The relation between skill in simple addition and subtraction and more general math achievement in elementary school is well established but not understood. Both the intrinsic importance of skill in simple calculation for math and the influence of conceptual knowledge and cognitive factors (working memory, processing speed, oral language) on simple calculation and math are plausible. The authors investigated the development of basic calculation fluency and its relations to math achievement and other factors by tracking a group of 259 United Kingdom English children from second to third grade. In both grades the group did not retrieve the solutions to most problems, but their math achievement was typical. Improvement in basic calculation proficiency was partially predicted by conceptual knowledge and cognitive factors. These factors only partially mediated the relation between basic calculation and math achievement. The relation between reading and math was wholly mediated by number measures and cognitive factors.
Purpose: The study investigated the outcome of a word-web intervention for children diagnosed with word-finding difficulties (WFDs). Method: Twenty children age 6-8 years with WFDs confirmed by a discrepancy between comprehension and production on the Test of Word Finding-2, were randomly assigned to intervention (n ¼ 11) and waiting control (n ¼ 9) groups. The intervention group had six sessions of intervention which used word-webs and targeted children's meta-cognitive awareness and word-retrieval. Result: On the treated experimental set (n ¼ 25 items) the intervention group gained on average four times as many items as the waiting control group (d ¼ 2.30). There were also gains on personally chosen items for the intervention group. There was little change on untreated items for either group. Conclusion: The study is the first randomised control trial to demonstrate an effect of word-finding therapy with children with language difficulties in mainstream school. The improvement in word-finding for treated items was obtained following a clinically realistic intervention in terms of approach, intensity and duration.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThe EPPE project is a major longitudinal study funded by the Department for Education. The research would not be possible without the support and co-operation of the six Local Authorities (LAs) and the many pre-school centres, primary schools, children and parents participating in the research.We would like to give special thanks to the research assistants: Rosemary Ellis, Jill Head, Isabella Hughes, Rose Jennings, Margaret Kehoe, Laura Manni, Helen Mirelman, Stella Muttock and John Stokes who collected the data for this report.We are also grateful to Professor John Siraj-Blatchford for his advice on the early stages of this study and the children and staff of Hamilton Primary School and their headteacher, Graeme Aldous, for helping us refine the pedagogical strategies; their feedback was very helpful. In addition we are grateful to Christopher Stone of Arthur Terry School for allowing us access to his school's policies. Tables Table 2.1a Criteria for inclusion in Group A: Excellent schools (academically effective, good quality pedagogy) 14 Effective pedagogical strategies 25 Table 3a Qualitative descriptions of the numerical ratings 29 Table 3b Quantitative scores and their qualitative descriptions 29 Table 3.1a Organisation 31 Table 3.2a Shared Goals 35 Table 3.4a able 3.4a Overall Classroom Climate 39 Table 3.4b Table 3.4b Child-Teacher relationship 40 Table 3.4c Table 3.4c Teacher support 41 Table 3.4d Table 3.4d Safe, supportive environment 42 Table 3.5a Table 3.5a Behaviour Management 46 Table 3.6a Collaborative Learning: Time target child spends working in a group 52 Table 3.6b Table 3.6b Collaborative Learning: Frequency of group work observed 52 Table 3.7a Personalised Learning 55 Table 3.8a Making Links Explicit 58 Table 3.9a Table 3.9a Dialogic teaching and learning: comprehension and analysis activities 63 Table 3.9b Dialogic teaching and learning: communicatio 63 Table 3.10a Table 3.10a Assessment for learning (AfL) 66i
Executive SummaryThe Effective Provision of Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education project is a large scale, longitudinal, mixed-method research study that has followed the progress of 3000+ children since 1997 from the age of 3 to 16+ years.A continuing question for EPPSE was whether pre-and primary school experiences or children's early home learning environment (HLE) could reduce inequality. While the original studies found that parents' socio-economic status (SES) and qualifications were significantly related to child outcomes, they also found that the quality of the early HLE was important Sammons et al, 2004). Also important, and particularly relevant to this study, was the extent to which educational influences (pre-school and primary school quality and effectiveness) also shaped children's educational outcomes. These reports were published as 'Variations in Teacher and Pupil Behaviours in Year 5 Classrooms' and 'The Influences of Teaching Quality on Children's Progress in Primary School .This earlier research found t...
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