Research into practice.

This issue highlights five distinct studies. The first study looks at achievement and its association to Montessori programs, magnet programs, and traditional schooling programs. The second provides evidence on the efficacy of the Even Start program in comparison to Title I programs. The third examines the effects of full-day and half-day kindergarten practices on later elementary school achievement. The fourth is a validation study of a children's perception measure for use in school-age child care environments. The fifth and last study is an international study that focuses on Korean preschool and kindergarten teachers' belief in, and utilization of, developmentally appropriate practices. This column briefly summarizes the content of the articles and suggests implications for the research as well as areas for future research studies.

Comparison of Academic Achievement Between Montessori and Traditional Education Programs--Lopata, Wallace, & Finn

As the popularity of the Montessori movement has increased in recent years, more Montessori classrooms are being found in elementary, middle, and high schools. Popular perceptions of the outcomes on achievement for students who have participated in Montessori programs suggest that Montessori graduates outperform students who have attended other quality programs. Research suggests mixed conclusions about the efficacy of the Montessori approach. Some studies suggest greater academic achievement and social outcomes, while others suggest no difference on the outcomes of students who have participated in Montessori programs. A number of studies have cited concerns regarding the methodological rigor of Montessori programs as well as claims that are not supported by data.

The authors of the current study examined achievement outcomes for children who attended public school Montessori programs, structured magnet programs, open magnet programs, and traditional non-magnet programs. Participants in this study were 543 fourth- and eighth-grade students in the northeastern United States. Data on language arts and mathematics were collected through the use of state English/language arts exams and math and language arts portions of the TerraNova. These data were provided by the school districts in which the schools were located. Multivariate tests were conducted to examine differences among Montessori schools and the other three types of schools.

There were no differences at 4th grade with regard to language arts achievement favoring Montessori programs. Montessori students were found to have higher mathematics achievement than open magnet students did; however, Montessori students had lower mathematics achievement scores than traditional non-magnet programs at 4th grade. Eighth-grade Montessori students had significantly lower language arts achievement scores than students in the magnet and traditional schools. No differences were found on mathematics achievement.

Overall, the study suggests that Montessori students did not score significantly better at either 4th or 8th grade when compared to magnet and traditional school students, with the exception of one area. The authors raise some cautions about the findings of the study in that the data for the specific school types were collected from one school of each type; this could suggest idiosyncratic differences among the schools, rather than differences associated with Montessori or other curricula. This study is an excellent example of an empirical investigation that is used to support the efficacy of the Montessori program. Additional research studies that carefully control for demographic variables as well as the fidelity of the intervention should be pursued.

The Effectiveness of the Manchester Even Start Program in Improving Literacy Outcomes for Preschool Latino Students--Ryan

The federally funded Even Start program has recently been the target of reduced funding and potential elimination by the U.S. federal government. Even Start is a comprehensive early childhood and family literacy program that provides high-quality child care and education classes for adults who are either pursuing the general education diploma or learning English as a second language. While there is a growing research literature on the effectiveness of early intervention services on the literacy outcomes for children from diverse minority groups, there are mixed research results on the effectiveness of the Even Start intervention itself. What is evident from research on Latino families involved in early literacy interventions is that intensive intervention does have a greater impact than it does on control groups.

The current study is an examination of Even Start and Title 14-year-olds on their early literacy development. The author utilized the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) prekindergarten assessment, which measured rhyme awareness, upper-case alphabet knowledge, lower-case alphabet knowledge, beginning sound awareness, verbal memory, print knowledge, and name writing. Fifty-two students, who were not randomly assigned, made up the sample of students on which study data was collected. Results indicated that Even Start students scored 14.51 points above the Title I preschool students when pretest scores were controlled for in the analysis and accounted for 26.2 percent of the variance in the PALS posttest scores. The results of this study add to the growing body of research on the overall effectiveness of the Even Start program. Specific comparisons between Even Start and other interventions help suggest what types of early childhood literacy interventions are most efficacious. Future research that examines the long-term effect of Even Start over the transition to elementary school is needed.

The Effects of Full-Day Versus Half-Day Kindergarten on the Achievement of Students With Low/Moderate Income Status--Saam & Nowak

Despite the growing trend of prekindergarten programs in the United States, there are still a number of variants of kindergarten experiences, ranging from half-day to full-day programs, and providing different academic and social experiences. The literature is mixed concerning the benefits of offering full-day programs or half-day programs. Just as many studies suggest that there are greater academic outcomes for children in full-day programs as there are that suggest that half-day programs produce the same results. Studies also have examined the length of day in kindergarten and its influence on behavior, school attendance, children's physical stamina, social development and peer relationships, and parent satisfaction with education. A growing body of research suggests that early intervention experiences and quality preschool experiences aid in the development of children's academic, behavioral, and social outcomes, particularly for children who live in poverty.

The current study examines the length of day of the kindergarten program and its effect on achievement as well as which type of program is best for students whose families have low to moderate incomes. The authors of the study collected demographic information for children who had been previously enrolled in either half-day or full-day kindergarten programs, along with standardized test scores at the end of the 3rd-grade year. In addition, the authors conducted 14 interviews with kindergarten teachers in three separate school districts in the midwestern United States.

Results from the analysis of children's data suggested no differences in 3rd-grade achievement in mathematics for students who attended the two types of kindergarten programs. Indeed, children who attended full-day kindergarten scored significantly lower on the language arts portion of the state standardized test. Children who attended morning kindergarten classes scored significantly better than students who attended all-day kindergarten on standardized tests in language arts and mathematics at the end of 3rd grade. These results were not found for children who attended afternoon kindergarten classes when compared to full-day kindergarten students (at the end of 3rd grade).

In comparisons among children whose families were more affluent, standardized test scores indicated that those students outperformed students who qualified for free or reduced lunch in school. The authors found that there were no differences between children in the free or reduced lunch categories at the end of 3rd grade on language arts achievement or mathematics achievement with regard to previous enrollment in either a full-day or half-day kindergarten program. Teacher interviews also suggested that teachers endorsed full-day kindergarten programs and cited the benefits as including having more time to spend with children and a greater capability to meet state standards. The authors clearly note that their data only went to the end of 3rd grade and that future studies should follow children to later grades to see what benefits might still exist over a longer period of time. This study has clear implications for examining the role of early childhood experiences as states across the United States continue to explore the development of universal prekindergarten programs and other quality programs to ready children for elementary school success.

Children's Perceptions of the Psychosocial Climate of School-Age Child Care Programs--Hall & Dilworth

A number of societal factors have contributed to the influx in the number of after-school or school-age child care programs in the United States. While a large body of literature exists on program quality for typical child care arrangements for young children, there is a more limited amount of evidence on how to measure quality in school-age child care. Child care quality for younger children has been studied by both structural (e.g., staff/child ratio, group size, and teacher educational level) and process variables (e.g., staff/child interactions, curriculum). While there is a growing body of research on the structural features of high-quality school-age child care programs, there still remains a paucity of research on process variables, how to measure those process variables, and how they relate to overall program quality. The purpose of the current study was to test the psychometric properties of the "My View of My School-Age Child Care Teacher's Scale" (VOT) and their relationship to the overall quality of a school-age child care environment. Children (n=146) in 11 school-age care programs in the southeastern United States participated in the study and represented 28 percent of the target population pool for the study. The authors utilized both the VOT scale and the often-utilized "School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale" (SACERS). Observations of the programs were conducted with the SACERS, and children in kindergarten to 5th-grade completed the VOT. Results of a factor analysis indicated a three-factor solution for the VOT that assessed 1) children's overall perceptions of the psychosocial climate of the program, 2) teachers' supervision and interactions with children, and 3) the teachers' behavior management and discipline techniques. Data from program observations suggested that the overall quality of the program was slightly below minimal. Children rated the quality of the programs with a mean score of 3.58 on a 5-point scale, suggesting an overall positive perception of their programs. The children's ratings positively and significantly correlated with the SACERS program score. No differences on gender were found on the VOT ratings; older children, however, had less positive perceptions of their school-age child care placement. There are clear implications for the use of this measure. While further studies must be done to extend the reliability and validity evidence on the measure, there is good evidence to suggest that the measure is capable of providing information from children's perceptions that can be related to overall program quality of school-age child care arrangements. Several implications can be drawn for future research and implementation efforts in school-age child care. Because the VOT scale can assess the relationships between children and child care staff, this measure will assist future researchers and interventionists who are working on enhancing school-age care environments. The authors also discuss the measure as a potential self-assessment tool for professional development of school-age care providers.

Toward an Integrative "Educare" System: An Investigation of Teachers' Understanding and Uses of Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children in Korea--Kim, Kim, & Maslak

It has been almost 20 years since the original publication of NAEYC's seminal book on the use of developmentally appropriate practices in early care and education environments. Recent research in Korea, focused on samples of convenience, has examined the beliefs and perspectives of Korean teachers as the country moves toward a more integrated system of child care and early education environments. The current study investigates Korean early childhood teachers' beliefs about developmentally appropriate practice and its use in their classrooms. Two hundred eleven kindergarten teachers and 208 child care center teachers in Korea completed the Teacher Beliefs Scale and the Instructional Activities Scale to measure their beliefs about developmentally appropriate practice. Results of the study indicate that Korean early child teachers reported beliefs consistent with developmentally appropriate practice and negative views of developmentally inappropriate practices. Kindergarten teachers endorsed developmentally appropriate practices more so than the child care teachers. The same pattern between kindergarten teachers and child care teachers held for teachers' reports of the use of developmentally appropriate practices in their classrooms. The data from this study also suggest that teachers' beliefs about developmentally inappropriate practices also greatly influence their practice.

The authors employed a cluster analysis strategy to examine the different patterns of beliefs and utilization of developmentally appropriate and inappropriate practices. From that cluster analysis, the authors noted three patterns of beliefs and endorsement of activities among the teachers. The first is that early childhood teachers might not be able to clearly distinguish the differences between appropriate and inappropriate beliefs. The second pattern concerns the gaps between teachers' endorsement of developmentally appropriate activities and their utilization of such activities in their classrooms. A final pattern indicated that kindergarten teachers were more likely to endorse developmentally appropriate practices and use them in their classrooms than were the child care teachers. The most influential differences among the kindergarten and child care teachers were found on the inappropriate beliefs and utilizations components of the surveys.

A series of implications, which parallel research conducted in the United States, suggest that: 1) practices are often controlled by authorities other than the classroom teachers; 2) endorsement of developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices is correlated with the level of education of the individual teacher, whereby teachers with higher education levels are more likely to endorse such practices; and 3) integrated systems of early care and education is critical to providing continuity of experiences for young children. This study also adds to the growing body of international literature and the applicability of the developmentally appropriate framework in different cultures and educational systems.

Stacey Neuharth-Pritchett

The University of Georgia