant (P < 0.05) and similar in strength for the three clinical groups (pediatric dental = 0.29, orthodontic = 0.23, and craniofacial = 0.24) and highest for the community group (0.36). The overall COHIP showed excellent scale reliability overall and test-retest reliability. Both discriminant and convergent validity of the COHIP were supported by the comparisons among and within the four groups of children. Further testing will examine the utility of the instrument in both clinical and epidemiological samples.

Comparing US and Japanese Elementary School Teachers' Facility for Linking Rational Number Representations

Using cognitive ethnography as a guiding framework, we investigated US and Japanese fourth-grade teachers' domain knowledge of key fraction representations in individual interviews. The framework focused on revealing cultural trends in participants' organization of knowledge and their interpretations of that organization. Our analyses of the interviews, which included a representation sorting task, indicated three major differences that defined US and Japanese teachers' approaches to rational number representation: (1) Japanese teachers interpreted all rational number representations as conveying primarily mathematical information, whereas US teachers interpreted only some representations as conveying primarily mathematical information; (2) the US teachers focused more intently on part-whole relations than Japanese in their interpretations; and (3) Japanese teachers more easily linked rational number representations to more advanced upcoming content in the curriculum. A review of US textbooks used by the teachers reflected their consistency with US teachers' interpretations of the representations. These findings imply that strong cultural differences underlay the approaches that teachers in both nations take to rational number representation and that these differences may help explain established cross-national differences in student reasoning.

Factors that Influence Frequency of ADHD Diagnosis

Factors associated with the probability of attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) diagnosis among third grade US elementary school children were investigated in a nationally representative sample of 9278 children in the 2002 follow-up of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey Cohort conducted at University of Texas, Austin, TX.

Functional predictors of school participation by children with disabilities

This study examined the functional requirements that significantly predicted participation of US elementary school children with a variety of disabling conditions (N = 266), in seven different school settings: Transportation, Transitions, Regular classroom, Special classroom, Mealtime, Bathroom, and Playground. Performance on a number of setting-relevant tasks was expected to be predictive of meaningful participation in each school environment. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify the order of importance of the relevant variables as well as the smaller set of functional tasks that best predicted children's participation in each setting. The results revealed that successful participation in the different elementary school settings was strongly associated with performance of both physical and cognitive/behavioural activities. Furthermore, each setting had a unique set of predictors, suggesting that some aspects of function are context-specific. Findings from this study may inform therapists about the most relevant areas of function that support social and physical participation of children with disabilities who are included in regular schools.

`You Want to Be a Girl and Not My Friend'

Few researchers have closely examined intersections between race and gender in the social relations of children, and the voices and experiences of African-American girls have been notably absent in the literature on children's peer relations. This article, based on fieldwork with the first-graders in two racially mixed US elementary schools, draws upon Black feminist theory to examine intersections between gender and racialized ethnicity, especially in the experiences of African-American girls. Findings suggest that racial positioning and gender of the African-American girls hold different meanings according to the context. The impact of race and gender as intersecting forces on the girls' peer interactions are considered.

Sun protection policies and environmental features in US elementary schools.

To assess current sun protection policies and the receptiveness to new policies at elementary schools in the United States. A cross-sectional telephone survey. General educational community. In 1998, a random sample of 1000 public elementary schools in the United States was selected (proportional to population size) from 27 metropolitan areas chosen from the 58 US cities regularly reporting the UV index in 1997. A final sample of principals from 412 elementary schools completed the survey. None. Only 3.4% of schools had a sun protection policy. The most common reasons for not having a policy included the principal's lack of awareness (n = 113) or organizational barriers in the school districts (n = 77). Most principals (84.2%) said that students were outdoors during midday hours. Many principals (48.3%) were willing to adopt a sun protection policy. Most schools (72.8%) had shade structures but the majority (67.3%) reportedly covered less than one fifth of the grounds. Most principals (76.4%) were willing to increase the amount of shade structures. The low frequency of sun protection policies and shade structures calls for national efforts to change policies and environments to increase sun protection at US schools. Research is needed to demonstrate the efficacy of these changes.

Pertussis outbreak in an elementary school with high vaccination coverage.

An outbreak of pertussis in a US elementary school with high vaccination coverage was investigated to evaluate vaccine effectiveness and to identify potential contributing factors. Survey and cohort study of all 215 students of an elementary school (including 36 case patients) and 16 secondary cases among contacts. Fifty-two pertussis cases were identified (attack rate among students, 17%). Receipt of <3 doses of pertussis-containing-vaccine compared with receipt of complete vaccination series was a significant risk factor for pertussis [relative risk, 5.1; 95% confidence interval (CI), 3 to 8.6]. The effectiveness of the complete vaccination series was 80% (95% CI 66 to 88). No evidence of waning immunity among students was found. The following contributing factors for the outbreak were identified: multiple introductions of pertussis from the community; delays in identification and treatment of early cases; and high contact rates among students. Antimicrobial treatment initiated >14 days after cough onset was associated with increased risk of further transmission of pertussis (relative risk, 10.1; 95% CI 1.5 to 70.3) compared with treatment within 14 days of onset. This investigation demonstrated the potential for pertussis outbreaks to occur in well-vaccinated elementary school populations. Aggressive efforts to identify cases and contacts and timely antimicrobial treatment can limit spread of pertussis in similar settings. High vaccination coverage should be maintained, because vaccination significantly reduces the risk of the disease throughout the elementary school years, and to ensure timely diagnosis and treatment health care providers should maintain a high index of suspicion for pertussis among elementary school age children.

Literature Anthologies in the US: Impediments to Good Teaching Practice

In a compelling article recently published in Language Arts, Kenneth Goodman (1986) argues that what we know to be effective teaching practice is not reflected in the basal series which continue to dominate reading instruction in US elementary schools. Much the same claim can be made of the literature anthologies presently being used in most secondary English classrooms throughout the United States. The problems inherent in these textbooks are not attributable to the sequencing and selection of the literary works they contain, but rather to the nature of the tasks that students are asked to perform in conjunction with their reading. What follows is a discussion of these tasks as they relate to some general principles which have emerged from current theory and research. Also presented will be a few exemplary activities taken from literature texts now being used in Canada where, as Goodman has noted, school boards have been particularly successful in influencing the design of textbooks through the establishment of firm language policies (363).