Sande Milton

The relationship between preschool block play and reading and maths abilities in early elementary school: a longitudinal study of children with and without disabilities

The purpose of this study was to explore the predictive relationship between the level of symbolic representation in block constructions of preschoolers and reading and mathematics abilities and rate of growth in early elementary school for children with and without disabilities. Fifty‐one children participated, 22 of whom had identified disabilities. No predictive relationship between representational level of block constructions and maths abilities was found. However, growth curve analysis documented that preschoolers, who had higher levels of representation in their block constructions, had higher reading abilities and a faster rate of growth in reading abilities in the early elementary years. This predictive relationship held true for children with and without disabilities. Findings are discussed in relation to the importance of early experiences that are physically and socially organised to provide young children with the foundation for later learning.

Rethinking Tuition Effects on Enrollment in Public Four-year Colleges and Universities

This study examined the effects of ftuition on enrollment in public colleges and universities. The causal model included competitorsÕ tuition, the wage premium for possessing a college degree, financial aid, and unemployment rate as additional independent variables. The data included institution- and state-level data information over five academic years (1998-2002). The definition of college enrollment for this inquiry was the number of first-time students, including only those from in-state. This study found that tuition level did not have an effect on the growth in enrollment. However, the tuition level of competing institutions and the wage premium to a college degree had positive and significant effects on college enrollment growth.

Young Children's Block Construction Activities: Findings from 3 Years of Observation.

The purpose of this study was to explore the development of the complexity of block constructions of preschool children and to determine the effects of various factors on the childrens block play. Sixty-five children were observed a total of 421 times, over the course of 3 years. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to determine the effects of disability, gender, and time the child was involved with block construction activity on the developmental complexity of block constructions. Results indicate that (a) the complexity of childrens block constructions increase with chronological age, (b) time the child was involved with block construction activity has a positive effect on block construction complexity, and (c) gender did not influence block construction complexity. Implications of findings are discussed in relation to increasing understanding of childrens development and to authentic assessment approaches.

The Florida Teacher Incentive Program: A Policy Analysis

This article is a case study of the Florida Educational Reform Act of 1983, a teacher merit pay program, and focuses on comparison with similar programs in other states and countries for analyzing the policy process regarding educational reform. The inception, implementation, and decline of the reform are studied using the concepts of coalition building, fiscal support, and the various arenas in which salient actors worked: legislative and executive, administrative, professional organizations, and the workplace of teachers.

Computer literacy for development: An evolving metaphor

In the last decade, there has been a hue and cry to introduce computer literacy, along with computers themselves, into schools not only in North America and Europe, but in the Third World as well. And, unlike most other educational innovations of the recent past, there has been little resistance by teachers or educational administrators to the introduction of this particular subject area, at least broadly conceived. Indeed, in a recent review of computer policies in education conducted by Unesco (I986), a majority of Third World countries surveyed reported either existing policies or blueprints for the introduction of computer literacy into their education systems. Like most programmatic concepts, however, computer literacy has considerable ~surplus