A Trauma-Informed Transition Model for New Entrants with Dysregulated Behaviours

The Riroriro programme was a response to the needs of children with extremely dysregulated classroom behaviours, resulting from sustained exposure to traumatic high-stress and high-deprivation environments from pre-birth to school age. Evaluation of the accounts of key individuals involved in the pilot found that participants had improved emotional regulation abilities and interpersonal skills during and up to 1 year after the intervention. Academic performance was not improved significantly, but the interviewees’ accounts suggested that “academic readiness” had been achieved. In line with previous studies, the results indicate preliminary support for the effectiveness of the Riroriro programme in supporting children who have experienced trauma to become mainstream classroom ready. These results suggest that a whole-school, multi-tiered approach providing support at the student, school personnel and system levels can help mitigate the effects of trauma.

Development of the START Program for Academic Readiness and Its Impact on Behavioral Self-regulation in Japanese Kindergarteners

The “first-grade problem” of the lack of concentration, listening, and following of instruction has been widely identified among Japanese kindergarten students. To promote their executive functioning and self-regulation to prevent this issue, we developed the Social Thinking and Academic Readiness Training (START) program. The experimental group in which the program was implemented contained 79 children (average age = 73.22 months), and the standard practices group contained 70 children (average age = 72.91 months). Before and after the intervention, the children underwent tasks to test their behavioral self-regulation and executive function (working memory). For behavioral self-regulation, a significant interaction occurred between condition (experimental and standard practices) and time (pre- and post-test), suggesting that these 6 START lessons promoted self-regulation. However, no effects were found on either auditory or visual memory. Teacher reports in surveys were consistent with the executive functioning outcomes, reporting improvement in children’s concentration, listening, and self-regulation skills.

An English academic reading course for Dutch pre-university students

In this research note we argue that reading lessons for the subject of English in Dutch pre-university education require adjustments. Currently, these lessons do not prepare students well for university reading. Too often, lessons emphasize searching for information, the dominant skill to pass the school exit exam. Instead, students would benefit much more from instruction on reading to learn and critical reading, which are important university skills. Moreover, the expository texts for English classes generally concern school subjects instead of genuine English content such as language and linguistics. To address these problems, we are in the process of developing an academic reading course focussing on linguistic topics to enhance students’ academic readiness, while at the same time adding depth and content to the subject of English in Dutch pre-university education. An empirical study to evaluate the effectiveness of this course will follow.

Academic Support for ELL and Immigrant Adolescents

Academic success is important for all children and adolescents. However, ELL and immigrant students often face greater challenges than other students. For this reason, academic support is critical to student success. This chapter addresses the academic success of ELL and immigrant students in high school. It begins with the assumption that academic success is multifaceted and not simply a matter of academic readiness. In particular, this chapter examines the importance of academic support and the positive interaction between family, teachers and students necessary for students' academic success.

Temperamental Constellations and School Readiness: A MultiVariate Approach

This study uses canonical correlation analyses to explore the relationship between multiple predictors of school readiness (i.e., academic readiness, social readiness, and teacher-child relationship) and multiple temperamental traits using data from the second wave (age 54 months, n = 1226) of the longitudinal Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD; NICHD ECCRN 1993). This longitudinal study collected data on a large cohort of children and their families from birth through age 15. For academic readiness, only one temperamental constellation emerged, representing the construct of effortful control (i.e., high attentional focusing, high inhibitory control). For peer interactions, two significant constellations emerged: “dysregulated” (low inhibitory control, low shyness, and high activity), and “withdrawn” (high shyness, low inhibitory control, low attentional focusing). Finally, the analyses exploring child-teacher relationships revealed two significant constellations: “highly surgent” (high activity, low inhibitory control, low shyness) and “emotionally controlled” (low anger/frustration and high inhibitory control). Results of this study form a more nuanced exploration of relationships between temperamental traits and indicators of school readiness than can be found in the extant literature, and will provide the groundwork for future research to test specific hypotheses related to the effect temperamental constellations have on children’s school readiness.

A call to reframe gifted education as maximizing learning

Schools exist to educate, yet the emphasis on age-based, grade-level standards fails to account for the wide range of academic readiness that exists in every classroom. Special education programs exist to meet student needs; gifted education should be no different. The authors, all gifted education researchers, present a vision for a model of gifted education that is aligned with Response to Intervention and personalized learning. At its heart, it is concerned with addressing the real-time academic needs of every student, with the ultimate goal of maximizing the learning of every student.