Human Development and Child Studies

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https://hdl.handle.net/10323/11892

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Browsing Human Development and Child Studies by Author "Bhargava, Ambika"

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    “It’s Kinda Cool that You Came to My House.” An Exploratory Study of Home Visits in a Rural Public School
    (2024-01-01) Williams, Louis James; Ricks-Doneen, Julie; Wakabayashi, Tomoko; Bhargava, Ambika; Vannest, Rebecca
    The exploratory study examined the outcomes of home visits conducted in primary grades of a Midwest rural public elementary school. The research considered both quantitative and qualitative data on teacher and caregiver relationship, teacher and student relationship, student academic success, attendance data, and behavioral changes. The participants included teachers, caregivers, and students. The research was completed over the 2022-2023 school year. The major finding of the research was the support that caregivers and teachers had for the development of the student and teacher relationships for the educational success of the student. Another finding was the support for home visits from both teachers and caregivers as an educational strategy. Additional research to expand on this exploratory study was suggested to further examine the themes and results for larger program implementation.
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    "O-M-G This Has Really Affected Us": The Pandemic Experiences of Early Childhood and Primary Grade Interventionists
    (2022-03-26) LeRoy, Adam; Bhargava, Ambika; Oden, Sherri; Niddifer, Jana; Lauer, Nick
    The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in wide disruptions to in-person schooling which have exacerbated conditions in the public-school system. While creating chaos in general, these disruptions have also affected the assessment of children and the delivery of instructional interventions, processes which are crucial to the implementation of Response to Intervention, in which children receive increased academic support at progressive tiers of intervention. The current study used a qualitative design aligned to the classic cultural-historical methods used by Vygotsky. Specifically, this study examined the experiences of Birth to 3-years-old and Kindergarten to Grade Three interventionists, who provided intervention to children during the pandemic. Nine participants, four Birth to 3-years-old interventionists and five Kindergarten to Grade Three interventionists, participated in a series of focus groups in which research questions were presented as tools for analysis. All sessions were audio and video recorded. The data were transcribed and analyzed using in-vivo codes, subcategories, dominant categories and themes.Five themes emerged from the data analysis. The first two themes related to alterations of service but remained distinct on the basis of whether the alteration was in relationship to a social need or of material necessity. The next two themes were primarily characterized by verbal responses that indicated emotions or feelings. The final theme was a distinct set of verbal responses about future orientation and characterized by concerns about educational practice and children’s experiences. The study’s findings capture how interventionists altered services for children during the pandemic, the experience of providing intervention during the pandemic and expectations about intervention in subsequent school years. The methodology developed for this study suggests the potential to align modern methods to classical cultural-historical methods. The data also reveal specific alterations that interventionists implemented, perspectives on their experience and concerns. These verbal responses serve as rich vignettes of the COVID-19 pandemic and have implications for District-level, and other public policy decisions. These findings underscore the importance of conducting studies within a methodological framework that emerges on a clear theoretical basis and may inform future research of Response toIntervention.