Tuesday, 1018

1
Tuesday, 10/18

• Return Wedding Rituals assignments
• Midterms will be graded by this Thursday or next
  Tuesday
• Talk about preschool and elementary schooling
  today
• Talk about secondary schooling on Thursday

2
Schooling in the US

• Average American child spends about 15,000 hours
  in school between 5-18
• Virtually every child in America goes to school
• Not so in other countries

3
Schooling in the US cont

• Number of years of schooling correlates with IQ
• Looked at children who dropped out of school
  compared with children who stayed in
• Looked at children on summer break
• Looked at children who started school early

4
Skills taught in US schools

• Perceptual analysis
• Memory language use
• Classification
• All things that are tested on IQ tests

5
Factors affecting school success

• Study looked at
• Physical resources available to the school
• Overall size of school
• Size of the class within the school

6
Factors affecting school success cont

• Emphasis on academic goals
• Clearly defined procedures to achieve those goals
• Fair but firm discipline
• Opportunities to participate in school-related
  activities
• Chance to voice own opinions
• Teachers manage classrooms efficiently

7
Cultural compatibility hypothesis

• Classroom instruction is most effective when it
  matches patterns of learning that are familiar to
  the childs culture
• Example wait time

8
Demographics of US school children today

• In 1998 there were more than 39 million children
  between 5-14 living in US
• More than twice the number in 1900
• Percentage of American children who are NOT
  Caucasian has increased form 25 in 1980 to about
  33 in 1998
• Likely to reach 50 by 2020

9
Demographics cont

• From 1990-2000, the percentage of school-age
  children speaking a language other than English
  at home increased from 35 to 43
• More than 33 of children are English Language
  Learners
• Approx. 40 of all English Language Learners in
  US live in CA

10
Family structure and employment

• 30 years ago, 40 of families included a wife and
  husband
• Today only about 25 do
• Mothers are more likely to work outside the home
  today
• Typically work full-time

11
Family income

• Approx. 20 of children between 6-17 lived in
  families whose income fell beneath FPL
• Growing gap between wealthy and poor in US

12
Special challenges for CA immigrant children

• Parents education
• Correlates with childrens educational
  achievement
• Nearly half of immigrant parents in CA do not
  have high school diplomas

13
Special challenges for CA immigrant children cont

• School readiness
• Children living in immigrant families are less
  likely to attend preschool than children in
  native families
• Immigrants less likely to have children in
  regular childcare, and if they do they are more
  likely to use family or unlicensed care

14
Head Start

• Nationwide, federally funded intervention program
  directed primarily at low-income preschool
  children
• Launched in 1965
• Today more than 2000 Head Start centers across 50
  states

15
Head Start cont

• Emphasizes family and community involvement
• Parents encouraged to volunteer in childrens
  classroom
• Parents given a voice in decisions about
  direction of program
• Designed to build on existing strengths and
  interests

16
Head Start cont

• Focuses on self-confidence and motivation
• Also on physical well-being
• Medical and dental health

17
Has Head Start worked?

• Doesnt lead to long-term IQ gains
• Does lead to greater success in school
• Better health
• Gains in social competence
• Increased involvement of the family in the
  childs education

18
For Thursday

• Read
• Cappella, E., Larner, M.B. (1999). Americans
  schoolchildren Past, present, and future. The
  Future of Children, 9 (Download)
• Children Now. (2002). California report card
  2004 Focus on childrens health. (Download)