Journals.uncc.edu (North Carolina's Urban Research University)
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Exploring the Moderated Mediation of Student Demographics and Teacher Turnover on Teacher Working Conditions Effect on Student Achievement in North Carolina
No full textTeacher working conditions, teacher turnover, and student achievement are examined from North Carolina. For over 10 years, teacher working conditions have been used as a policy tool to better understand how these conditions are linked to school performance and teacher retention. Previous studies have examined working conditions and achievement; however, this study used a moderated mediation model to examine the when and how causal relationships of these measures. The purpose of the paper is to provide policymakers and educational leaders relevant information about the power of teacher working conditions to influence teacher turnover and student achievement, controlling for student characteristics. The results of the study show (a) current year teacher working conditions have direct effects on teacher turnover and on student performance, (b) current or previous year teacher turnover have no direct effects on student performance, and (c) teacher turnover mediates teacher working conditions on student achievement
An Implicit Processing Mechanism for Interpretation: Effects of Semantic and Syntactic Priming
No full textPriming refers to an increased sensitivity to certain stimuli due to prior experience. This study tested the hypothesis that priming occurred during interpreting greatly promotes/speeds up the processing procedure at both the semantic and syntactic level, thereby improves the interpreter’s performance. Based on the analysis of real simultaneous interpreting data, it is suggested that priming exerts negative impacts such as frequent self-correction and inappropriate literal translations due to the semantic priming of the dominant first language (L1). In order to verify the conclusions of text analysis, we designed two experiments. In experiment I, a sentence-based semantic category judgment task was used to test the priming effect between prime (last word of the sentence) and target. Priming effects were confirmed to exist in second language (L2) lexical representation and processing. Meanwhile, the effects of cross-language semantic priming from dominant L1 to L2 were unequal in different proficiency level groups with more marked effects occurring in the more advanced group. The results support the semantic spreading activation model of semantic priming. Experiment II was designed to probe the long-term effects of structural priming by means of sentence recall and translation tasks. Primes consisted of transitive sentences in either an active or passive voice and sentences in either a prepositional-object or double-object form. The results suggested a stronger priming effect if the key verb in the source language had an equivalent in the target language due to the lexical priming effect or the translate-boost effect, with no robust priming effect being observed if the target language has no structural counterparts. The advanced interpreting students were found to be more accessible to the positive effects of cross-linguistic structural priming, suggesting it is asymmetrical but developmental as proficiency increases.
Keywords: Interpreting Studies; Priming Effect; Implicit Memor
Teacher Stress in Urban Classrooms: A Growing Epidemic
No full textAbout half of educators in the field have reported experiencing excessive amounts of stress several days a week, but this issue is even greater for teachers in urban schools. Urban teacher stress is due to a number of unique variables such as lack of resources, student behavior and disrespect, unattainable goals while teaching students below grade level, and lack of support both financially and emotionally. As a result, teacher stress not only affects the teachers themselves but also their students in urban settings. This research paper reveals the cause and effects of 121 urban teachers’ stress, including student academic performance and behavior, and explores solutions to help reduce the amount of stress urban teachers endure. In a review of this correlational study, levels of teacher stress and burnout were identified using Likert-type scales and their students’ academic achievement in reading and math were measured with the Woodcock-Johnson III Test of Achievement to determine the impact of stress. This critical issue in urban education must be brought into the spotlight soon or students will greatly suffer as our country continues to lose qualified, motivated novice teachers to stress.
Keywords: urban schools, Title I, stress, teacher, burnou
Articulating high quality free choice time in Head Start preschools: A framework to support professional development and classroom observations
No full textFree choice time (FCT) is ubiquitous on Head Start and other preschool’s daily schedules. Yet there is a lot of variation in what FCT looks like across classrooms. We lack tools that identify strong FCT practice, including how teachers ought to facilitate it. A framework for defining and gauging high quality FCT in preschool classrooms is overdue. This study documents the development of and preliminary findings from the Framework for Free Choice Time (F-FCT). Based on a comprehensive field- and research-based understanding of best practices, this framework articulates low, middle-range, and high-quality practice across 26 elements within 5 dimensions. Findings demonstrate some initial validity and reliability of the framework. The F-FCT articulates a range of quality and can be used to support preservice and in-service teacher professional development. Future work with the F-FCT may have implications for preschool curricula, policy, and teacher evaluation
An Analysis of Services Available to Dual Language Learners and Their Families at Head Start
No full textThis study addressed gaps in current research on the types of services that Head Start provided for dual language learners (DLLs) and whether the Head Start’s DLL services would be related to the Head Start program goals, DLL parents’ involvement, and family-school partnership. This study used the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2009) to address these gaps. Two types of Head Start’s DLL services emerged: family/adult focus and child ESL focus. The services with family/adult focus were related to the program goals of providing the families with language and educational support whereas the services with child ESL focus were related to the program goals of connecting the families with the communities’ resources and services. Further, services with family/adult focus were related to greater parent involvement and family-school partnership than services with child ESL focus. Research and practical implications are discussed
Head Start and HIPPY Better Together: Examining Current Collaborations
No full textThe purpose of this project was to examine the blending of the Head Start and HIPPY programs. Data on current Head Start/HIPPY collaborations was collected through focus group interviews with home visitors, teachers, parents, and administrators. Themes discovered through qualitative analysis included the recognition of home visiting as a way to provide services to more families; the ability to provide additional services to children and families; increased communication between all parties involved in the collaboration; better perceived outcomes for both the children and the parents; the difficulty of including all the requirements of both programs in their work with families; difficulties around assessment; and the lack of time among home visitors to serve families, plan, and train. Major recommendations for future programs were to plan for the collaboration of services during the grant writing stage; partner with school districts in order to track the long-term outcomes for children; and the most frequent recommendation was to adjust case-loads to reflect the additional work required of program staff to meet each programs’ requirements in the collaboration
Gentle Facilitation of Free Choice Time: Supporting Children’s Development during Authentic Play
No full textFree choice time (FCT) is on the schedule in nearly every Head Start classroom, but teachers tend to get relatively little training or support regarding how to enact FCT. Given that play is important for children’s development, what authentic play looks like as part of the preschool day should be intentional. The purpose of this study was to define high quality free choice time (FCT) in Head Start classrooms. I developed and piloted the Framework for Free Choice Time (F-FCT), which describes low, middle-range, and high-quality FCT practice. Findings from classroom observations demonstrate some initial validity and reliability of the framework and support the notion that there is a range of teacher practice, even in classrooms administered together. The F-FCT can be used to support preservice and in-service teacher professional development. Future work with the F-FCT may have implications for preschool curricula, policy, and teacher evaluation
