School Readiness: Literature Review

School Readiness: Literature Review School Readiness The heart and core of this paper is the increased emphasis on School Readiness. The paper would define the integration, Cognition and Emotion with conceptualization of Childrens functioning at School level Entry. The character of work and society in the United States is changing. The technological nature of the information-based economy is placing increased emphasis on the active role of the individual in seeking out and applying knowledge in diverse ways. The workplace and the classroom increasingly require ready access to information and analytical and creative thinking skills that allow for self-regulated learning through goal setting, strategy use, and self-monitoring. Indeed, some see the ability of our educational institutions to enhance thinking skills and produce self-regulated learners as having broad implications for the future role of the United States in the global economy and the ongoing viability of the democratic process (Bransford, Brown, Cocking, 1999; Presidents Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, 1997). PART I Problem Statement From the standpoint of research on learning, the growing emphasis on thinking skills and self-regulation signals the need for increased understanding of the ways in which young children become active seekers and appliers of knowledge (Lambert McCombs, 1998). High levels of motivation and self-regulation are clearly associated with academic achievement independent of measured intelligence (Gottfried, 1990; Skinner, Zimmer-Gembeck, Connell, 1998). The developmental origins of motivation and engaged learning during early childhood, however, are less well known. Parents involvement, peer-group influences, and school characteristics have all been shown to influence motivation and engagement (e.g., Eccles, Wigfield, Schiefele, 1998; Grolnick Ryan, 1989; Ryan, 2000). But childrens characteristics associated with engagement in learning, particularly those related to brain development, have been less well studied. Part II Analysis of Policy Approaches Recent advances in developmental neuroscience indicate the rapid growth and modification in infancy and early childhood of brain areas that subserve self-regulation, including emotion, memory, and attention (Nelson Luciana, 2001). An important next scientific step in the study of self-regulation and engaged learning is the examination of implications of this rapid change and its determinants for functional outcomes, such as the adjustment to school (Byrnes Fox, 1998). To this end, I detail a central role for emotionality and emotion-related functioning in neurological development and childrens adjustment to school. I conclude by suggesting that influences on emotionality can influence the development of neurological interconnections among structures underlying emotion and higher order cognition. As such, these influences on emotionality are particularly relevant to the design and implementation of early compensatory educational programs to promote childrens school readiness (see Nelson, 2000b) and can assist in the ongoing construction of an empirical foundation on which to erect social policy designed to meet Americas foremost educational goal: ensuring that all children enter school ready to learn (Lewit Baker, 1995; Zigler, 1998). However, although my focus is on the development of self-regulation abilities as an aspect of school readiness, only by keeping in mind that readiness is a multidimensional construct involving family, peer, school, a nd community levels of influence will the value of the neurodevelopmental perspective on self-regulation become apparent. Ecologically minded thinkers on readiness focus on transactional, systemic models of influences and seek to define processes at multiple levels (S. L. Kagan, 1990, 1992; Meisels, 1996; Pianta Walsh, 1996). Within this developmental transactional approach, the study of emotionality provides an excellent framework for arraying multiple influences on readiness. Part III- (Recent Legislation) Whether defined as the regulation of emotion in appropriate social responding or the regulation of attention and selective strategy use in the execution of cognitive tasks, self-regulatory skills underlie many of the behaviors and attributes that are associated with successful school adjustment. Researchers have long considered intelligence to be a key predictor of success in school. Indicators of self-regulation ability, however, are independent and perhaps equally powerful predictors of school adjustment. Much of the literature on school readiness points to the importance of self-regulation (Grolnick Slowiaczek, 1994; Normandeau Guay, 1998; Wentzel, Weinberger, Ford, Feldman, 1990). Clear relations between achievement and the percentage of time that students are engaged in academic activities have been demonstrated both in elementary and in preschool regular and special education classrooms (Carta, Greenwood, Robinson, 1987; Greenwood, 1991). Emotionality and regulatory aspects of measures of temperament have also been implicated in school achievement in both regular and special education classrooms. Children who are temperamentally less distractible and exhibit more positively valenced and moderate levels of emotional intensity are rated by their teachers as being more teachable and achieve at higher levels academically than do children without these characteristics (Keogh, 1992; Martin, Drew, Gaddis, Moseley, 1988; Palinsin, 1986). As well, aspects of social and cognitive self-regulation, such as those implicated in friendship and social interaction skills (Ladd, Birch, Buhs, 1999) and in perceived control over learning (Skinner et al., 1998), point to a key role for childrens self-regulatory ability in the transition to school. Further, data from the National Center for Education Statistics survey of kindergarten teachers ratings of child characteristics considered to be essential or very important to being ready to start kindergarten indicate teachers predominant concern for regulatory aspects of childrens behavior (Lewit Baker, 1995). In particular, it is noteworthy that 84% of teachers endorsed that children need to be able to communicate wants, needs, and thoughts verbally, 76% endorsed the idea that children need to be enthusiastic and curious, and 60% endorsed that children need to be able to follow directions, not be disruptive of the class, and be sensitive to other childrens feelings. In contrast, only 21% of teachers endorsed the need for children to be able to use a pencil or paintbrush, and only 10% and 7%, respectively, endorsed knowing several letters of the alphabet and being able to count to 20 as being essential or very important to being ready to start kindergarten. In addition, in a survey conducted by the National Center for Early Development and Learning, 46% of a nationally representative sample of kindergarten teachers indicated that over half the children in their class lacked the kinds of abilities and experiences that would enable them to function productively in the kindergarten classroom (Rimm-Kaufman, Pianta, Cox, 2000). This suggests that many children are arriving at school without effective self-regulation skills. Overall, the results of these teacher surveys clearly indicate that kindergarten teachers are concerned with childrens regulatory readiness for school activities rather than with more strictly cognitive and academic aspects of readiness. The surveys suggest that teachers are concerned with being able to teach; that is, they are concerned with the capacity of each child to be attentive and responsive and to become engaged in the classroom. Development of Regulation Despite growing interest in self-regulation and evidence for its direct relevance to school readiness, individual differences in self-regulation and the relation of these individual differences to functional outcomes, such as the adjustment to school, have not been studied. The developing cognitive skills that, in part, form the basis for self-regulated learning are generally referred to as executive or metacognitive skills. Executive function is a construct that unites working memory, attention, and inhibitory control for the purposes of planning and executing goal-directed activity (Bell, 1998; Lyon Krasnegor, 1996; Zelazo, Carter, Reznick, Frye, 1997). That is, the construct combines basic cognitive processes within a goal-directed executive that marshals resources toward a desired end state. Normative developmental study of executive function, usually in cross-sectional designs with a battery of neuropsychological assessments, indicates an age-related maturational developmental course for the construct and its component processes (Krikorian Bartok, 1998; Luciana Nelson, 1998; Welsh, Pennington, Groisser, 1991). These findings support the idea that the emergence of behaviors indicative of cognitive processes involved in executive function are dependent to some extent on the development of the prefrontal cortex at ages approximately congruent with school entry (Gerstadt, Hong, Diamond, 1994; Luciana Nelson, 1998). As well, the finding that executive ability and general intelligence are only moderately correlated (Krikorian Bartok, 1998; Welsh et al., 1991) further underscores that executive regulatory skill is an independent contributor to the school-adjustment process. Clinical examination of frontal lobe damage has indicated that frontal dysfunction, depending on t he exact location of the deficit, leaves specific cognitive abilities and general intelligence largely intact but greatly impairs planning, self-monitoring, attention, and responsiveness to impending reward or punishment (Damasio, 1994; Eslinger, Biddle, Pennington, Page, 1999; Tranel Eslinger, 2000). A longitudinal study of the development of one aspect of executive cognition, referred to as effortful or inhibitory control has demonstrated it to be an antecedent of the internalization of norms of conduct in young children (Kochanska, Murray, Coy, 1997). When examined by a multimethod measure defined as the ability to inhibit a predominant response when instructed to engage in a subdominant response (i.e., to be told to wait to eat a cookie or to unwrap a present), effortful control has been shown to increase with age, to be stable, and to become increasingly coherent. As well, several characteristics of children and parents have been associated with the construct of effortful control. Childrens capacity for focused attention in infancy and maternal responsiveness to children, as well as parental personality characteristics such as dependability, prudence, and self-control, have been associated with variation in effortful control (Kochanska, Murray, Harlan, 2000). Similarly, maternal responsiveness in infancy, as assessed by a measure of the affective synchrony of the mother and child in face-to-face interaction, has been identified as a precursor of effortful control at age 24 months. Most notably, however, the interaction of mother–child affective synchrony with child negative emotionality appears to be a highly salient predictor of self-regulation. In particular, the impact of affective synchrony in mother–infant interaction on the development of effortful control is large for children exhibiting high negative emotionality in infa ncy. The effect of affective synchrony on effortful control for infants not characterized by negative emotionality is substantially smaller (Feldman, Greenbaum, Yirmiya, 1999). The role of negative emotionality in early intervention to prevent grade retention is of strong interest. Grade retention appears to be a well-intentioned educational practice that frequently has deleterious consequences for childrens academic and social success in school (Shepard Smith, 1989). In spite of evidence indicating adverse outcomes associated with its use, the practice persists, and effective programs to prevent its occurrence are needed. The continued use of grade retention as a remedial strategy seems to reflect the lack of alternative solutions when teachers have concerns about the academic progress, maturity, and general school readiness of individual children. To the extent to which grade retention is dependent on interrelations among childrens social, emotional, and cognitive adaptation to school, it may be that early compensatory education interventions that specifically address social and emotional functioning can prevent its occurrence. Future Directions Examination of emotionality within early intervention to promote school readiness and prevent grade retention provides a useful model for evaluating the role that programs to enhance social and emotional competence might play in preschool education. The study of emotionality suggests that a particularly promising direction for early intervention efforts may be the implementation in preschool and early elementary school of programs that combine interventions focusing on social and emotional competence with early compensatory education. Such programs would provide an exceptionally strong model for the promotion of school readiness and school success. As noted above, several early compensatory education interventions have demonstrated cognitive benefits to program recipients. Several school-based programs to enhance social and emotional competence have also demonstrated benefits to childrens social competence (see Eisenberg, Wentzel, Harris, 1998, for a review). An interesting area in which programs focusing on social competence interface with more cognitively oriented programs is problem solving related to the development of executive cognitive functioning. A particular example of the executive cognitive problem-solving approach to the promotion of prosocial behavior and social competence is the Promoting Alternative Thinking Skills (PATHS) curriculum, an intervention curriculum with demonstrated benefits to young childrens social competence, emotion regulation, and problem-solving skills in the early elementary grades (Greenberg, Kusche, Cook, Quamma, 1995). The neurobiological approach to early childhood education and school readiness is premised on the idea that the school classroom represents a distinct context within which specific regulatory demands are made of children. Children are expected to adapt to a socially defined role for which they may or may not have been previously socialized. Differences among children in the capacity for regulation within this environment, as well as differences in supports for childrens self-regulatory attempts both within and without this environment, are important to conceptualizations of readiness that view the transition to school within an ecological framework (Meisels, 1996; Pianta, Rimm-Kaufman, Cox, 1999). From the foregoing, it can be seen that a focus on childrens characteristics in the development of readiness does not preclude study of the influences of parents, schools, and communities. On the contrary, when viewed from the ecological contextual perspective that drives much of the resea rch on child development, it necessitates their inclusion. Researchers concerned with readiness over the past two decades have rightly moved from static child-focused conceptions of readiness embodied in academically oriented standardized tests of ability or aptitude. An exclusive focus on childrens cognitive skills and abilities in the assessment of readiness has proved to be of limited benefit (Pianta Walsh, 1996). This fact has rightly led researchers to seek alternative definitions for and determinants of readiness. This recognition of readiness as a socially constructed phenomenon has led to a broadening of the research base to include a focus on schools and teachers and the development of educational policies geared toward maximizing childrens potential for success in school (Graue, 1993; NAEYC, 1990; Willer Bredekamp, 1990). Continued efforts to foster readiness with an eye toward the neurobiology and psychophysology of childrens emotionality and regulation may be particularly likely to yield long-term benefits. In this, measures of biologically based processes can serve as both predictors and outcomes in the evaluation of programs to promote readiness and success in school. Programs to foster regulation can use physiological and neurocognitive measures to identify individuals at high risk for poor school outcome because of negative emotional reactivity. Treatment Ãâ€" Risk interactions can be specified that can increase the precision with which intervention effects on outcomes are estimated. Although-brain imaging techniques are perhaps not currently usable with children younger than seven years of age because of features of the assessment, magnetic resonance imaging and perhaps, under certain conditions, positron emission tomography could be used, along with physiological and neurocognitive assessments, as outcome measures of the efficacy of preschool interventions. Programs could demonstrate efficacy through assessments of behavioral outcomes and underlying neurobiology and physiology. As in the studies by Fox et al. (2001) and Davidson and Rickman (1999), which indicated change over time in emotional reactivity and EEG measures of frontal asymmetry, intervention studies might demonstrate change in frontal asymmetry and emotionality in response to curricula designed to reduce stress, foster emotional competence, and enhance attention, working memory, and other components of cognitive self-regulation. As noted by Nelson (1999), neuroscientific measurement techniques and knowledge of neural plasticity and human development are now sufficiently advanced to inform the conceptualization and evaluation of interventions to promote competence and foster resilience. PART IV Conclusion In conclusion, the neurobiological approach to the study of readiness can now supplant nativist or idealist conceptions of readiness that focus exclusively on maturation. The maturational view, primarily associated with Arnold Gessell (1925), posited that readiness comes about through the gradual development of abilities that facilitate learning: being able to sit quietly, to focus on work, to attend, and to follow directions. Certainly, there is some maturational component to the neurodevelopmental view of readiness; however, the traditional maturational view has been fully supplanted by an epigenetic conception of relations between nature and nurture (Elman et al., 1996). Indeed, the ideas that fostered the replacement of the traditional maturational view with an epigenetic conception of development were clearly in place in Gesells time, most notably in the work of Myrtle McGraw (1946/1995). Although any explicitly maturational view is and always has been unsuitable as a theoretical basis for child study, the child characteristics important for readiness that such a view purports to explain remain vital to the construct. In their modern form, however, these characteristics are now tethered to a comprehensive and ecologically sensitive framework relating neurobiological and behavioral research. Behavioral scientists, educators, and policymakers studying readiness and school adjustment should be aware of this. To this end, I have attempted to propose a conception of readiness that maintains a focus on relevant aspects of child functioning in a way that is theoretically and empirically well established and that has demonstrated or demonstrable links to family, peer, classroom, school, and community influences on readiness and school achievement.

Nursing Research Critique Assignment Essay

I will be critiquing two different articles. Both studies are nursing studies that evaluate outcomes. I will be following specific key points for a quantitative perspective and a qualitative perspective. There is a guideline that I will be following for each article that includes identifying and examining the data collection and data analysis methodologies used in each study. The names of the articles are The Experience of Patients Undergoing Awake Craniotomy and The Effects of Crossed Leg Blood Pressure Measurement. The references will also be reviewed to determine validity and relationship to the new study. Data Collection Quantitative Study: The operational and conceptual definition is congruent. The key variables were operationalized using the best possible method and with adequate justification. Specific instruments were adequately described and were good choices, given the study purpose, the variables being studied, and the study population. The instrument used specifically was a blood pressure monitor. The blood pressure cuff size, dimensions, and inflation pressure were described. The blood pressure monitor was adequately pretested and calibrated before the study began by a biomedical technician (Foster-Fitzpatrick, Ortiz, Sibilano, Marcantonio, & Braun, 1999). It can be determined that the data collection methods provided data that was reliable and valid. The intervention executed was having patients cross their legs and measuring their blood pressure. The intervention was adequately described and implemented. The implementation of the intervention was faithful to its plan (Polit & Beck, 2012). The data was gathered by trained nurse researchers (Foster-Fitzpatrick et al. , 1999). The same blood pressure monitor was operated during the data collection to minimize biases (Foster-Fitzpatrick et al. , 1999). Qualitative Study: The methods for gathering data were appropriate and the data was gathered using interviews over a span of 2 days (Palese, Skrap, Fachin, Visioli, & Zannini, 2008). It could be determined that triangulation was achieved since the interviews were performed on numerous occasions and during assorted circumstances. The researchers did ask the right questions and make the right observations, which were also recorded in an appropriate fashion. It can be concluded that sufficient data was gathered, given the specifics required to be a factor in this study. The data collected was adequately rich in depth and detail. The data was gathered using interviews with open-ended questions. The interviews were audio-recorded. The data compilation tools were valid and reliable for this study. Data collection was adequately described and appeared appropriate for this type of study. Bias was kept to a minimum. The researchers were to determine and recognize ideas that may have prompted or provoked personal biases, they also had to recognize any personal experiences or beliefs that might have influenced what they were going to hear and report (Palese et al. , 2008). Data Analysis Quantitative Study: Analyses were appropriated to answer the research question and to test the hypothesis. The researchers performed various blood pressure measurements on a sample of hypertensive males to determine if the crossing of a leg has an effect on blood pressure measurements. Appropriate statistical methods were used given the level of measurement and assumptions of the test. However, there was only one specific group that was the variable, 100 hypertensive males whose ages ranged from 31 to 81. Hypothesis testing allows researchers to make objective decisions whether study results likely reflect chance sample differences or true population differences (Polit & Beck, 2012). In this study there was no control group. Then, how can we determine that crossing your leg would increase blood pressure. It is challenging to support whether a type I and type II errors were actually minimized or avoided. The intervention studies did not perform an intention-to-treat analysis. All of the participants were treated and there was no omitted information. The participants also did not abandon the study. The problems of missing values were evaluated and adequately addressed. The limitation of the study includes gender and sample size. The researchers discussed the weaknesses with solutions for future studies. The researchers recommend replicating this study using a larger sample size that includes females. They consider that these changes would increase the significance of the results. The findings are discussed and interpreted. Information about statistical significance and confidence interval is presented and reviewed. There was good use of tables and figures that included titles and headings that were clearly and appropriately labeled. The results were also clearly displayed in tables with identifiable titles and labeled headings. The study included descriptive statistics. The study described the main characteristics in the dataset. The mean and standard deviation for each blood pressure measurement was calculated before and after crossing of the legs was performed by the study subjects. Inferential statistics were also present in this study. In order to test mean differences with three or more groups, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical test is used. This research study conducted a repeated-measure ANOVA, which is when there are three or more measures of the same dependent variable for each participant (Polit & Beck, 2012). Measuring blood pressure at various intervals and under numerous conditions for the same subject is one incident where this type of testing can be used. . The model for this design was repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). The level of significance in this study was stated at < 0. 05 for all three effects in the model, (before crossing the legs, during legs crossed, and after having crossed the legs). This significance level indicates that researchers accept a risk that out of 100 samples drawn from a population, a true null hypothesis would be rejected 5 times (Polit & Beck, 2012). Given the level of measurement and the nature of the hypothesis, the results were adequate. However, I believe that further research is required to have a stronger correlation. A wider sampling population should be used in future research to have more accurate conclusions. Qualitative Study: The data management and data analysis methods were sufficiently described. The data analysis strategy was compatible with the research tradition. It was also compatible with the nature and type of data gathered. The findings are effectively summarized. There was good use of citations from the patient interviews. The researchers were able to abstract concepts that were found in the data collected from the interviews. Although each patient had a unique experience, the researchers were able to categorize concepts from the data that was analyzed. Researchers were able to group these concepts into pre-operative concerns, intra-operative concerns, and post-operative concerns. Since there was limited research conducted on intra-operative experiences there were limits with the ability of being able to link it to previously performed studies. However, the study did recognize the limits it had. Since this is a qualitative study, generally these studies cannot be generalized to the population. Qualitative researchers are not concerned with the general population, but rather with subjects experiences (Polit & Beck, 2012). The researchers did acknowledge the importance of the healthcare team members to think about patient’s experiences in order to better understand how to prioritize the needs of the patient (Palese et al. , 2008). I believe that biases were kept to a minimal considering the implementations that the researchers were exposed to at the beginning of the study and before they were exposed to the interviews or observations. The composition and exploration of the data produced genuine and significant descriptions of the experiences that the patients whom were subjects had. Summary After reviewing both articles and critiquing each one, I believe to have a better understanding about the difference between a quantitative research study and a qualitative research study. Data collection should be systematic and meticulous. Both studies gathered their data systematically and meticulously. In view of the statistical analysis, levels of measurement should be defined as nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio level data. Sources of data can be documentary sources as primary and secondary sources, field sources as subjects in person, conditions, environment and events that are observable and measurable, and historical data. Both of the studies also had these types of sources. The methods of collecting data include surveys questioning using interview schedule and questionnaires, observation techniques with the help of structured or unstructured instruments, and measuring with standardized instruments. Both of the studies also used some of these methods for collecting data. The purpose of analyzing data in a study is to describe the data in meaningful terms. For example, the study in reference to blood pressure changes utilized tables for interpretation. Statistics help to answer important research questions and it is the answers to such questions that further our understandings. It is required the researcher to have an understanding of what tools are suitable for a particular research study. Depending on the kinds of variables identified (nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio) and the design of particular study, number of statistical techniques is available to analyze data. The data collection and data analysis methodologies used varied and followed the particular need of each research study. The researchers followed the research process guidelines and methodologies. Although, both studies had some weaknesses, they were both performed adequately, using appropriate techniques and instruments. They were also both performed with integrity, discussing thei r limitations and weaknesses.

Teenage Angst in Texas Free Essay Example, 1250 words

She even considered men to be a threat to her identity: â€Å"Worse and more pervasive, I was maturing under the assumption that you should never let men know how smart you were, or how mouthy -- a girl's intelligence, brazenly displayed, was seen as impolite, unfeminine and even threatening. † (Caldwell, 2006). Her life was really a mess as she couldn’t express herself with complete freedom. Her angst and ennui have driven her to a point of no connection with anybody, not even with her self. This kind of feeling is characteristic of youth, but it is also very common in any human being trapped in a partialist world where the universalist principles regarding the unconditional love of God has been lost for a long period of time throughout history. The distorted vision of the wrath of God has been responsible for the belief in a vengeful and punitive God instead of a loving, graceful and remedial God. The discipline of God is seen as punitive (Hell) rather than remedial (degrees of glory or universal salvation). So there is a lot of distortion about the real meaning of the love of God. We will write a custom essay sample on Teenage Angst in Texas or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now This deeply-rooted distortion has been responsible to create a partialist culture all around the world. Any human being will eventually feel like Caldwell felt living in a world filled with wrong worldviews. It is not surprising that Caldwell felt ennui and angst in a society filled with hypocrisy, insecurity and emptiness from the philosophical, political and theological points of view. The conditional love of God has replaced the unconditional love of God in a very astonishing way. Heaven is promised out of grace, but if anybody doesn’t behave then Hell awaits him after death. This is a conditional love of God in absolute contrast to the true unconditional love of God that it is clearly understood out of a correct interpretation of the biblical canon. Caldwell was lacking this kind of love. Deep inside of her she was longing for unconditional love. Angst and ennui spring out of this lack of meaning. Caldwell had feelings of godlessness most probably out of the inconsistent account of God given by a partialist society. The only way to escape out of the grip of angst and ennui was to leave away as it is clearly stated by Caldwell. She would go away trying to find meaning away from home. In the long run she was looking for unconditional love without being aware of this fact. That happens to most of Humankind that it is in search of that kind of love. Kierkegaard’s ideas motivated the Existentialist movement with Camus and Sartre as leaders.

Knight Surname Meaning and Origin

The common surname Knight is a status name from the Middle English knyghte, meaning knight. While it may refer to someone who was actually a knight, it was a name often taken by servants in a royal or knightly household, or even to one who won a title in a contest of skill. The Knight surname may have originally derived from the Old English criht, meaning boy or serving lad, as an occupational name for a domestic servant. Surname Origin:  EnglishAlternate Spellings:  KNIGHTS, KNIGHTE, KNECHTEN, KNICHTLIN   Where People With the KNIGHT Surname Live According to surname distribution data from  Forebears, the Knight surname is most commonly found in the United States, where it ranks 204th and is most prevalent in the Falkland Islands, where it ranks 20th. WorldNames PublicProfiler  puts the Knight surname as most popular in southern England, and Knight is the 90th most common surname in England. Knight is also a common last name in Australia, Jamaica, New Zealand and the Isle of Man. Famous People With the KNIGHT Last Name Newton Knight -  American farmer, soldier, and southern UnionistBobby Knight  - retired American basketball coachDaniel Ridgway Knight  - American artist Genealogy Resources for the Surname KNIGHT Contrary to what you may have heard, there is no such thing as a Knight family crest or coat of arms for the Knight surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male-line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted. Records for different Knight families exist all over the world and online. Examples include the genealogy of Joseph Knight Sr. and his wife, Polly Peck, of New Hampshire and New York, including both ancestors and descendants. You can find research on the history of the family of Charles Knight, of Virginia, Georgia, and Louisiana. Search this popular genealogy forum for the Knight surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Knight genealogy query. GeneaNets Knight Records include archival records, family trees, and other resources for individuals with the Knight surname, with a concentration on records and families from France and other European countries. You can also browse family trees and links to genealogical and historical records at the Knight genealogy and family tree at Genealogy Today. References Cottle, Basil.  Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967.Dorward, David.  Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998.Fucilla, Joseph.  Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003.Hanks, Patrick, and Flavia Hodges.  A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989.Hanks, Patrick.  Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003.Reaney, P.H.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997.Smith, Elsdon C.  American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.