There is a need for Early Childhood Education prior to attending elementary school, to create a preschool age preclusion for school readiness. This study contributes to the current body of research on the impact of Early Childhood Education on reading achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine if attending a preschool program made an…

Districts across the country are using Preschool to Third Grade (P-3) approaches to address long-standing barriers to achieving positive outcomes for young children, for example by helping increase children's readiness for elementary school. P-3 approaches are promising for realizing these results because they demand investments in the systems…

This study looked at any potential effect of early childhood education on future academic success for economically disadvantaged students. The early childhood education program used in this study was the pre-kindergarten program that the state of Texas uses in most of its elementary schools. This program is federally funded, and district run. This…

Underachievement in education and the exploration of its factors have been in constant interest in educational research for years. According to McFarland et al., 2017) previously conducted research has found a relationship between family risk factors and negative educational outcomes which include low academic achievement, student retention, and…

Black and Latinx students, along with those in special education programs, are suspended and expelled at rates higher than their peers. Exclusionary discipline can lead to poor academic performance, high dropout rates, and incarceration. Restorative practices (RP) promote a positive school culture, reduce punitive discipline, and build strong…

This dissertation focused on mathematics instruction in early grades (Pre-K-3rd grade) by exploring teachers' beliefs about mathematics teaching and the teaching practices of one teacher. I specifically examined teachers' beliefs and one teacher's practices that reflect asset-based views of students and support mathematics learning with…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the perception of the principal and teachers regarding what transformational leadership practices meet the needs of EBs in a DLI PK-8th grade campus in South Texas. The research site was selected for having 40% emergent bilingual students. The campus principal has been implementing a…

Evidence has suggested that preschool and kindergarten experiences affect the cognitive and social-emotion development of language-minority students (LMS). This quantitative study aims to illustrate the LMS' preschool and kindergarten experience by investigating the preschool and kindergarten experience, family environment, and school environment.…

Each of the states bordering Mississippi invests large amounts of money in providing children with state-funded pre-k programs in their public schools. However, Mississippi falls behind these states and does not similarly invest in this effort to provide many of its children with the opportunity to attend state-funded pre-k programs. Because…

In this dissertation, I examine how two major social programs in Kentucky--state-funded preK and Family Resource and Youth Service Centers--impact children's outcomes across the state, including racial, ethnic, and economic equity through elementary school. In each chapter, I will analyze how early childhood opportunities relate to outcomes…

The research on elementary teachers' implementation of peer collaboration strategies is limited. Yet, the extensive peer collaboration literature that does exist focuses on student outcomes in urban and suburban settings. A problem with most of the current scope of research about peer collaboration is that it has marginalized the voice of teachers…

Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD), this dissertation examined the relationship between pre-K quality and children's academic achievement at 54 months and in first, third, and fifth grades, controlling for child and family covariates and the…

This study examines whether the physical location of Pre-K programs--whether in elementary school buildings or stand-alone centers--leads to differences in student outcomes in elementary school. Over the past several decades, public investment in Pre-K programming has burgeoned. According to the National Institute for Early Education Research, 32…

This study examined the longitudinal performance of a district-wide cohort of students who had accumulated scores for both kindergarten and third grade analysis. The sample was disaggregated by Pre-kindergarten participation and student demographics such as gender, age, minority status, rural class, and socio-economic status. STAR Early Literacy,…

The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference in achievement scores exist between students who attended the Johnson County School System preschool program and those who did not as measured by standardized TCAP achievement test Reading/Language Arts and Math scores of students in the third and fourth grades. The variables of grade…