The present study reports associations between features of directly observed classroom processes and school readiness skills across the academic year for 1498 children enrolled in publicly funded pre-K programs in a large and diverse county. In models adjusting for a range of child and family covariates, evidence was detected for the separate, and…

This study examined indirect associations of MyTeachingPartner coaching with pre-K students' (N = 1,570; 73% low income) school readiness, via improvements of teachers' (N = 393; 47% Black; 41% Head Start) classroom interactions. Data were collected across 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 in 10 urban sites across the eastern United States. The number of…

The present study examined differences in school readiness skills in the fall of kindergarten between pre-K attendees and non-attenders (n = 2,581) among children in a large, diverse county. Also considered was the extent to which skills associated with pre-K enrollment varied as a function of children's background characteristics and features of…

The present study considered the ways in which interactional quality in the classroom and teacher--child relationships independently and synergistically shaped the early academic, social-behavioral, and executive function outcomes of 1,498 preschoolers from low-income families from a large, culturally, and linguistically diverse county. The…

The present investigation examined the benefits of pre-K through the end of kindergarten for children from low-income homes who lived in a large and diverse county (n = 2,581) as well as factors associated with a reduction in benefits during the kindergarten year. Results revealed that pre-K graduates outperformed nonattenders in the areas of…

The present investigation examined the benefits of pre-K through the end of kindergarten for children from low-income homes who lived in a large and diverse county (n = 2,581) as well as factors associated with a reduction in benefits during the kindergarten year. Results revealed that pre-K graduates outperformed non-attenders in the areas of…

Areas of misalignment between children's experiences in preschool and kindergarten are increasingly viewed as contributing to the fade-out of preschool effects. The current study examined alignment and misalignment of classroom experiences across the transition from public pre-k into kindergarten. As part of a longitudinal cohort study, we…

In the majority of states using Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) to improve children's school readiness, the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) is a core assessment of preschool program quality and is central to QRIS metrics and incentive structures. The present study utilizes nationally representative data…

As early education grows in the United States, in-service professional development in key instructional and interaction skills is a core component of capacity building in early childhood education. In this article, we describe results from an evaluation of the effects of MyTeachingPartner, a web-based system of professional development, on…

Research Findings: Banking Time is a set of techniques designed to promote positive, supportive relationships through 1-on-1 interactions between teachers and children. Web-based training resources were made available to 252 preschool teachers who received different levels of support as a component of a professional development intervention, and…

There is surprisingly little empirical research examining issues of fidelity of implementation within the early childhood education literature. In the MyTeachingPartner project, 154 teachers were provided with materials to implement a supplemental classroom curriculum addressing six aspects of literacy and language development. The present study…

Researchers investigated whether the Classroom Assessment Scoring System[TM] reliably characterized prekindergarten classrooms having varying ethnic and language compositions across the instrument's three domains (Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support). They also examined whether the instrument predicted children's…

As the workforce in state-funded pre-kindergarten programs continues to grow in the United States, the promise of these and other early education opportunities (e.g., Head Start) depends in large part on in-service professional development and training in key instructional and interaction skills. In this paper, we describe effects of…

The transition into school occurs at the intersection of multiple environmental settings. This study applied growth curve modeling to a sample of 1,364 American children, followed from birth through age 6, who had been categorized by their exposure to cognitive stimulation at home and in preschool child care and 1st-grade classrooms. Of special…

MyTeachingPartner (MTP) is a teacher professional development program designed to improve the quality of teacher-child interactions in pre-kindergarten classrooms and children's language and literacy development. The program includes language/literacy activities and two Web-based resources--video exemplars of effective interactions and…