College of Education
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Item LITERACY AND EDUCATIONAL QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN ETHIOPIA: A MIXED METHODS STUDY(2012) McCormac, Meredith; Lin, Jing; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines the development of early grade reading skills as a means for quality improvement in global education. Specifically, this study explores the contextual factors that affect the achievement of early reading skills in Ethiopia and investigates the relationship between literacy and educational quality. The sequential explanatory mixed-methods design is employed to answer four research questions: 1. According to the Ethiopia Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) dataset in the Addis Ababa region, what contextual factors affect achievement in basic literacy skills and how are they related? 2. According to qualitative data, how do parents' and teachers' perspectives explain and substantiate the contextual factors identified in the EGRA dataset and do other factors emerge? 3. Given the answers to the first two research questions, what are the factors associated with achievement that are most favorable and most challenging for literacy development? 4. Given the answer to the third research question, how can interventions for literacy development be best implemented in relationship to overall educational quality improvement? The first, quantitative phase of this study shows that a vast majority of students do not perform at expected levels on the Ethiopia EGRA. The results from three multiple regression analysis models for oral reading fluency and reading comprehension outcomes suggest that both in-school and out-of-school variables have a significant influence on student achievement. The second, qualitative phase of this study reveals several important findings above and beyond those identified in Phase I. First, the findings from both Phase I and Phase II demonstrate the importance of out-of-school variables, but the importance of these to both teachers and parents was underestimated in Phase I. School directors, parents, and teachers highlight the home environment as the most important factor in student achievement. This study demonstrates the utility of a mixed-methods approach to investigate more holistically the practice of literacy in Ethiopia and its relationship to the pursuit of educational quality more broadly. This study also provides a responsive, critical, and theoretical grounding for understanding conflicting perspectives, policies, and approaches to improving the quality of education through literacy development.Item The Relations Among Childcare Provider Education, Neighborhood Poverty, and the Quality of Childcare Classrooms(2008-08-03) D'Amour, Allison Catherine; Jones Harden, Brenda; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The current study examined contextual influences on the quality of the childcare classroom. Previous research has examined how direct influences, such as childcare provider education, impact childcare quality, but to date, no research has examined how these direct influences interact with distal features, such as neighborhood poverty. Given the large number of children enrolled in childcare and the evidence that high quality childcare benefits children, it is important to identify what contributes to classroom quality. Using hierarchical linear modeling, this study examined (1) if childcare quality varies across neighborhoods, (2) if childcare provider education and (3) neighborhood poverty individually impact classroom quality, and (4) if the impact of childcare provider education on classroom quality varies as a function of the neighborhood. Data collected from the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania's Early to Learn project was used in combination with poverty data derived from the 2000 U.S. Census. Results of the present study were that childcare quality did vary across neighborhoods, but that childcare provider education had no direct impact on classroom quality. However, neighborhood poverty was positively associated with classroom quality. Additionally, there was no differential impact of childcare provider education on quality in the context of the neighborhood. Although these findings may seem to suggest that childcare provider education does not matter, further analyses reveal that higher education was positively related to structural features of the classroom, such as group size and staff: child ratios. Additionally, providers with Associate's degrees and Child Development Associates had the highest quality classrooms, higher than those with a Bachelor's degree and with High School education. More research is needed to fully understand the impact of the childcare provider in the classroom. The findings that classrooms in higher poverty had higher quality classrooms, in addition to the lack of findings regarding childcare provider education, have major implications for future research and policies aimed at improving childcare quality.