Eunjoo Jung

Parental involvement, children's aspirations, and achievement in new immigrant families

ABSTRACT The authors investigated the relationships among multiple aspects of parental involvement (English proficiency, school involvement, control and monitoring of children), childrens aspirations, and achievement in new immigrant families in the United States. They used data on immigrant parents and school-age children (N = 1,255) from the New Immigrant Survey to examine immigrant families from diverse backgrounds. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that parental English proficiency and involvement in school education are related to childrens academic achievement, cognitive development, and English language ability, directly as well as indirectly, through childrens educational aspirations. Parental control and monitoring is not beneficial to immigrant childrens cognitive development, although variations were found across different groups. They also observed intriguing findings regarding gender and racial or ethnic diversity. Based on their findings, they provide recommendations for the fostering of academic success and the design and implementation of educational programs and practices for immigrant children.

Future Professionals’ Perceptions of Play in Early Childhood Classrooms

This study investigates the perceptions of 207 college students in early childhood education and child and family studies (future professionals) regarding the role of play in early childhood classrooms. The results indicate that future professionals in their freshman and sophomore years in college held relatively positive perceptions of play in early childhood education. However, starting with juniors in college, these perceptions followed a notably different pattern. Although participants generally perceived play in early childhood classrooms as important, these students possessed different perceptions about the role of play in relation to childhood learning and play as a curriculum. Upperclass participants expressed lower positive perceptions, a viewpoint that seemed to begin in 3rd-year students and was particularly evident in seniors. Taking play-related courses in college appeared to help education students maintain positive perceptions about play until their senior year. Given that after graduation, these future professionals will soon enter the education field where child-initiated play-based curriculum, standards-based curriculum, and accountability issues frequently collide, the results of this study will shed light on important elements for preparing future professionals for early childhood classrooms. Implications of the study are discussed, and recommendations for future research are also provided.

Teacher Outreach Efforts and Reading Achievement in Kindergarten

To estimate the overall relationship between teachers outreach efforts and the reading achievement of diverse kindergartners over the school year, multilevel modeling techniques were applied using a large sample of kindergarten students. The results showed that in schools with greater outreach efforts by teachers, there were sharper gains in the reading scores of students with low initial reading ability and students who frequently read outside of school. Minority students with low initial reading ability did not show much gain in schools where teachers engaged more in outreach. These findings demonstrate that teacher outreach efforts, student minority status, and reading outside of school were related to kindergartners gains in reading skills, and distinguished the reading skills students carry with them to elementary school. Implications and methodological issues for future study are also addressed.

Examining Differences in Kindergarteners’ Mathematics Learning: A Closer Look at Instruction, Socioeconomic Status, and Race

ABSTRACT The author examined whether mathematics instruction provided by kindergarten teachers is related to childrens mathematics learning during the kindergarten year based on the childrens socioeconomic status and race. Hierarchical linear modeling was employed using a large sample of kindergarten students to estimate relationships between the teachers instructional approach (e.g., concrete-spatial, interpersonal, linguistic) and childrens mathematics skills. Results showed that the teachers instructional approach was selectively related to childrens mathematics learning. Students in classrooms where teachers frequently employed a concrete-spatial instructional approach learned more during the kindergarten year. Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds benefitted more from teachers who often employed an interpersonal approach, and Black/African American students benefitted less from classrooms where teachers relied more on a linguistic approach. The findings suggest that kindergarten teachers’ instruction needs to employ varied methods that take into account students’ mathematics skills and background characteristics.

More than Good Intentioned Help: Volunteer Tutoring and Elementary Readers

In this study, researchers examined whether tutoring implemented by volunteer tutors impacted struggling elementary readers’ reading skills, their attitudes toward reading, and their self-confidence. The study involved two elementary schools and 30 students who were participating in the community based tutoring program and who were randomly assigned to reading-only or reading/writing tutoring conditions. Findings suggested that students could improve their reading fluencies if they had the support of trained adult tutors, even just once each week for 30 to 40 minutes for a semester. Female students improved in their reading fluency measure more so than did male students, but such improvement was not notable in other areas, including attitudes toward reading or self-confidence. Based upon the findings, implications and methodological issues for future study are addressed.

Future professionals’ perceptions of play and intended practices: the moderating role of efficacy beliefs

ABSTRACT This study examined whether perceptions of play of future professionals (Nu2009u2009=u2009u2009337) are related to their intent to integrate play into their practices and how their efficacy beliefs moderate the relation between perceptions of play and intended practices. While students with child-related majors were more likely to have stronger perceptions of play, they did not necessarily hold stronger intentions to use play in their practices, thus suggesting a noteworthy discrepancy between their perceptions and intentions. Students’ efficacy beliefs moderate the relationship between perceptions of play and their intended practices; however, an intriguing pattern was observed between high- and low-efficacy holders. The notable difference between participants with high- and low-efficacy beliefs in their intentions suggests the importance of efficacy beliefs in future professionals’ intended practices, as they make instructional and professional decisions in a challenging educational environment. The efficacy beliefs of future professionals need to be more seriously considered.