Browsing by Subject "reading"
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Item A prescription for kindergarten: What's the proper dosage(2018-01-01) Stauder, Erin; Curran, F. Chris; School of Public Policy; Public PolicyThere is not a standard kindergarten system in the United States (Parker, Diffey, & Atchison, 2016). Improving kindergarten programming to make all learners successful is required (Morrisey & Warner, 2007). Kindergarten programming is one area in which policy makers turn to the experts to help develop policy (White & Prentice, 2016). This dissertations adds to the general body of research related to kindergarten in the United States and informs policy decisions as it relates to the specific research questions addressed within. In the first study, I investigate how enrollment in full day kindergarten (FDK) influences reading and behavior. Using data from the ECLS-K: 2010/2011 cohort, results indicate that FDK (commonly defined as five to six hours a day of programming) is predicted to positively change reading scores in kindergarten in co-variate and fixed effects modeling, but these results are not present in models that use instrumental variables. No statistically significant relationship exists between FDK and the spring of first-grade reading standardized scores. In addition, I found no statistically significant relationship between instances of disruptive or internalizing behavior in the kindergarten or first-grade classroom and FDK participation. In the second study, I demonstrate that there is a statistically significant relationship between access to unstructured time (e.g. free play indoors, free play outdoors, days per week of recess, times per day of recess, time for child-selected activities, and lunch) and reading gains in kindergarten. There is also a statistically significant relationship between instances of disruptive behavior in the kindergarten classroom and opportunities for unstructured times during the school day with a non-random distribution between groups. State policies surrounding full versus half-day kindergarten, and district or school-level policies concerning the unstructured portions of the kindergarten day are informed by this work.Item Concerted Cultivation Among Low-Income Black and Latino Families(Springer Nature Switzerland AG., 2018-12-11) Sonnenschein, Susan; Metzger, Shari R.; Gay, BrittanyThis chapter examines low-income Black and Latino parents’ beliefs and practices about providing an educationally rich environment for their children. More specifically, it focuses on what parents believe about how their preschool children learn, their role in such learning, and the reading and math activities they make available to their children. Using a mixed-methods approach, we found that both Black and Latino parents expressed beliefs consistent with Lareau’s (2003) notion of concerted cultivation by engaging in educational activities with their children and purposefully providing educational materials for them. In addition, there were no significant differences between Black and Latino parents in the approaches they chose to foster their children’s reading and math skills. Future research can utilize the findings from this study to help promote the academic success of low-income children by building upon the beliefs of Black and Latino parents and the activities that they endorse.Item Developing Positive Attitudes Toward Reading in Kindergarten Students Through Growth Mindset Activities(2018-07) Lum, Veronica; Masters of EducationThe purpose of this study was to determine if a six-week intervention on fostering a growth mindset in 19 kindergarten students would improve their attitude toward reading. The measurement tool was The Elementary Reading Attitude Survey. This study involved the use of a pre-test/post-test design to compare data. Results showed no significant changes in attitude from pre- to post-test, though results could be attributable to many intervening factors. Research in early reading motivation and growth mindset should continue given the increased attention to the importance of early interventions and the positive impact of growth mindset for all ages.Item Development and preliminary testing of tablet application to increase reading motivation and summarization for adolescent students with ADHD(2015-08) Pinna, Joanne E.; Holman, Lucy; University of Baltimore. School of Information Arts and Technologies; University of Baltimore. Master of Science in Information Design and Information ArchitectureChildren with ADHD have a variety of difficulties with reading, including phonetics, reading comprehension, distractibility, lack of reading organizational skills and a low ability to summarize. This study created a tablet-based reading application designed to enhance their capabilities in developing a multimodal approach to reading. Participants who demonstrated difficulty in completing a reading task in a book exhibited a positive outcome on wanting to complete the reading and tasks in the application and complete their summary writing. The application encourages participants to read, answer questions about what was read about the text, record the answers, access notes written, and it aids in summarization of collected sequential information. A rubric score were used to compare summary writing differences after reading from the book and reading with the application. It was determined that there wasn't significant total score differences between the two, but the rubric score demonstrated areas of improvement.