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10 - School Environments and the Diverging Pathways of Students Living in Poverty
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- By Penny Hauser-Cram, Professor, Lynch School of Education, Boston College, Marji Erickson Warfield, Social Scientist for the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Jennifer Stadler, Regional Director of the Citizen Schools, Boston, Selcuk R. Sirin, Assistant Professor of Applied Psychology, New York University
- Edited by Aletha C. Huston, University of Texas, Austin, Marika N. Ripke, University of Hawaii, Manoa
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- Book:
- Developmental Contexts in Middle Childhood
- Published online:
- 16 September 2009
- Print publication:
- 12 June 2006, pp 198-216
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Summary
Over the last decade researchers have reported consistently that children differ in their pre-academic skills at the beginning of kindergarten and that those differences are often related to their family's socioeconomic status (SES) and, to a lesser extent, their ethnicity (Lee & Burkam, 2002; Stipek & Ryan, 1997). Our education system should provide the necessary schooling so all children can succeed academically, but there is evidence that the school experiences of children living in poverty differ from those living in middle-income families (e.g., Entwisle & Alexander, 1998; Greenberg, Lengua, Coie, & Pinderhughes, 1999). Yet we know little about the various paths children from low-income families take from the time they enter school through middle childhood. Do children's diverging pathways relate only to their characteristics and skills at school entry or do they also relate to the school environment?
SCHOOL FACTORS RELATED TO ACHIEVEMENT
Schools can be characterized in relation to their structure and climate (Ma, 2001). Structural characteristics usually include school size, location, and the socioeconomic status and ethnicity of students served. School climate is the general character of a school and includes collegiality and community, academic standards, and communication between administrators, teachers, students, and parents. Hoy, Hannum, and Tschannen-Moran (1998) posit that “personality is to individual what climate is to organization” (p. 337). Although the relation of structure and climate to student performance has been established in middle and high schools, it has been examined infrequently in elementary schools (Caldas & Bankston, 1997; Ho & Willms, 1996; Ma, 2001).
22 - An Expanded View of Program Evaluation in Early Childhood Intervention
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- By Penny Hauser-Cram, Boston College, Marji Erickson Warfield, University of Massachusetts, Carole C. Upshur, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Thomas S. Weisner, University of California
- Edited by Jack P. Shonkoff, Brandeis University, Massachusetts, Samuel J. Meisels, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- Foreword by Edward F. Zigler, Yale University, Connecticut
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- Book:
- Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention
- Published online:
- 05 November 2011
- Print publication:
- 22 May 2000, pp 487-509
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Summary
Beginning with the first quantitative evaluations of the Head Start program (e.g., Westinghouse Learning Corporation, 1969), there have been lively discussions about the usefulness and limitations of quantitative evaluations of early childhood programs. Questions have emerged about the types of outcomes and magnitude of change that can be expected from a wide range of interventions and the value of such outcomes to children, parents, schools, and the society as a whole (Center for the Future of Children, 1995; Farran, 1990; Hamburg, 1994). Conflicting views and beliefs about the efficacy of early childhood interventions have made it necessary to broaden evaluations so that they provide meaningful information to the necessary audiences.
This challenge to expand evaluation studies has emerged from fundamental questions about 1) the nature of developmental change, 2) the inviolability of the traditional scientific paradigm, and 3) the dichotomy between quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Simultaneously, evaluations have benefited from a growing sophistication about how systems operate within political contexts and how programs themselves evolve over time. In this chapter, we explore each of these areas with a view toward expanding the scope of early childhood intervention program evaluations through the incorporation of multimethod approaches.
BELIEFS ABOUT DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGE
Program evaluators, similar to other researchers, are guided by their theoretical and metatheoretical perspectives and assumptions about the nature and process of developmental change (Lerner, Hauser-Cram, & Miller, 1998). Beliefs about key principles of development are likely to affect the perspective of the evaluation team and lead to decisions about the research design and methodology employed.