This study examined relationships between pre-tested early literacy skills and post-tested reading achievement in 52 kindergarten and 39 first-grade children. An archival data set was available for statistical analysis. Data analysis was completed in three stages: Participants' entry-level literacy and language scores were compared on two…

Among the academic challenges faced by students from low socio-economic (SES) homes is the loss of academic skills during the summer months. Unfortunately, the public schools are often unable to provide summer learning opportunities because limited space, funding, and teacher availability. Established community organizations frequently provide…

Many schools have adopted programming designed to promote students' behavioral aptitude. A specific type of programming with this focus is School Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS), which combines positive behavior techniques with a system wide problem solving model. Aspects of this model are still being developed in the research…

Recently, there have been efforts to rethink assessment. Instead of informing about (relatively stable) learner characteristics, assessment should assist instruction by looking at the learning process, facilitating feedback about what students' next step in learning could be. Similarly, new forms of strategy assessment aim at capturing…

Purpose: This paper examines new coalitions for knowledge diffusion and innovations of young farmers. Understanding their patterns and the factors influencing their cooperative and innovating norms is crucial in improving these young farmers' positioning in the agricultural knowledge and information system. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on…

This study examined the relations between the home language and literacy environment and emergent skill to use academic language in a sample of 58 3-year-old Dutch children, focusing on production and comprehension in 3 genres: personal narrative, impersonal narrative, and instruction in play. Regarding production, children used academic language…

"I go to the hospital with my mother when she is sick. I can't go to school and leave her in so much pain. I won't concentrate." Millions of adolescents live with AIDS-affected parents or primary caregivers. Little is known about educational impacts of living in an AIDS-affected home, or of acting as a "young carer" in the…

For a sample of low-income, Spanish-speaking Mexican-American families (n = 72), we investigated associations between family involvement in school-based activities and children's literacy in their preferred language (English or Spanish) during early elementary school. We gave special attention to the potential moderating role of teacher fluency in…

This paper describes the technical adequacy and potential uses of an observation system used to measure the quality of literacy instruction in kindergarten classrooms. The Classroom Observations of Student-Teacher Interactions (COSTI) documents the frequency of four student-teacher interactions during beginning reading instruction: explicit…

The relationship between demographics (generation status, age, gender, education level) and ethnicity-related stressors, namely, perceived discrimination, stereotype confirmation concern, and own-group conformity pressure, and the life satisfaction of 115 Latino college students was examined. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated…

Child social anxiety is common, and predicts later emotional and academic impairment. Offspring of socially anxious mothers are at increased risk. It is important to establish whether individual vulnerability to disorder can be identified in young children. The responses of 4.5 year-old children of mothers with social phobia (N = 62) and…

This study examined the role of comorbid depressive disorders (major depressive disorder or dysthymic disorder) and co-occurring depressive symptoms in treatment outcome and maintenance for youth (N = 72, aged 7-14) treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy for a principal anxiety disorder (generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety…

Although previous research has linked students' expected grades to numerous pedagogical variables, this factor has been all but ignored by instructional communication scholars. In the present study, 315 undergraduates were presented with grading scenarios representing differing combinations of course rigor, teacher immediacy, and student…

Math achievement is not a unidimensional construct but includes different skills that require different cognitive abilities. The focus of this study was to examine associations between a number of cognitive abilities and three domains of math skills (knowing, applying and problem solving) simultaneously in a multivariate framework. Participants…

Educators and researchers have long been interested in determinants of access to honors level and college prep courses in high school. Factors influencing access to upper level mathematics courses are particularly important because of the hierarchical and sequential nature of this subject and because students who finish high school with only lower…