M. Elizabeth Graue

Redshirting and Early Retention: Who Gets the "Gift of Time" and What Are Its Outcomes?:

This paper describes the results of a study that examined the prevalence of the delay of kindergarten entry, also known as academic redshirting. Utilizing a representative sample of Wisconsin school district, the authors examined the school records of more than 8,000 students to depict patterns of school entry, promotion, subsequent special services, and student achievement. Results indicate that approximately 7% of the sample bad delayed school entry and that those children were primarily boys with birthdates immediately before the entrance cutoff. Redshirts and retainees are more likely to receive special education services than their peers who enter and are promoted on time. The achievement of redshirts is comparable to their normally entered peers; whereas retainees perform at lower levels. Although the interpretations of these results depend on the perspective taken on extra-year interventions, they can be read in the context of other literature on extra-year interventions. We suggest next steps for the development of empirical knowledge on redshirting and for evaluating the efficacy of this practice. Given its lack of empirical efficacy, we do not support widespread use of this strategy for increasing readiness.

School-Based Home Instruction and Learning: A Quantitative Synthesis.

To assess research on elementary school- based programs for increasing the educationally-stimulating qualities of the home environment, the learning outcomes from 29 controlled studies, found in st...

Social interpretations of readiness for kindergarten

Abstract This article examines the topic of readiness for school as a social meaning that is constructed by people in community settings as they participate in the kindergarten experience with a group of children. Based on data from an ethnographic study of kindergartens in three communities, the developing meaning of readiness is described as locally formed and distinct, with a coherent community flavor. The teachers, parents, and the school as an institution interacted to develop a social interpretation of readiness, which framed the kindergarten experience in each setting, forming the basis for the ways in which children are understood and the nature of the kindergarten program. Changes in the structure of kindergarten education are advocated to make schools ready for children rather than expecting children to be ready for school.

Academic and Occupational Performance: A Quantitative Synthesis

Computer searches of three data bases and hand searches of four major review articles yielded 35 studies of the association between academic and occupational performance in various fields completed since 1950. The study-weighted mean of the 209 correlations is .155, and the standard deviation is .176. Although highly significant, academic indicators such as grades and test scores account on average for only 2.4% of the variance in occupational performance criteria such as income, job satisfaction, and effectiveness ratings. Predictions of occupational performance from academic indexes were somewhat higher in business and nursing, somewhat lower in teaching and engineering, and not significant for MD’s and PhD’s. The correlation magnitudes depend on several characteristics of the studies and their populations.

A Bakhtinian Analysis of Particular Home-School Relations

In this article, we explore home-school relations as the establishment of a complex relationship between institutions and individuals in specific contexts. Using Bakhtin’s ideas of answerability, which depict a particular kind of responsibility, and addressivity, a conception of the relational nature of being, we explore how parents in one elementary school came to understand and enact relationships with schoolpeople. Answerability and addressivity have located within them ideas of power (What is the ethical response in the development of a child?) and voice (Who gets heard in the discourse of the school?). These concepts provide a framing of relationships that shows us how responsibility is mapped in inquiry on home-school relations. We analyze data from interviews with the parents of kindergarten and first grade children at the beginning and end of an academic year to illustrate enactments of answerability and addressivity through discussions of expectations for their child, themselves, and their child’s teacher.

Expectations and ideas coming to school

As the school experience begins anew each year, parents and teachers bring with them ideas about the nature of education and their roles in the process. These expectations are developed socially and shape home-school interactions and the tenor of classroom experience. This article describes the social construction of parental expectations for kindergarten and first grade in a school community. It focuses on the ideas developed between home and school and between grade levels. These ideas include performance standards for students, expectations for parental involvement in schooling, and community evaluation of teacher effectiveness. Connections are made between these local ideas and the experiences of children as they begin their school careers.

Social Networks and Home-School Relations:

Although parental participation in schooling is a common topic in the rhetoric of educational reform, few researchers have looked at the process by which people learn to become parents. This article describes how parents in two communities constructed their roles in a social context shaped by economic resources, local notions of home-school relations, and information networks. Framed from a Vygotskian perspective, it examines parenting as a social activity that is internalized by individuals through their daily interactions. It connects the actions of parents with the activities of schools, showing the relationships between family ideas about their roles and the practices of school as interrelated.

Shaping Assessment Through Instructional Innovation.

Abstract How do changes in mathematics instruction shape the kind of assessment practices teacher use? This qualitative study examined the assessment beliefs and practices of four middle school mathematics teachers implementing a reformed mathematics curriculum for the first time. Through observations of classroom interaction, teacher interviews, and analysis of instructional documents, we charted the beginnings of change in the types of assessment information these teachers found valuable. Constraints on change in assessment included time available to develop, implement, and interpret alternative assessments, as well as parent and student beliefs about what it meant to do well in mathematics. Tightening the link between curriculum and assessment involves more than excellent curriculum materials—it will require support from multiple audiences and broadening beliefs about what it means to do and know mathematics.

You Just Feed Them With a Long-Handled Spoon Families Evaluate Their Experiences in a Class Size Reduction Reform

Emerging from an evaluation of Wisconsin’s Student Achievement Guarantee in Education program (SAGE), a multidimensional program popularly known for its class size reduction component, this article examines SAGE’s lighted schoolhouse initiative aimed to strengthen links between home and school. Drawing on family focus groups held at nine SAGE schools, we use Bakhtin’s tools of addressivity and answerability to explore how families constructed locally specific identities within particular community contexts. Family discussions focused on responding to needs: family social needs, the need for social connection, and perceived answerability felt by families for their community. We suggest that schools would be more successful in building relationships if they used the potential power promised in class size reduction programs and developed programming focused on the needs and resources of families in particular communities rather than imagining a generic, one-size-fits-all model of parents.

Pulling preK1 into a K-12 orbit: the evolution of preK in the age of standards

Abstract We might call this decade the era of early childhood. In the US, federal and state governments invest in the creation of public pre-kindergarten (preK) programs and create standards that articulate goals for practice and benchmarks that can be used to evaluate success. How have these trends provided a context for the evolution of preK curriculum? In this paper, we analyze the enactment of preK policy in New Jersey, a highly regulated preK program and Wisconsin, a local control state. We argue that standards-based practice is evolving into accountability in public preK programs, where outcomes set parameters for planning and teachers and children are increasingly regulated. As preK is more closely affiliated with the K-12 sector (elementary and secondary), preK programs are subject to the logic of alignment, benchmarks and assessments. Even when early learning standards support child-centered approaches to curriculum they are overruled by accountability discourse.