Many studies have established that there are important life-long benefits of attending pre-K. At the same time, recent research suggests that pre-K attenders may enter and exit kindergarten exhibiting less optimal social and learning behaviours than their non-attending peers, and little attention has been paid to what factors may contribute to…

Although academic benefits of pre-K are well established, the associations between pre-K attendance and social and learning behaviours are less clear. Some research suggests that pre-K attenders may enter and exit kindergarten exhibiting less optimal social and learning behaviours than their non-attending peers, and little attention has been paid…

Preschoolers and kindergarteners demonstrate rapid growth and change in motor skills, socio-emotional (SE) skills, and academic performance. Data on 250 children with disabilities (CWD) and 250 typically developing children (TDC) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) data set were analyzed to explore the relation…

Preschoolers demonstrate rapid growth in motor, cognitive, and socioemotional (SE) skills. The "Early Childhood Longitude Study--Birth Cohort" was used to investigate the discrepancy in fine motor, gross motor, cognitive, and SE skills between children with and without disabilities. Findings indicated that, compared with typically…

The present study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Kindergarten Cohort of 2011 (N = 15,827; 51.1% male; 48.4% White, 13.5% Black/African-American, 24.3% Hispanic/Latino, 7.5% Asian, and 6.3% other ethnicity) to examine the unique contribution of specific executive function processes (working memory and cognitive flexibility)…

Teacher knowledge of reading is an important aspect of teacher quality, though limited research has investigated its associations with how classroom teachers report using instructional strategies to engage students in reading. Factor analysis of 28 instructional strategy items led to five self-reported instructional foci among 66 kindergarten and…

We used population-based, longitudinal data to investigate the relation between mathematics instructional practices used by first-grade teachers in the United States and the mathematics achievement of their students. Factor analysis identified four types of instructional activities (i.e., teacher-directed, student-centered,…

This investigation explores young children's computer skills development from kindergarten to third grade using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten (ECLS-K) dataset. The sample size of the study was 8642 children. Latent growth curve modeling analysis was used as an analytical tool to examine the development of children's computer…

Although many recognize that social and behavioral skills play an important role in educational stratification, no studies have attempted to estimate teachers' effects on these outcomes. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), the authors estimate teacher effects on social and behavioral skills as well…

Using the recently available wave of a large nationally representative sample of American elementary school children (ECLS-K data), this study examined the relationship between 6-7 year old students' behaviors exhibited in the 1st grade (approaches to learning, interpersonal skills, externalizing and internalizing behavior) and their reading and…