Search results for "At-risk students"
showing 10 items of 22 documents
Executive functions in kindergarten children at risk for developmental coordination disorder
2018
Executive functioning (EF) is a key cognitive process for development. Little is known about EF in Kindergarten children at risk for developmental coordination disorder (DCD), despite this age being one of the most critical and intensive period of motor and cognitive development. In our investigation we compared EF in kindergarten children at risk for DCD with Typically Developing (TD) children. Participants were 36 Italian children, 18 at risk for DCD (9 boys and 9 girls) who had a mean age of 4.6 years and 18 TD (9 boys and 9 girls) who had a mean age of 4.6. Executive functions were measured by tasks targeting cold executive functioning (working memory, fluency, inhibitory control) and t…
The Role of Motivation, Cognition, and Conscientiousness for Academic Achievement
2013
Based on a cognitive motivational process model of learning, the impact of studying behavior on learning outcome is investigated. First-year students ( N = 488) participated in the study. Two research questions were addressed: (1) Can cognitive-motivational variables and objective study behavior predict individual learning? (2) Which factors drive studying behavior? Results show low to moderate correlations between cognitive-motivational variables and performance. A cluster analysis yielded three profiles: (1) interested learners with high academic self-concept and effort investment; (2) low interest learners with high academic self-concept and low effort investment; and (3) interested lear…
Teacher-perceived supportive classroom climate protects against detrimental impact of reading disability risk on peer rejection
2012
Abstract This study examined the role of a supportive classroom climate, class size, and length of teaching experience as protective factors against children's peer rejection. A total of 376 children were assessed in kindergarten for risk for reading disabilities (RD) and rated by their teachers on socially withdrawn and disruptive behaviors. The grade 1 measures included sociometric peer assessment and teachers' self-ratings of their supportiveness in the classroom, together with information on class size and teaching experience. The results showed, first, that the studied social and learning risk factors positively predicted peer rejection in grade 1. Moreover, teacher-reported supportive…
Innovation practices in schools: The impact of different models of organization on the practice of Norwegian municipalities
2017
Services provided by primary schools have a significant impact on citizens’ living conditions. We need more knowledge of how innovation activities in primary schools should be organized and managed. This article addresses this gap by raising the following question: ‘Why do municipalities have different ways of organizing preventive work in primary schools and what impact do different organizational approaches have on professionals’ judgement and their decisions to call attention to children at risk, their response patterns and interdisciplinary/interagency cooperation?’ The qualitative exploration of these questions is based on in-depth interviews with head teachers and teachers in 10 Norw…
Early prediction of reading trajectories of children with and without reading instruction in kindergarten : a comparison study of Estonia and Finland
2019
Background: The present study examined differences in the prediction of reading development and reading difficulties in Estonia (n = 348) and Finland (n = 344). These neighbouring countries share many similarities in terms of their language, orthography and educational system; however, they differ in the timing of the onset of reading instruction, which is kindergarten in Estonia and Grade 1 in Finland. Methods: Children's skills were assessed three times – fall and spring in Grade 1 and spring in Grade 2. Results: The results showed that school‐entry rapid automatised naming and reading fluency predicted the development of fluency in Grade 2, but reading fluency was a stronger predictor in…
Examining the Efficacy of an Intervention to Improve Fluency and Reading Comprehension in Spanish Children with Reading Disabilities
2011
The main goal of the present study was to examine the efficacy of a multi‐component programme to improve reading fluency and text comprehension in Spanish children with reading disabilities (RD). Special needs teachers were trained in the application of the programme, which included repeated reading plus phonological awareness training and grapheme–phoneme decoding training. Instruction was delivered one to one. Participants were 22 students with RD, aged 10–13, distributed in two groups: one with 12 children who received the intervention (experimental group), and the other with 10 children who received no intervention (comparison group). The effects of the training programme were evaluated…
Identifying Problematic Study Progression and “At-Risk” Students in Higher Education in Finland
2018
Finland offers a specific example of a country with a broad enrolment in higher education, where the educational starting age is relatively high and where studies may last considerably longer than in most other European countries. This study attempted to identify at-risk students in Finnish universities with the greatest probability of non-completion of studies. This probability is by far the highest in the fields of information technology and information sciences and, in specific cases, in the fields of mathematics and science and economics and management. The situation of at-risk students is best described in terms of the scant use of time for present studies, uncertainty regarding their …
Early Cognitive Precursors of Children's Mathematics Learning Disability and Persistent Low Achievement: A 5-Year Longitudinal Study.
2018
Mathematical difficulties have been distinguished as mathematics learning disability (MLD) and persistent low achievement (LA). Based on 1,880 Finnish children who were followed from kindergarten (age 6) to fourth grade, this study examined the early risk factors for MLD and LA. Distinct groups of MLD (6.0% of the sample) and LA (25.7%) children were identified on the basis of their mathematics performance between first and fourth grades with latent class growth modeling. Impairment in the same set of cognitive skills, including language, spatial, and counting skills, was found to underlie MLD and LA. The finding highlights the importance of monitoring mathematical development across the ea…
The role of parenting styles and teacher interactional styles in children's reading and spelling development.
2012
Abstract This study examined the associations between parenting styles, teacher interactional styles, and children's reading and spelling skills. The sample consisted of 864 Finnish-speaking children and their parents (864 mothers, 864 fathers) and teachers ( N = 123). Children's risk for reading disabilities and reader status were assessed in kindergarten. Children were also tested on reading and spelling skills in Grades 1 and 2. Parenting styles and teacher interactional styles were measured using parents' and teachers' self-reports in Grade 1. First, the results indicated that both an authoritative parenting style and authoritative teacher interactional style positively predicted child…
School readiness of moderately preterm children at preschool age
2012
The study investigates the preschool readiness of moderately preterm children and, in particular, the likely presence of learning disabilities at preschool age. Its theoretical model detects linguistic comprehension and expression; memory-related metacognition and cognition skills; orientation and motor coordination skills; premathematics and preliteracy ones. The research project involved an experimental group made up of 55 moderately preterm children (mean age = 62 months, mean gestational age = 34.6 weeks), without any clinical neonatal complications, and low birth weight (M = 2,100 g, SD = 350 g); a control group made up of 55 full-term children without pre- and perinatal complications.…