The Effects of Universal Preschool on Grade Retention

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke C. Miller ◽  
Daphna Bassok

Nationwide, the percentage of four-year-olds enrolled in state-supported preschool programs has more than doubled since the early 2000s as states dramatically increased their investments in early childhood education. Florida's Voluntary Pre-kindergarten Program (VPK), which began in 2005, has been a national leader with respect to preschool access. This paper provides the first evidence of the program's impacts. We measure the effect of VPK participation on the likelihood that children are retained at any point between kindergarten and third grade. Using an instrumental variables approach, we leverage local program expansion and detailed student-level data on eight cohorts of children, four of which were of preschool age in the years before VPK was implemented and four of which had access to VPK programs. The results indicate that VPK did not lead to changes in the likelihood that children complete the third grade without ever being retained. We do find, however, that VPK led to a change in the timing of retention. Specifically, the program led to a drop in the likelihood that children were retained during the kindergarten year, but this drop was counteracted by increases in retention in subsequent school years. Implications for policy are discussed.

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 991-996
Author(s):  
Gabriela Kirova

Starting with 2018/2019 school year in Bulgaria, the math education in the third grade is implemented through new training kits. They were developed on the basis of the new third-grade mathematics curriculum, approved by Order No. РД 09-1093 / 25.01.2017 of the Minister of Education and Science, Annex No. 8, supplemented by Order No. РД 09-2555 / 15.06.2018 of the Minister of Education and Science. Training kits are approved by the Ministry of Education and Science and are 7 in total. Geometric learning content in new math textbooks is the second most important element after arithmetic content. It is combined with the arithmetic learning content, and by this the foundation of the successful study of geometry in the next school grades is laid. The new geometry knowledge that is included in the third grade curriculum is the following: straight line, curve, beam, angle, right angle, obtuse angle, acute angle, right triangle, acute triangle, obtuse triangle; naming geometric figures with Latin alphabet letters [11]78. It is important in a modern mathematics textbook to have a rich and varied geometric content. It is important that the new types of geometry tasks are introduced with rich visualization using a specific-inductive approach. The relative number of tasks of a given type is an important prerequisite for the successful formation and improvement of skills for solving geometric problems in pupils at the age of 9-10. This article will present a comparative analysis of the geometric content in the seven approved Bulgarian third-grade mathematics textbooks, which are used in the mass practice of this school year. For the purpose of the study, a classification of all types of tasks and exercises with geometric content has been developed. Then the tasks in the seven textbooks are systematized by the so chosen classification. The data are statistically processed taking into account the relative share of tasks of each type within a textbook, as well as a comparison between the relative shares of the geometric tasks in the different textbooks. The established differences in the number and relative share of different types of geometric tasks make it possible for the analyzed textbooks to be ranked. Such a study has not been published so far. It has a relation to the assessment of the quality of the textbooks offered. The conclusions formulated in this article can help primary teachers in their choice of textbooks to teach to their third grade students.


2019 ◽  
pp. 60-76
Author(s):  
Victor Amar

The chances of success of the internship in early childhood education, which takes place in the third degree, are very high. However, there may be circumstances that may befall the teacher-training student, which in a way turn the formative experience into a pretext for personal and professional growth. In order to know and understand its practice, we use narrative methodology. It is the most suitable way we have found to share his voice, giving him epistemological authority and being a pretext to improve from his experience. Her words lead us to understand that she wants to be a teacher, and that she learns in any situation, even though her tutor is in a context and with a very particular reality. The conclusion is in continuous construction as the student has learned, disapproved and reappeared with the practice; from being a student of practice to becoming one in practice.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Suvi H. Nieminen ◽  
Nina Sajaniemi

<p>This study is a literature review, drawing mainly on the nine significant and good quality studies (i.e. published in peer-reviewed journals) that make up the evidence base for mindful awareness practices in early childhood. Mindful awareness practices in this context means an individual’s awareness of her own body and her inner emotions or tensions. Increased awareness can decrease if individuals tend to impulsiveness or excessive stress. Self-regulation and mindful awareness skills are associated not only with stress regulation but also peer relationships and social skills. This systematic review attempts to look at the research of mindful awareness activities, programmes or interventions used as routine everyday activities. The second aim of this review is to examine the research design that has been used. The third aim of this study is to analyse the main themes and methods of these pieces of research.</p>


2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay P. Greene ◽  
Marcus A. Winters

In 2002, Florida adopted a test-based promotion policy in the third grade in an attempt to end social promotion. Similar policies are currently operating in Texas, New York City, and Chicago and affect at least 17 percent of public school students nationwide. Using individual-level data on the universe of public school students in Florida, we analyze the impact of grade retention on student proficiency in reading one and two years after the retention decision. We use an instrumental variable (IV) approach made available by the relatively objective nature of Florida's policy. Our findings suggest that retained students slightly outperformed socially promoted students in reading in the first year after retention, and these gains increased substantially in the second year. Results were robust across two distinct IV comparisons: an across-year approach comparing students who were essentially separated by the year in which they happened to have been born, and a regression discontinuity design.


Author(s):  
Yuan Dandan

<p>The performance culture teaching method was first proposed by the American Sinologist Wu Weike. It is a teaching method to learn a second language through the comprehension and practice of the target language. It focuses on culture and practice. The learner presents the story in a rehearsal manner in the context of the target language culture. Picture book teaching is a popular teaching method for primary school English teachers at this stage. Its novel feature of moving from outside class to classroom makes it an indispensable teaching method in primary school English teaching. This article takes the PEP version of the third grade English textbook as an example for teaching design and integrates the performance culture teaching method with the picture book teaching in the primary school English classroom teaching. The focus of research in teaching design is teaching implementation, that is, the application of performance methods in primary school English classrooms. This teaching design combines picture book teaching and performance culture teaching methods to promote primary school English teaching.</p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-36
Author(s):  
Ha Vo

Most students in Vietnam have been exposed to English since the third grade. However, their outcomes are still limited due to a lack of motivation to study English. This presentation will suggest a number of policies to improve student achievement.


Author(s):  
Mohammed Najjar Al Otaibi

This study aimed to find out the relevance of mathematics books in the intermediate stage of Van Hill levels of geometric thinking, in order to achieve this goal, the researcher utilized the analytical descriptive method, using the analysis card as a tool to conduct this study and prepared a list of skills in which Van Hill's levels of geometric thinking (conceptual, analytical, quasi- Inductive, Inductive, abstract). A number of results were found, most notably: the incompatibility of the engineering subjects in the second- grade books as well as the third- grade average with the hierarchy of Van Hill levels of geometric thinking. Failure to observe mathematics books in the middle stage, to include engineering activities at the induction level, to equip students to deal with secondary engineering topics. The researcher recommended a number of recommendations, the most important of which are: To reconsider the hierarchy of the levels of engineering thinking in the engineering activities included in the mathematics books in the intermediate stage. The work on enriching mathematics books in the second grade is average of engineering activities of semi- inductive level, to match the hierarchy of the levels of engineering thinking of the intermediate stage. The work of enriching mathematics books in the third grade is an average of engineering activities of semi- inductive and indicative level to match the hierarchical level of the engineering thinking of the middle stage, which is the basis for higher levels of engineering thinking in the secondary stage. The inclusion of additional topics in engineering and measurement in mathematics books for the third- grade, to contribute to the development of levels of engineering thinking for students.  


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