Guided by the ecological model of civic development, this study examined the extent to which the growth in children's self-control during middle childhood predicted their civic engagement at age 26 directly and indirectly via their prosociality at age 15. We used data from 1,042 children (50% female, 77% White) in the NICHD Study of Early Child…

This study examines the impacts of two AmeriCorps programs, Minnesota Reading Corps and Wisconsin Reading Corps, where AmeriCorps volunteers provide literacy tutoring to at-risk kindergarten through third-grade (K-3) students utilizing a response-to-intervention framework. This evaluation replicates a prior randomized controlled trial evaluation…

The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine what impact volunteer tutoring has on improving the reading standardized test scores of K-2nd elementarystudents in East Baton Rouge Parish public schools. An Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multiple regression was conducted to analyze the extent in which Volunteers in Public Schools' (VIPS)…

The purpose of this quantitative non-experimental study was to evaluate the gender stereotyping in picture books from a classroom library collection that primary school students use for independent reading in the classroom. Using the Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade fiction books from the classroom library collection from Booksource, this research…

Much is known about the role of vocabulary in reading and the instructional procedures that improve vocabulary. Relatively less is known about feasible approaches to implement vocabulary interventions for struggling readers within tiered frameworks. The current study randomly assigned at-risk kindergarten and first-grade students to a vocabulary…

This study examined kindergarten teachers' views about the importance and uses of school, family, and community partnerships (SFCPs) in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia. We used Epstein's model of SFCPs and explored the roles of teacher, family, and community support for parenting skills, two-way communication, volunteering, learning at home,…

The findings of a community-wide effort to improve K-3rd-grade literacy engagement in an urban community in the United States are reported. Four elementary schools were chosen as data sites to collect assessment scores at three points in the year based on reading and literacy scores on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS)…

We examine how kindergarten teachers on Prince Edward Island depict both parent involvement in school and its perceived challenges. Data consisted of written responses to two open-ended survey questions completed by 62 participants or 94% of the kindergarten teachers on PEI. Results showed that teachers recognized parent involvement in traditional…

The aim of the study is to reveal the implementation of a partnership framework at Saudi kindergartens in accordance to the Epstein's Model which is considered from the perceptions of Kindergartens' female teachers. Analytical descriptive methodology was employed, and the study sample included 48 public kindergartens' teachers and 44 private…

This volume examines the agency of second/foreign language teachers in diverse geographical contexts and in both K-12 and adult education. It offers new understandings and conceptualizations of second/foreign language teacher agency through a variety of types of empirical data. It also demonstrates the use of different methodologies or analytic…

This exploratory study involved a structured group-games intervention to develop first-grade students' social competence. The effects were evaluated by assessing possible outcomes for the children's social status. A sample of 119 first-grade, mixed-ability students from a Hong Kong primary school participated in the sessions (63 boys, 56 girls:…

Teachers may feel uncertain about how to ensure that all students, including students with identified disabilities, those at risk for learning disabilities, and English learners, achieve the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in vocabulary. At the same time, they are also searching for practical, concrete ideas for incorporating the CCSS in the…

This article provides suggestions for teachers and practitioners on vocabulary activities that can help kindergarteners attain the vocabulary standards proposed by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The activities and examples included in the paper stem from an efficacy study I recently conducted with Dr. Michael Coyne and colleagues with…

This study evaluates the impacts and costs of the Reading Partners program, which uses community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring to struggling readers in under-resourced elementary schools. The evaluation uses an experimental design. Students were randomly assigned within 19 different Reading Partners sites to a program or control…

The current article examines what factors explained the success of a reading program delivered by older adult volunteers to at-risk early readers. The article also examines the direction of the relationship over time (both direct and mediated) between reading achievement, frequency of reading at home, and academic self-beliefs. Two hundred and…